Social Influence

One of my roommates asked me the other day how I came to join the green movement. She told me I am one of only a few people our age that she knows who is really trying to make a difference. I was surprised to hear her say this because I know many people who are interested in doing better for the environment. This led me to believe that social influences weigh heavily on whether a person participates and their degree of participation in the movement. Growing up, my roommate’s family did not do anything especially eco-friendly. According to her, the only reason her parents made her turn her light of in her bedroom when leaving it was to save money on the electric bill. This was dramatically different from my childhood. Since I can remember my family has recycled paper, plastic, and aluminum. We were also told to conserve energy even though we lived in government housing, all bills paid. We were scolded for taking long showers or forgetting to turn off lights or the t.v. despite the fact that we did not pay a water or electric bill.

For my mom, it was all for the sake of not being wasteful. When I moved into a dorm after leaving home, I am ashamed to say that I let those values slip away from me. Showers were never long enough and it did not matter to me if I let my computer run all day long.
Spending my Spring break with my family reminds me that I am not really as committed to this lifestyle as I would like to be. I realize that I could take my goals a step further by adopting some of the things my mom does for the environment. For example, the town she lives outside of does not pick up recyclables, and so she drives them to a collection site in the city on the weekends. And instead of using the energy to dry all of her laundry, she dries jeans, linens, and other bulky items on a clothes line. The bathroom situation at my parent’s home is quite different than the average household. When they moved out of city limits, they discovered septic tanks were the only option. Researching about the limitations of the tank and its sensitive bacteria caused her to change a few of her product purchases. For one, she buys toilet paper made from recycled paper. The down side to this is the thinness of the tissue, but on the other side, the bacteria can break it up easily and the company does recycle paper that would otherwise be sitting in a landfill. Bleach and other harmful cleaners with chlorine also had to be given up. Although a struggle at first, my mom feels good now knowing that all bathroom cleaners, laundry detergent, and dishwashing liquids she uses are plant based and biodegradable. For her it took loosing public sewage access to stop using harsh chemicals in her cleaners, but I am hoping to suck up the extra expense and start buying more eco-friendly products next time I visit the grocery store.