Frugally Green

The Three Little Pigs.  We all know the story, don’t we?  Momma pig sends her three children off to make it on their own.  One makes it and two don’t.  Simple, right?

Two piggies were stupid and lazy, so they built their homes from the first pile of materials they could find, straw and sticks, with no thought about tomorrow or the durability of their shiny new homes.  The third piggy, knowing he might some day have to endure inclement weather (aka stinky wolf breath), took his time and found a supply of bricks to build his sturdy home from.

Sure enough, the big, bad wolf showed up and dominated the two houses built from straw and sticks, but couldn’t muster the lung capacity to knock over the brick house. In the watered down, safe-for-all-ages Disney version, the lazy pigs were fortunate enough to crawl from the rubble of their decimated shanties and find safety with their brother in his brick house.

But, just like the real story behind any Disney depiction, we all know what really happened.  Those lazy pigs were eaten.  It wasn’t pretty either. Think Hannibal Lecter dining on his friend’s liver.  That’s how it really went down.

So what lesson can we really glean from this story beyond avoiding being stupid and lazy? Since this is a sustainability blog, let’s focus on the houses.  That’s tangible, right?

In terms of the evolution of society, we are right up there with Mr. Brick House Piggy.  We learned ages ago how to make a building that would last hundreds of years.  We did it.  They’re still there.

Now, though, we build houses and buildings that are designed to last fifty years…maybe. Talk about a step backwards. What the heck happened?

Good question; I’ll tell you.  Somewhere between a long time ago and right now, we became totally aesthetically anemic and lost our imaginations.  We lost our value for things that leave a lasting impression.

No one wants to build a stone castle anymore because, well, what if we decide we don’t like it?  Why take a chance with something that will last when we can half-ass it and just tear it down if we change our mind about what we think looks good.  We can always have something new and exciting to look at.  Who doesn’t want that?

This problem goes way beyond people and their homes, though.  It’s infiltrated the way we do and think about business.  We build skyscrapers now to serve a sector of business that is there to make a quick buck and get out. The businesses funding this construction don’t have the capital to build something that lasts because, well, who knows how long they’ll be around.

Where did the long-term vision go?  Where did the decisiveness go?  We’ve built a world around us to allow all the options in life we could ever desire, yet we find happiness fleeting and lasting decisions are harder and harder to come by.  Business becomes faster and faster, yet shorter and shorter lived.

Now, we have the green building movement.  Awesome.  We’re starting to become conscious of the impacts of our habits.  Every day we’re getting closer to a world where buildings exist in a sustainable eco-system.  But here’s the rub – sustainable building materials are, by and large, less durable than their earth depleting counterparts. Bamboo, particle board, many forms of insulation – they’re recycled and renewable, but they just don’t last as long.

By all means, this is an improvement, but I have to wonder sometimes if durable might beat renewable.  Maybe we should bring back the stone castles and pyramids that still stand after hundreds and thousands of years.  Maybe we should spend more time planning and less time changing our minds.  Plenty of study has concluded that the more choices lead to less happiness.

What’s more important for the survival of Man and Earth?  Choice or happiness?  Is it really that black or white?

I lost the little piggies awhile ago, didn’t I?

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The Giving Tree is an illustrated children’s story, written by Shel Silverstein that chronicles the relationship between a boy and a tree.  In the beginning, they’re playmates – the boy climbs the tree, swings on its branches and eats apples in its shade.  They both enjoy each other’s company very much.  But the boy grows a little bit older and starts to come around less often.  This saddens the tree.  When he eventually returns he’s grown up a bit and no longer wants to play.  Instead, he wants money to “buy things and have fun.”  The tree doesn’t have money, but she is happy to let the boy harvest her apples to sell in the city.  So he does, and disappears again.

When the boy returns years later, the tree is excited and anxious to play, but the boy is a grown man now and hasn’t the time or desire to.  He wants a house so that he can find a wife and have children and raise them.  The tree cannot give the boy a house so, instead, she offers him her branches.  He cuts them and disappears.  Again the tree is sad.  When the boy returns, he is middle aged, sad, and wanting a boat that he can sail away. The tree, with no boat to give, allows him to cut down her trunk to make one.  The boy does and sails away.

When he returns once again as a very old man, the tree tells the boy she’s nothing left to give him.  The old man now says he has no need for anything else.  He’s too tired to do anything but sit.  The tree offers him a seat on her stump.  He takes it, and the two become friends again.  And the tree is happy.

I have to admit that The Giving Tree is my favorite children’s book.  I like it so much that, at one time, I considered having it’s cover illustration tattooed on my arm.  If that’s not the ultimate testament to my enjoyment, then I don’t know what is.  Maybe if I put it on my forehead?

This story silently speaks volumes about the unconditional love that can exist in a one-sided relationship while warning those that take advantage of such a relationship of the harm they inadvertently do to those who provide for them.  Looking at this story through our green goggles, it’s only fitting that the two characters happen to be a human and a tree.

Think back to the different life stages that you’ve been through. What were some of the things that you really appreciated and what did you take for granted? Can you say that you truly appreciated anything when you were just a child?  Probably not, but then again, you were too young to really take advantage of a relationship.  What about when you were a teenager?  A young adult?  Maybe you’re middle aged or even elderly now.  What has changed throughout your life regarding what and who you truly appreciate and what and who you might have taken advantage of?  As we age and aspire to new and bigger challenges, we shift our attention from one priority to the next, even though the resources and relationships that support us might not change at all.

I don’t say this to make anyone feel bad.  We’ve all been guilty at some point in our lives of taking from one relationship to give to another.  What’s really important is that we’re able to recognize when we’re doing this and make an effort to rebalance our focus.  Life is tough and we’ll never get it perfect, but just by trying we’ll allow ourselves to build stronger, balanced relationships.

From a frugally green perspective, try to think about some of the ambitions that you’ve had, or some that you have now, and consider the potential impacts that you have on various natural resources and systems as you pursue them.  Then, use that knowledge to focus on finding new, creative ways to lessen that impact.  The idea here isn’t to feel guilty or stop pursuing your goals, it’s to be aware of how they affect other people and things and then to take action on their behalf.

A personal example I can give is simply writing this blog.  Since I started Frugally Green in April, 2009 I’ve spent considerably more time sitting in front of the computer reading, writing, researching, and designing than I ever would have without this website as motivation.  As a result, my computer is using up a lot more electricity than it was before.

Realizing this, I wanted to adopt a small change in my life that I could use to offset it.  The solution I came up with?  Drive my truck less on the weekends.  Weekends are errand and chore days for me.  I go around town picking up things I put off during the week, visit friends, and run out to the farmer’s markets that Jessie sells cupcakes at.  When I realized that most of the places I go don’t require me to carry much  and that I have a perfectly functional bike, the solution was obvious.

Now, when I run to the hardware store or out to the farmer’s market, I just hop on the ol’ two wheeler and pedal off.  I still have to use the truck to pick up large items now and again, but I have significantly cut my weekend driving down – more than enough to offset the extra computer use (and it doesn’t hurt that I now spend a good chunk of my weekends huddled over a keyboard thinking of witty parentheticals to make you chuckle).

The relationships that we create with people, places and things can sometimes lead to unsustainable practices.  Lots of times, we don’t even notice because we’ve become so consumed by our pursuits.  Remember that, like the Giving Tree, the earth will provide to us all that we are willing to take from it, without making much of a fuss.  If we ignore that for too long, like the boy in our story did, we could come to the end of the line with little left to be harvested by those that will follow us.

“In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation.”

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We all remember the popular children’s fable, The Tortoise and the Hare – a story that teaches us the virtue of setting and maintaining a pace to achieve our goals.  In it, a turtle becomes tired of listening to a nearby rabbit brag about how quick he is and challenges him to a race.  The rabbit sprints away at the start, taunting the turtle for being so slow.  Soon, though, the rabbit becomes tired.  Looking back to see that the turtle is so far behind him, he decides to rest under a tree, falling asleep.  He is later awakened by the cheers of the other woodland creatures as the turtle crosses the finish line, realizing that he’d slept too long and allowed the turtle to pass him.

It’s a simple and classic tale, the moral being, “slow and steady wins the race.” Such basic and wise words, but many times we find ourselves living as the hare rather than the tortoise.  We define goals for ourselves, become excited, pursue them with fervor, and, all too often, quickly become tired and unmotivated, abandoning what we’d started and moving onto the next flash in the pan.  On the other hand, it’s just as easy to become disenchanted with our goals when we slow down.  We’re excited and we want to see results.  When they don’t materialize as soon as we had hoped, it’s easy to think that we just won’t ever get there, and give up trying.

Slow & steady wins the race

Here at Frugally Green, I (and many of you) are on a quest for self-improvement on two fronts, and frugality and sustainability are two really broad targets!  I’ve written before about balancing multiple goals and how important it is to find opportunities to achieve them simultaneously, but how do we stay on track? How do we balance the pursuit of our dreams between speeding away and burning out like the hare and plodding along like the tortoise, afraid we won’t ever get there?  I think we all know deep down the tortoise is, undoubtedly the winner of the race, but the hare has its place, too.  The fundamental task in achieving our goals is breaking them down into many smaller goals and assigning “tortoise” or “hare” characteristics to them.

The role of the Tortoise

In becoming frugal and green, the tortoise represents our overall, long-term goals and the planning that is required to achieve them. We’re all different, so this could be anything from starting an international business or foundation committed to sustainability and becoming a financially independent philanthropist to simply reducing your energy consumption and recycling more than you throw away.  Whatever your ultimate goal is, the tortoise represents the careful and deliberate planning that must take place to realize these achievements.  These are not goals that can be completed tomorrow. You must set a pace for yourself to reach these landmarks by breaking them down into smaller, more easily attainable goals.  It is through this slow and calculated process that you will build the framework that will guide your decisions towards the end goal.

So now you have an outline of how you are going to attain your highest goals.  You may still feel like you haven’t actually done anything yet, but you have! You’ve given yourself a reference guide that will tell you when you’re on the right track and when you aren’t.  It might be pages long or it might just be a few items, but now that you’ve really thought about it, you’ve got a strong focal point. Einstein once cleverly stated, “If I had only 1 hour to save the world, I would spend the first 55 minutes defining the problem.”

The role of the Hare

We know, certainly, that we can’t sustain ourselves trying to sprint our way to a finish line that could be years away, so where does the hare and his hyperactive tendencies come into play for us?  Well, since we took our time when we started off and carefully pieced together an outline that breaks down our goals into bite size pieces, we can now pursue each of them, one by one, with lightning quickness.

Now, don’t get carried away like our rabbit friend did in the story.  What I mean to say is, from our example above, maybe a few of the first steps that you lay out for yourself are to remember to turn off your computer every night, change all your light bulbs to CFLs, and only run your dishwasher when it’s full.  Pick one of these basic tasks, like turning your computer off every night, and throw yourself at it! Spend every day focusing on it until the action is ingrained into your habits.  Don’t worry about the other goals until this happens, then move on to the next.  It won’t take a lot of effort because it’s simple and you know how it will contribute to your long-term success.  Continue on this path until you’ve satisfied all your base goals.  Then, give yourself a pat on the back and move onto the next rung of the ladder. You’ll probably find that your ability to adapt becomes quicker and quicker as you travel down the course you’ve set for yourself.

Putting it all together

The Tortoise and the Hare is a timeless classic that reinforces a lesson that we learn at a young age, but is often forgotten by adults as the demands of life in a modern world bear down upon them.  The tortoise teaches us that a slow, methodical pace is what will efficiently take us long distances.  The hare teaches us that quickness is useful for short durations.

Whether we vocalize them or not, we all have goals.  We all have dreams.  Attaining them depends upon the system of support we create that will ensure success.  State your dreams without fear and pursue them the same. Be it big or small, make it a point to take one step forward every day.