Looking for a Green Girlfriend....
Ok, this is not a personal ad masquerading in a blog post, but I couldn't resist a provocative alliteration in the title.
This weekend was interesting in that almost all my conversations with different dining companions focused on the subject of dating. Ok, a bunch of single people on a weekend evening, it is inevitable that the topic will come up, but for some reason it seemed to dominate the subject of the evening. We did touch upon politics (Obama taking Ohio and Texas, HRC, split?) but then we went back to the topic of dating. Maybe the advent of spring has something to do with it.
We judge and evaluate possible mates based on different attributes? Should green be one of them? How about the whole process of courtship? A popular complaint about a possible S.O. is that she (or he, but I'm going to go from my perspective for the rest of the post) is that they re geographically undesirable of GU? Could it be that the large distance is because it's carbon footprint? Does all that driving, picking someone up cause too much carbon. What does going on a date on mass transit say. Hmmm,
So what would a green girlfriend be like (and I'm not talking about that green dancer from the original Star Trek series):
1. Would not own a SUV. For some people I know this is up there with a prospective being a smoker. What does owning a SUV say about a person, unless that person is a forest ranger or some other similar job, it seems to say overkill. Bonus points for a hybrid maybe.
2. Could not be a massive carnivore, super green points if she's a vegan. This is an interesting one, since I actually know more women who crave a steak than men I know. My friend claims it's the iron cravings they get. So how does that explain chocolate? Given the amount of crop land and fertilizer it takes to raise the grain for a cow, a super carnivore might not be the most green person.
3. Would have CFL's in her home.
4. Would emphasize quality over quantity in her possessions. Someone who knows what she likes because she likes it, and not because it's the fashion of the moment probably speaks volumes about treading lightly on the planet.
5. Recycles, consciously. There are those who trash everyone, and those who go multistream (I think Finland they separate their garbage into 12 different categories!)
Will these categories end up on Yahoo! Personals, eHarmony? Probably not. But one has to be careful not to cast judgement since we all have a long way to go, my eco-unfriendly addiction to coffee and chocolate has a larger impact on my carbon footprint.
However, what does green living say about a person? Are these things desirable, or do they rain on the fun of being together with someone and make someone a fuddy-duddy (I have never ever thought that I would use that word in any of my writings ever!)? One often hears about green of a different sort being attractive quality, how about eco-green? Next time I'm with my tribe I'll pop the question, and report back.
posted by Charles @ 9:19 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Haha this is funny!
For me, none of these things would be a deal breaker on their own. Rather, to me it's more important to know their comprehensive value system. Maybe the SUV was a gift from their parents, or a cast down from an older sibling, or maybe they bought it before they really started thinking about the environment.
So it would more depend on if I could have a conversation about the environment with them. If they were open to living more greenly, and if they saw living in an environmental way as a virtue. If they were cool with simplicity.
Because honestly, the best way to convert someone to the green cause is to date them!
Long absent from the dating scene, I still would like to put in my 2c. Agree with arduous - I think the most important thing is about how much she/he is empathetic and open toward environmental issues. A person who is a regular backpacker or is interested in nature is probably much more open to environmental conversations than a person whose interest primarily centers around TMZ :)
As long as she/he has basic interest in the environment, other things can all come later. I personally don't think doing green is fuddy-duddy. Going on a weekend backpacking trip or a low-impact self-guide vacation can be loads of fun.
Well, I fit all your criteria with one slight little problem...I'm already happily married to a green guy. On our first date, we talked about how weird it was that both of us had a subscription to the magazine "Garbage" - it talked about how to reduce it. :)
Keep looking; you'll find her!
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