About the Blog

As I’ve mentioned throughout this site, I’m very passionate about what I do. It is a driving force in my life, and is highly fulfilling. As a result, I tend to talk about it. At length. To everyone I know. I suspect that this blog will be no exception.

Hopefully, my quirky interests and odd sense of humor won’t confuse/infuriate you. If they do, well, I won’t be offended if you decide to read the musings of someone more interesting than little ol’ me.

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In which the preacher realizes she’s preaching

11.4.09, 08:03pm | Environment, NaBloPoMo, Philosophy,

I was going to write about my household energy usage today, but have opted out for the time being because a.) I waiting on a bit more data, and b.) I realized I was indulging in some pretty unsavory behavior yesterday and I think it’s worth writing about. I committed the cardinal sin of activism, and slipped into preacher-mode. That doesn’t mean I spend the afternoon on a street corner trying to convince the folks around me to “embrace JAY-zuhs!”. Rather, I found myself pushing my beliefs on someone else.

Last night I was at the grocery store with my husband, picking up food for the week. We were talking about possible dinners he could make (being that he’s the primary chef in our house), and we butted heads over the type of curry he wanted to make. “I’ll need to use coconut milk,” he said. “Do you have to use coconut milk? It’s so unhealthy. Can’t you use potatoes to thicken it?” This little “tiff” progressed into an argument after we’d returned home.

My position was that he was being stubborn, and wasn’t open to trying different types of cooking. “Next week, we’re going to be changing the way we’re eating because of my impact project. It’ll be healthier for us, and it’s a change that we should probably make anyway. And I don’t want to have to fight you every step of the way!”  His position was that he liked curry with coconut milk in it. “I’m not being stubborn. I just wanted to make a particular kind of curry, and suddenly you’re lecturing me about our diet and the environment!”

Oh. Whoops. Preachy McPreacherface has struck again.

What I hadn’t realized until that point in the conversation is that I’d never once asked my husband if he was okay with this idea of changing our food consumption or eating habits. I’d mentioned it in passing once (I think), but that’s about as far as we’d gotten on the topic. Until last night, when I flew off the handle and started throwing unfounded accusations left and right.

After I realized that I was being an ass, we talked some more about it and came to a good compromise. We then spent the rest of the evening eating, drinking, being merry and enjoying each other’s company. I’m not kidding when I say I’m extremely lucky to have such a caring and understanding spouse.

The moral of this story is straight out of Wil Wheaton’s mouth: don’t be a dick, even if it’s for a good cause. While make changes toward a sustainable lifestyle is vitally important to tackling climate change, jumping on a soapbox and hurling judgments at someone just isn’t the best way to bring them around to your side. They’ll feel attacked, singled out, and confused. When a family member decides they want to make lifestyle changes to benefit the environment, they should bring the rest of the family on board through dialog and discussion, and avoid the ranting tirades. Respect and kindness are a lot more convincing than assumptions and accusations.

Now, if I can just remember this lesson the next time I run up against some opposition to my ideas….