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May 8, 2008

ENViRONMENT: More Americans feel guilty for not living greener

You really have been meaning to swap out your light bulbs for those energy-efficient ones. And you really and truly did not mean to leave your computer on all vacation.

You did, in fact, hear all those Earth Day messages. And yes, you know you’re not doing enough.

You know it and you feel guilty.

Hey - join the crowd.

In fact, more people (primarily women) are feeling guiltier this year than they were last about their not-so-carbon-neutral habits.

So says the second annual green guilt survey commissioned by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, a non-profit that wants you to recycle batteries.

In 2007, about 20 percent of Americans surveyed said they were feeling green guilt. This year, that number jumped slightly to 22 percent. Men actually felt less guilty this year (18 percent last year vs. 17 percent this year), and women were carrying the burden of guilt more (22 percent vs. 26 percent).

But guilt aside, more Americans said they’re stepping up their actions to make their lives more environmentally friendly, the survey shows. For instance, more people this year said they recycled cellphones and batteries: 41 percent said they recycled phones and 37 percent recycled rechargeable batteries, vs. 31 percent and 29 percent last year. And a large majority - 89 percent - said they recycled something. Last year, the number was 87 percent.

The survey was based on phone interviews with 525 women and 481 men. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The primary motivation for people to be a little greener? Children. Seventeen percent said they’d do more if they had a child, the survey shows. In 2008, 47 percent of those with children under 6 recycled cellphones. Overall in 2008, the number was 41 percent. But 30 percent still couldn’t bring themselves to switch to cloth diapers.

This year’s survey “is encouraging because it revealed that people understand their actions have a long-term impact,” says Greg Broe, acting chief operating officer for RBRC. “They’re suffering this green guilt and want to do more.”

But guilt can be a double-edged sword, says Chip Giller, president and founder of Grist.org, an environmental website written with a humorous twist. “Green guilt certainly works for some people, but I have a concern that guilt ultimately is going to turn off more people than anything else,” Giller says.

Plus, he says, green “consumerism and frankly battery recycling are only going to get us so far. ”

Instead, like many environmentalists, he says that to get big change, the United States needs to change big policies, including legislation aimed at major polluters.

So how guilty should you feel for choosing plastic over paper or keeping your baby’s bottom wrapped in Pampers?

“What I like to say is focus on the big stuff and don’t sweat the small stuff,” Giller says.

Though it’s true one person may not save the glaciers from melting with one diaper, Paige Rodgers, a Marin, Calif., mother who co-founded a business making cloth napkins for kids - instead of wasteful paper - says every little thing really does help.

“I hear that echoed - this idea of feeing good about making small changes. Because it’s something. We’re doing something.”

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