Can You Be Wealthy & an Environmentalist?

I had an acquaintance 2 years ago ask me how I could call myself an environmentalist and still drive an SUV. This was after I did a bout of fundraising for an environmental agency and invited dozens of people to their big fundraising luncheon. I was a little surprised at his comment.

I said that first of all – I don’t call myself an environmentalist. Second, I am a windsurfer, a soccer mom and I drag a lot of stuff around in my car so I need something large. Third, I barely drive 5,000 miles a year, and fourth, I bought the SUV over 10 years ago when gas prices were just a blip in our pocketbooks.

Shortly afterwards, while parking in my neighborhood downtown, someone left a note on my car window that said - Save the planet, stop driving your SUV! I was left feeling guilty and inadequate - essentially shamed.

Then just a few months ago I was talking to a landscape gardener about my yard (or lack of one at this point) about landscaping. I said I definitely don’t want a grass lawn since they aren’t very eco-friendly. I had taken a natural environmentally friendly gardening class many years ago and learned this. He asked why I even cared about not having a lawn given the cars I drive (an SUV and a Porsche.)

Here I go again, I thought, having to explain myself all over. I said the Porsche Boxster gets 24 miles to the gallon and my husband I combined do not drive over 10,000 miles a year. That is about 3 times less than the average family. I had difficulty dealing with the series of emotions that followed.

Why was I being judged? I was one of the most environmentally friendly people I know – and yet because I wasn’t a perfect environmentalist others were still very critical. I honestly have to say it didn't inspire me to lean more in their direction, if anything it made me angry and pushed me farther away.

Earlier this year the magazine The Week's cover story was titled “Is Environmentalism Dead.” The article was about the strong “us” verus “them” mentality that environmentalist push out to the rest of the world. That if you aren’t perfect in everything you do for the environment than don’t bother trying at all because it is insulting to “us” as a group. Granted – this does not occur with all environmentalists, however it does for those extremists who happen to get into the press.

I don’t look at environmentalism as black or white, but as shades of gray. Certainly you shouldn’t throw your trash out the window driving on the freeway (that would be a shade of black), but you also don’t need to live in a commune and share a household with 30 others (that might be considered a shade of white). There all kinds of beautiful shades of gray in the middle. It doesn’t matter if you are dark gray or light gray, what matters is that you understand the consequences of your actions on the world, and then make your own decisions on how to contribute to restoring the earth back to equilibrium.

As the Buddha would say, the path to enlightenment comes not from rowing near the banks of life’s river, but maintaining a course down the center. That is how I live my environmental life – a nice average shade of gray – helping in many places, yet not being perfect in all circumstances. Most importantly is that I am ok with my decisions.

As a result, I feel less shame, which provides me the ability to live a more fulfilled life. This keeps me psychologically well rounded, which allows me to go out into the world and create abundance. The financial rewards that I reap not only benefit me and family, but they also benefit the world because I have the time, energy and inspiration to help make the world a better place.

If I were wondering how I was going to pay my rent every month, or even pay off my Visa bill, I wouldn’t have the energy to give to others.

It is very common in my community (the San Francisco Bay Area) to have this “us” versus “them” mentality when it comes to money also. The perception by some of those without money is that if you have money, which I do from 20 years of good financial planning (and not from birth since I grew up in very modest circumstances), is that you are using too many of the earth’s resources by being a consumer – buying a large home, sports cars and SUV's, designer clothing, gourmet food, etc. The message give by this group lacking money is that you are fundamentally flawed if you are wealthy.

This is the exact type of thinking that causes people to stay in their patterns of poverty; this thought that money causes harm in the world or harm to their purist earth conscious reputation. Don’t we already get enough messages from the world that we are born flawed? Some folks seems to think there is a limited suppy of money and if they have too much of it then other's won't have enought. Do you think these same thoughts about your health? Maybe I should take a break from being healthy so other people can be healthy. You would never say that, why say it about money?

Too many people live their lives without self acceptance. Tara Brach in her CD Radical Self Acceptance talks about how we have this invisible backdrop of shame, which prevents us from living a fulfilled life of happiness. I would say it also prevents people from having the financial security they deserve.

This country has a negative savings rate. People spend more than they make. They aren’t thinking about their financial future or their children’s. If they aren't thinking about their own future, they probably aren't thinking about yours or even the earth's. As a result of being financially incompetent, they are in a state of permanent shame. As a popular coping tactic, they avoid talking about their money problems and therefore don't make efforts to fix them. The goal should be to start thinking about their family's financial future first with some good financial planning. Once they have their building blocks in place and their food and shelter needs covered, as Maslow says in his hierarchy of needs, they can then go out and help make the world a better place.

With a healthy attitude around money we can easily attract abundance into our lives. When our cup runneth over, we are especially motivated to helping the earth restore balance. With all our combined efforts living a life released of shame, and by rowing near the center of the environmental river, our future generations will enjoy the natural beauty of our fragile little blue planet.