Opinions

The green movement needs to avoid condescending others

This morning the librarian asked me if I wanted a receipt. I said no. He said, “Good for you.”

This is odd. This is the green movement at its pinnacle of condescension.

First of all, if every cashier would simply stop offering a receipt, the issue of wasted paper as a result of a transaction would disappear. Hardly anyone actually asks for a receipt for the minor purchases made throughout the day.

Working in a sandwich café myself, I have found that offering a receipt actually irritates some customers.

So I have stopped offering. Customers who want a receipt will ask for it. Those who don’t are happier to be left alone, rather than pestered with paper or judged for accepting or declining.

If the person selling me my product judges me, I feel disinclined to make the purchase. That is why, for example, pharmacists and cashiers at drug stores are not supposed to impose judgment on their customers, whether the purchase is birth control or cough drops.

In a library, I am not making a purchase – that is, assuming that I’m not buying a lost book or something – so why would I need a receipt?

It was a silly scenario altogether. The part that was mind blowing was the moment when I turned down the receipt, and he said, “Good for you.”
That is something you tell people who make the decision to go back to school, or go to rehab, or dump their domineering boyfriend.

That is not something you tell someone who merely does not wish to carry a piece of paper around.

I simply cannot stress enough how overwhelming the mindset of the green movement can be. Not only is the movement taking over the streets with specialized trash cans and all kinds of recycled goods, but now it’s hitting casual conversation as well.
If I choose not to recycle my can of soda, or if I choose to buy a paperback book rather than an E-book, it doesn’t mean I want the next generation to suffer.

The instinct to judge is a funny thing, and the instinct to accept does not exist.

Perhaps this opinion would be more suitable for an online blog of sorts, but then it wouldn’t enjoy the luxury of being printed on paper.
The good news is, this is a fairly short piece, so it hasn’t taken up as much of paper as it could have.

Also, the left over Daily 49er copies are recycled. Whew!

Paige Pelonis is a sophomore journalism and international studies major and the assistant opinions editor for the Daily 49er

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