Green Lining Under Depressed Economy

I am usually fairly casual about my finances. Barely a glance at my Mastercard statement. I pay, no questions asked. Until today, when I noticed a monthly charge of $50.32, from New York Times Sales. That struck me as a lot of money, all of a sudden. The representative at the end of the line confirmed that I had been paying that amount for twenty months in a row. One thousand dollars, I could have saved.

Before, – that is when the economy was not such a scary word – I would not have bothered. Fleeting pangs of guilt from my budding green conscience, and thoughts of all the trees downed because of my indulgence, did not make a difference. I continued to read, and then quickly dispose of the daily paver that made its way to my door every morning. Promising myself that one day, I would switch to an online subscription. 

This morning, I resisted the advances of the New York Times representative to cut me a deal. Half price for sixteen weeks. Or maybe just the Sunday paper. Or would I prefer the weekday edition? No, I told him, I had made up my mind. With the economy, I could no longer afford the superfluous expense of $50.32, or any other amount. Plus, it’s bad for the trees anyway.

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Truths

Met with the French group to plan our next event, on the theme ‘Sustainability and I’. How easy it is for me to put my intellect at the service of this noble cause. And how much more difficult it is to walk the talk. This realization throws me back to the original premise for my blog. That I can’t be that different from my other fellow human beings, and that the real solution to the climate crisis needs to take into account two simple truths: 1) in general, it is easier to adopt new behaviors that are a source of increased pleasure or immediate gratification , 2) most of us will not sacrifice the basic elements of our lifestyle unless forced by rules or economic forces.

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