Should You Hold a Green Grudge?

Airing Dirty Laundry Alert: I ran into my parents the other day at the grocery store and, as I talked with them at their car, I glanced in the back seat and saw . . . plastic bags. My heart sank for a second and then I got mad. Well, I got pissed.

You all know by now that I run EcoVixen (www.ecovixen.com) and that I’ve been passionate about using cloth bags for the past 18 years, since I was still a young kid living with my parents. To give them credit, they do typically use cloth bags—my Dad is a proud “Man of the Cloth Bag”—but I was still surprised to see so much plastic. And I was hurt.

In my pissed-off state, I wasn’t exactly nice to them. In the days since, I can’t stop thinking about the interaction. Should I have been upset? Or should I have just bit my tongue and looked the other way?

Here’s what I’ve come up with—if your passion is something personal (like photography) it can stay personal, but if your passion extends beyond you (e.g. those of us who care about the environment know everybody has to step up and do their part because it impacts all of us) then you should be able to say something to encourage others to see the light—in the case of the environment, I guess we want them to see the green light.

Here’s what I’ve also come up with—you should always be nice as you try to enlighten and encourage others, especially to those you love.

Question of the blog: Do you agree it’s fair for those of us with a green conscious to impose that conscious on those without it?