Jane Powerson ecoguilt.
This past two years of pursuing all things green and good has expanded my brain and life in ways I never imagined. I've been to courses, lectures and seminars; looked into the bowels of ecologically benign food-waste digesters; fitted wood-burning stoves to the fireplaces in my living room and office; started recycling water from the shower, kitchen and garden; stopped flushing the toilet "after light use" at night (not when there are visitors, though, perish the thought).
I've cut down my flying to one or two round trips a year. I've reused, reduced, recycled and repaired everything possible, and I've turned down heating, hit switches and closed doors (including the one in a certain Dún Laoghaire wine shop at least once a week). I've made my voice heard by either complaining or congratulating, as appropriate. And my brother-in-law will be pleased to know that the lightbulb-changing plan is still in operation: when an incandescent dies, we stick a CFL in its place (Philips Softone ones create a nice warm colour).
Life, when I was growing up, was always frugal in my family, so I have an innate aversion to waste and overconsumption - which, I believe, is why my editor picked me to write this column. And, because I had been an organic gardener, food grower and composting zealot for years, some of the territory was already deeply familiar. Yet much of it is new to me - and shifting faster than I can keep up with. Ideas in sustainability are changing daily, debate has become increasingly sophisticated and more is happening than ever before.
Which is why, with mixed feelings, I have to tell you that this will be the last Planet Matters column that you'll read from me. I need to get back into the garden - or, rather, back full-time to writing about and photographing it.
But, although I'm leaving this column, I'm not tired of the subject. Far from it. In fact, many of my actions now are tempered by thoughts of whether what I'm doing is going to harm the planet or its other inhabitants. I'm not saying that this always prevents me from doing whatever it is that I am about to do, but it certainly colours my mood. I'm suffering (as are many other people) from ecoguilt - and ethical guilt, and carbon guilt. And, unfortunately, as long as I live in the western world, with a western lifestyle, I'll always be taking more than my share of the planet's resources.
I know that many of you who read this column feel the same: your e-mails are full of questions about the best way of doing things, and suggestions, too, for lightening our load on the planet. You want to make a difference and to tread more softly on the earth. You are willing to pay more and put up with some inconvenience to do so - because you know it matters.
I wish I could say the same for the corporate sector. Some businesses have turned this planetary emergency - because that's what it is - into a huge marketing exercise. Every day my e-mail box is filled with press releases from companies that are reinventing themselves as good green guys. When you cut through the greenwash their message reads: spend your money with us and feel good about it, because we're making some (strategic and profitable) contribution to a better world.
It's hard not to be swayed by some of the marketing, because the truth is that we are addicted to consuming, and if we can consume guiltlessly, so much the better. But we need to look a little further into these companies' campaigns and remember the all-important adage for corporate responsibility: it's not how you spend the money, it's how you earn it.
But enough of them, and back to the rest of us. We know in our hearts that we have to live leaner lives in order to stretch the planet's resources a little bit
further. And we need to make that fact a
consideration in our many life decisions. Already others in developing parts of the world are paying for our overconsumption. And the next generation here: we might think of them, too. For, if we don't, what will they think of us? planetmatters@irish-times.ie
Jane Powers will continue to write her weekly gardening column