green is universal

By Nicole Walters, GreenIsUniversal.com

On a particularly hot and muggy day in July, my husband and I went mountain biking with our dog, Zero. Unfortunately, we chose a very foul smelling path riddled with biting flies. So we were especially relieved to get back to our car where we could blast the A/C into our sweaty faces and drink lots of water.

While I was cutting a water bottle into a drinking bowl for Zero and seeing to his hydration, a man on a bike approached the driver side window where my husband was sitting and knocked on it. My husband, being a foreigner and not yet as jaded as I am to the ways of my fellow Americans, opened up the window and said hello. Big mistake.

One quick glance at that this man told me he wore his dedication to being carbon free like a badge of honor: from the road dust coating his padded knee gear, to the rear view mirror that was permanently attached to his glasses, all the way down to his Carbon Free or Die t-shirt. I cringed at the thought of his pending criticism but honestly, I couldn't think of what he could say. Had we not just been enjoying nature on our bikes with our furry friend? Had I not just recycled the water bottle and provided nourishment for another living creature? What more could he want from us?? Over the purr of our idling car, he proceeded to tell us that "Just 10 minutes of idling per day causes 550 pounds of CO2 per year." Even though this was a new bit of green knowledge that I normally would've found useful, I was ticked off at the guy! I just continued to let Zero drink and listened as my husband told him that he liked what he was saying, but that he had absolutely terrible timing. An argument ensued and the biker rode off having done no good but annoy two people who otherwise would have been open to and considerate of his message.

So I did some research on idling and found this really useful site with tons of anti-idling facts and one of the writer's personal experiences with delivering the sometimes sensitive message: www.thehcf.org/antiidlingprimer.html.

So often times we green people have trouble with the delivery of our messages. It's hard to get across a point that you feel so passionate about without sometimes sounding like a nut or becoming frustrated when people don't seem to take you seriously. My one bit of advice to this is to remember that not all of the world is green, or wants to be, but whatever message you do send, make sure it's a positive one.

Nicole Walters
GreenIsUniversal.com