Luxuries and necessities
Lately in the Riot group there’s been a ‘discussion’ (more like a pile on) where one woman talked about her hot tub and several people went on about how she was being flippantly extravagant (thereby somehow insulting their efforts). There’s been apologies, but I think the woman has left the group.
I’ve been thinking about how we view necessities, and on the flip side, luxuries.
If you live in an area where a solid gold electric lamp post in front of your door lit up 24/7 is something everyone has, and this is seen as ordinary and proof of your ‘normal’ standard of living, then that lamp post might be considered a necessity. Without it, your children might be shunned, your neighbors might wonder if you were ‘down on your luck’, you might even have people making comments about your mental state or ability to parent. I mean, what decent person wouldn’t have a solid gold lamp post, lit up 24/7?
Of course, that’s a ridiculous example, but other things we have and consider ‘normal’, like flush toilets, might be seen by other cultures as just as wasteful and extravagant. Using perfectly good drinking water to flush away pee? Why in the world would you do that?
It’s all a matter of perspective, and what you’ve been brought up to see as ‘normal’.
One thing I’ve never cared for about the typical ‘green’ group is the pointing of fingers. Remember, when you point a finger at someone else you have three pointing at you and one at God. Other people’s views and where they come from are different than yours, yet just as valid. Changing that person’s view who lives in Solid Gold Lamp Post Lane to turn the electricity off during the day might be just as difficult for them, if not more so, than peeing in a bucket might be for you.
Of course, the ones most likely to point are the ones who already pee in buckets but don’t do what millions do every day, like cook over dried dung or sleep in tents made from the skins of animals they killed.
“But those people do that out of necessity,” the Uber-Ninja-American-Green says.
Yes, that’s true. You have the luxury of ‘being green’. You don’t have to go hungry if you don’t cook over dung, or go thirsty if you flushed your pee instead of using pee to water your garden and drinking the water that would have gone into the toilet here in America.
I think some reading this (if they even had the luxury of a computer) would be disgusted at hearing of the shaming of a woman who’s trying to change by people who live (to them) such extravagant, luxurious lives of plenty of food and water that they don’t need to lug from three miles away. Why, your water is piped in!
Now I don’t live anywhere close to being in poverty. I know, because I’ve been there as a child watching my parents try to cook rice (our only dinner) over a fire in the fireplace after our lights and water had been turned off in the last months before we got foreclosed on. And I’m not a particularly ‘earth-friendly’ person when it comes right down to it.
But I think those people with their lugged-in water sitting around their dung fire after dinner wouldn’t say the answer is to point fingers at someone else’s ‘necessity’, unless you’re ready to answer to those three fingers pointing back at you.
November 13th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Well, we’ve gotten rid of a lot of our “necessities”, and so far we’re happier for it. We started giving stuff away on Freecycle about three years ago, and I don’t miss ANY of it even though I had carted someof it around for twenty years. For some reason, I thought is was important. Oops! I guess I didn’t really need it and it was really more trouble than it was worth.
So, we’ve parted with a lot of stuff, probably about 8 to 10 cubic yards, or a few thousand pounds, depending on how you want to look at it. So much for the material goods.
Now, resist the urge to say “Eewww” and just read this. Daily bathing or showering is not necessary, even in the USA in a professional office environment where one works in close proximity with others. Will you get smelly? Well, yes, if you wear synthetic clothing, if you don’t eat right, and probably for a little while after you stop the daily routine if you don’t manage it right. On the other hand, if you wear natural fibers (wool is naturally bacteria resistant) with good airflow, eat your fruits and vegetables, and maintain a few key areas with a washcloth, you’ll probably do just fine.
It’s worked out very well for me. My daily routine needs just a comb, toothbrush, floss, toothpaste, and a washcloth. Once a week or so I take dip in the tub and use a minimal amount of shampoo. Now, I don’t have to wash the extra towels, I don’t have to dispose of the used deodorant dispenser, the acne I had for almost thirty years (which, incidentally, was unresponsive to all sorts of treatment) has disappeared, and my wife thinks I smell better. I also don’t have to waste the water, the oil to heat it, or the hour or two I had been spending each week in the shower.
Now, if I could do away with my daily drive to work, I’d be pretty happy, even if it was one day each week. That would save 1.5 gallons of gas and an hour and half of time. That much gas has about 187500 btu, which will heat about 400 gallons of water from 40deg F to 100deg F. It only takes 300 gallons for a four-person hot-tub, and I could only really stay in there for an hour anyway.
The bottom line – It’s better for me, better for the environment, more conservative in time and material resources (and probably a lot safer) for me to avoid the shower, telecommute one day a week, and have a nice long soak in a hot-tub once a week.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
It saddens me to think that “the woman with the hot tub” may have left the group; I think it is not just her, but the whole group, who will be all the poorer for it. Thank you for such a clear precis of these recent events.
Bryan
November 14th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Dan, surprise surprise, I agree with you. For years I had problems with dry itchy skin. In recent years I have stopped taking showers merely for traditions sake and started taking them when I am dirty. I have had no problem with body odor, and I also have had my wife tell me she thinks I smell better for it. Obviously, and I’m sure you’ll agree, if I do work in the yard, or get sweaty, I take a shower; that’s what they’re there for. But on a day to day basis, walking from my car to a desk, then back again, not so big of a strain you know. Glad to know I’m not alone.
Great Post RSG~