In an earlier post, I talked about the concerns I have with ecofrugality and the outside world, from the perspective of how you feel others might view you. However, I was reading a post thing morning from a young woman (Eleanor) who appears to be a bit of an ecofrugalist (I have no idea if that’s a real word, but I’m going to use it anyway) and it got me thinking about how I view others. Specifically, do I have very conservation-tinted glasses?

I think that we should be careful to judge others who upon first glance don’t meet our conservation standards. The truth is that we don’t all conserve all the time. Sometimes it’s situations, sometimes it’s priorities. For example, I generally take a canvas bag with me when I go grocery shopping. However, my bag has gotten rather dirty and I don’t have laundry facilities in my apartment so I can’t wash it as frequently as I would like. Since I am unwilling to put food in a dirty bag, I’ve just been getting the plastic store bags (which I reuse for dog walking). I must say though, I feel so guilty. Even though I’m reusing the bags, part of my feels everyone in the co-op must think that I’m just some poser who doesn’t know the score. Perhaps it’s irrational of me to think this way, but honestly that’s just how I feel. Everyone treats me well, though it takes the store clerks a few minutes to realize that I don’t have my bag with me. It has however taught me a good lesson: just because a person doesn’t fit all my perceptions of a conservationist, doesn’t mean that they don’t care.

Another factor to take into consideration is that people don’t realize they’re wasting resources. I’m surprised at how many people just run the water when they are washing dishes or brushing their teeth, but are good about turning off lights when they leave a room or not leaving their computer running. Sometimes if you mention to a roommate or a friend how much they can save (not how much they’re wasting!) by turning off the water, or making sure the heat’s down when they leave, they will only be too happy to oblige.

In the case of dear Eleanor, I feel that a number of other issues emerge. Without discussing who’s right or wrong in the situation, the fact of the matter is that for some of us, being in close relations with someone who not only doesn’t conserve, but is flippant about the environment or finances is a real headache, because some of our most fundamental values don’t align. For me it’s one of the hardest issues to deal with mainly because I feel that their decisions have a directly impact on my life and environment. While I do feel that compromises must be made I think that line is different for everyone. Some of the issues involved include:

Visibility of the issues. I am much more likely to notice that a friend or roommate drives everywhere in a low mpg car, or always leaves the lights on, than to notice that they don’t wash full loads of laundry and never hang clothes up to dry, even in the summer.

How much of a direct impact the behavior has on you. For me, a lot of the problem isn’t a monetary amount as much as a frequency of exposure. I find that I am much like to be annoyed by coming home and finding the TV on with no one watching it every night, than an SUV that’s parked in front of house two weekends a month.

Perception of entitlement. If you find you have a neighbor who has a flashy gas-guzzling vehicle to show off versus using it for something (like loading up the dogs or canoe), it can bug you a lot more. I think that our perceptions of why someone is or is not doing something that we feel is important, determines a some of our feelings towards their actions.

For me, fiscal and environmental conservation are every important and impact my habitual habits. While I certainly don’t limit myself to only entertaining company whose views align with mine, I am also sure that is no coincidence that some of my closest friends share similar feelings on these topics.