Daily Meh is an edited stream of consciousness, by Simen.

I Am, Therefore I Pollute

Stanley Fish on how hypocritical he is when it comes to eco-friendliness.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am wholly persuaded by the arguments in support of the practices I resist. I believe that recycling is good and that disposable paper products are bad. I believe in global warming. I believe in Al Gore. But it is possible to believe something and still resist taking the actions your belief seems to require. (I believe that seat belts save lives, but I never wear them, even on airplanes.) I know that in the great Book of Environmentalism my name will be on the page reserved for serial polluters. But I just can’t get too worked up about it, even though I began well in the ’60s when I heeded Lyndon Johnson’s plea to turn off lights when you leave a room, something I still do religiously (or is it obsessively?).

Since I’m just as lazy when it comes to doing anything positive for the environment, I see where his coming from. Yet that doesn’t excuse either of us from making an effort. (Also: seat belts? Seriously, I can understand not wanting to do time-consuming, boring stuff or use sub-par products to save the environment, but spending three seconds to secure your own life when driving? Even I’m not too lazy for that.)

I also see the point of the commenters who say that environmentalists should get their eyes off their navels and focus on the macro-stuff. One such comment:

This is what annoys me about the environmentalist movement. It’s devolved into Nitpickers’ World, Inc. — rather than focus on key issues, like preserving wildlife and preventing global warming on the international level, we get all of these unpleasantries like harrying over disposable paper products (never mind that most paper is produced from plantations that grow plants specifically to become paper, not wild forests) and “efficient” light bulbs (never mind that it would be better simply to use a clear power SOURCE).