Apathy

Me. It's me, I'm the one with the apathy today.

I was looking over some articles on the green sites... "10 Ways to be Green"... "5 Ways to Go Green Without Spending Money"... "20 Things to Do to be Green".... and on and on ad nauseum. I say ad nauseum because they are pretty much all blathering on about the same old thing. And if in 2013, they are still blathering on about the same old things that SOME of us have been saying for YEARS, then we have a problem.

Here are some suggestions from these *new* articles, posted this month, March, 2013...

• "Stop Buying Water." Really??? No shit???? And, wait, I would actually SAVE money by not buying bottled water, too??? YOU DON'T SAY!
• "Refuse to Waste Gas." So glad you say, I never thought of more gas efficiency before.
• "Put and End to Paper Towels." Damn, I wish I'D said something like that before now!
• "Lighten You Laundry's Load." Don't use warm or hot water? WOW! I could have sworn that has been said for, oh, 10 years at least, but thanks for the amazing information!

And from an article about how to go green in 2013....

If you want to be kinder to the planet and save some money at the same time, here are 20 ways to go green in 2013.

1. Buy fresh, local food this summer
2. Bring your own bags when you shop for groceries. You can often buy reusable bags at the stores you buy groceries. 
3. Shop at consignment stores
4. Rip up some lawn and create new garden beds this spring, and then grow your own food this summer.
5. Ditch those dreaded plastic sandwich bags and get some washable containers or bags.
6. Cut down on car trips and run your errands on your bike or on foot.
7. Pack cloth napkins instead of paper towels in school lunches.
8. Plant a tree. 
9. Dump your bottled water costs. You could save hundreds of dollars by buying snazzy metal water bottles for everyone in the family and a personal filter for your kitchen faucet.
10. Organize a Halloween costume swap in September.
11. Replace your old light bulbs with LED bulbs. They last 15 times longer and use 75 percent less energy.
12. Expand your hand-me-down circle. Organize a clothing swap for your kids’ preschool or a group of friends. Everyone brings gently used and clean kids’ clothes to your garage and parents can take as many items as they donated. The rest goes to charity. You can also swap toys and books.
13. Replace your showerheads with low-flow models. Low-flow showerheads can save you up to 15 percent on water heating costs and reduce your water usage by as much as 20,000 gallons a year.
14. Save up to 30 percent on your monthly heating bills by having a home energy audit done by a professional.
15. Give service and experience gifts this year instead of stuff. Make homemade gift certificates for services and experiences that could include tech support, dinner and a movie, yard work, pet walking or babysitting, or a day of organizing support for the clutter challenged.

And now you are asking, "Why the ire, Rhonda? These are good things! Things you yourself recommend!" Yup. Been sayin' 'em. For... years? And people been sayin' 'em for years before me. Good stuff. Damn fine ideas. What I want to know is,

WHY ARE WE STILL HAVING TO SUGGEST THEM?????

Reusable bags as a suggestion in 2013? Why do we even have to say that AGAIN? Don't most people who aren't living under rocks realize that they should be bringing their own goddam bags by now?  And if not, if we have to keep saying it, what's it going to take? If people haven't gotten it yet, are they ever going to? What's the point of it all? Avoid bottled water. This is not new news. It's not even sort of new news. It's old news. Very old news. Yet, how many millions haven't gotten around to it?

So, why the ire? Maybe it's just my mood today. Maybe I'm sick of being nice. Maybe I've never liked to have to repeat myself, so realizing that there are so many deaf ears out there really gets to me. Just, just get it, people. Quit making us repeat ourselves.

It's enough to make me give up and leave everyone to their own hell. I'm having an apathetic day. Hopefully, it is fleeting. Sometimes, I do wonder why the hell I care. Days like today... maybe I just don't.