16 November 2007 117 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

I don’t think of my lifestyle as especially environmentally-friendly. Despite the push all around me to go green, I don’t factor the environment into my decisions. Somehow, though, a lot of people think of me as some sort of hippie.

There are several reasons for this description, but the absolute basic is my approach to transportation. Right now, I don’t own a car. I live with my boyfriend and borrow his car whenever I need transportation, but we’re a one-car household. The car is even a Prius. A hybrid — how eco-friendly! More importantly, how cheap!

We’re both from the Midwest originally, and it’s a really novel concept that you don’t need at least one car of your own at all times. We’ve got plenty of relatives with multiple vehicles. Living on the East Coast, though, means that I just need to get myself to one of the various public transports, and I can make it just about anywhere.

We may have to plan a little more in advance, but we’ve managed to halve our gasoline costs by driving a hybrid, do the same to our insurance and car payments by sharing a car, and generally made our lives easier with only worrying about maintenance and such for one vehicle. It’s reduced our costs quite a bit.

I like to think of myself as fairly frugal. I reuse what I can, and try to generally avoid wastefulness: it’s pretty obvious when I succeed — all of my Tupperware says “Margarine” or “Sour Cream” on the side. I act out of concern for my pocketbook, not for the spotted owl. But apparently, since frugality leads to reusing those items that you can, rather than throwing them away, I’ve managed to make some green decisions.

I don’t go overboard, though. My mother is a quintessential hippie: decisions from where she shops to what grass she’ll plant in the front yard are made based on how they affect the environment. She’s one of those people that really do wash and reuse Ziploc baggies over and over again.

As much as the environment might need it, that sort of frugality is a bit beyond my level. And I’m not going to start doing things just because their green. But I think the environment and I can continue to work together on mutually beneficial decisions, as long as the price to be green is cheaper than other options.