Spring Break
Making the...habit
Simona Li '10
Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: Opinion
Living abroad this semester in Edinburgh has allowed me to see so many of the similarities between life in the U.S. and in the U.K. However, one of the biggest differences I've noticed here is how sustainability seems so integrated into everyday life. The streets are lined not only with 'landfill bins' but also clearly labeled bins for recycling green glass, brown glass, paper, metal cans, and more. Many supermarkets charge a small fee per plastic bag to encourage holding onto and reusing old ones. Some even offer to replace beat-up plastic bags free of charge. Office buildings here don't stay lit 24/7 and - sometimes to my great frustration - many heaters in residential spaces are designed to turn off automatically, requiring another press of the button to restart the timer.
Don't get me wrong, I love seeing burgeoning efforts to increase environmentally conscious living both on campus and around the U.S., but I would like to think that what I see in Edinburgh might one day be equally pervasive back home. As much as I disagree with the "Cult of Sustainability" label attached by the Tory to green initiatives, I can see where such a label might come from. The movement towards greener living has been gradually increasing, but to some extent it is still viewed as something imposed on a preferred way of life rather than just a change in mindset.
Small habits here in the UK, from turning off the light before leaving a room, to reading PDFs online, to choosing smaller cars over large ones - simple actions that might be interpreted as making somewhat of an extra "effort" in the States-are just normal in this place. Being the curious outsider, I asked some of my flatmates why they thought people made these sacrifices and the simple answer was that it was practical and saved money - nothing as idealistic as "I'm doing this to stop contributing to the cycle of consumerism," but just something quite sensible. They conserved for their own benefit.
Granted, there is an entire system behind this, but doesn't it make sense that we should save money when we use less? In that respect the U.S. still needs to work on parts of the energy industry that seem to be antithetical to this line of thought, such as government subsidies that keep the oil prices down, federal policies that give more funding to states that have more roads and more cars driving down them, and industrial practices that discount the smaller costs like that of packaging.
This transition won't happen in just a year or two or even ten, but hopefully we can all continue to make the effort until the day when it becomes just another habit.
Don't get me wrong, I love seeing burgeoning efforts to increase environmentally conscious living both on campus and around the U.S., but I would like to think that what I see in Edinburgh might one day be equally pervasive back home. As much as I disagree with the "Cult of Sustainability" label attached by the Tory to green initiatives, I can see where such a label might come from. The movement towards greener living has been gradually increasing, but to some extent it is still viewed as something imposed on a preferred way of life rather than just a change in mindset.
Small habits here in the UK, from turning off the light before leaving a room, to reading PDFs online, to choosing smaller cars over large ones - simple actions that might be interpreted as making somewhat of an extra "effort" in the States-are just normal in this place. Being the curious outsider, I asked some of my flatmates why they thought people made these sacrifices and the simple answer was that it was practical and saved money - nothing as idealistic as "I'm doing this to stop contributing to the cycle of consumerism," but just something quite sensible. They conserved for their own benefit.
Granted, there is an entire system behind this, but doesn't it make sense that we should save money when we use less? In that respect the U.S. still needs to work on parts of the energy industry that seem to be antithetical to this line of thought, such as government subsidies that keep the oil prices down, federal policies that give more funding to states that have more roads and more cars driving down them, and industrial practices that discount the smaller costs like that of packaging.
This transition won't happen in just a year or two or even ten, but hopefully we can all continue to make the effort until the day when it becomes just another habit.
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