Don’t Feel Guilty About Your Environmental Impact
Get curious and creative instead
Discussing environmental impacts and sustainable technology brings up interesting reactions in people. When I wrote a post comparing notebooks from a sustainability point of view, one of my friends praised it before wincing and saying “I’m one of those terrible people who have a Moleskine.”
This friend is not a terrible person, nor are people ‘terrible’ for buying a product that isn’t the most sustainable one available in its category. Heck, I have two Moleskines myself.
Most of the notebooks I recommended in my post are recently-developed products. People who wanted to write in notebooks before the ones I recommended were in existence had to buy something else. I would never judge them for that.
They don’t have to give up writing for the sake of the environment. That would be counterproductive.
I’m not immune to this guilt reaction either. I’ve beaten myself occasionally — when I forgot my reusable container to buy things in, when I’ve bought takeout that I expected to come in paper but came in plastic, or when I’ve left the lights on in a room all night.
