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My daughter recently bought a copy of Archie's Pals'n'Gals Double Digest (#124), and lo and behold the first story is about the kids from Riverdale thinking up things to reduce carbon emissions for a school contest. Anyway, the gradient from how Betty carries herself and how Veronica looks at things is intriguing, and I thought it could make an interesting slide down the road.
You can get the full slide image here. Just so you know (Spoiler alert!), Jughead comes up with the winning entry by suggesting fridges with see through doors. Awesome!
I guess the bigger question is where you think most people fit in this gradient, and maybe more importantly, where we need to be in order to have a real chance at being sustainable (both in terms of resources used, as well as the big climate change challenge).
Speaking for myself, I wish I was more like Betty, but if I'm honest, there's probably a fair bit of Veronica in me as well. I constantly hear myself making excuses for doing this or that, because I already do this or that. If nothing else, I can say that I'm trying and getting better.
It's funny, but this discussion actually follows the cultural nuances of Archie's world pretty closely: i.e. Archie choosing Betty should be a no-brainer, but damn if that Veronica always seems to get in the way.
Environment
Education & Careers
Comments
I'm totally with you on the Betty/Veronica scale. But I can say it seems easier to go the Betty route these days than it use to be. Depending on the crowd you hang out with, peer pressure can really get your behaviour on a certain track. I guess the point is that the more people who "do the Betty", the easier it will be to get others "to do the Betty".
That's why things like food miles, and bicycling are important - they're more than just a carbon save - there's something cultural going on which ultimately has equal (more?) value.
Posted by: Cam | September 24, 2008 1:23 PM
I thought Veronica was trying to be quite logical. However her plan wouldn't work anyway, since the plane would leave whether or not she was on the flight. Unless she has a private plane, in which case she would be better off going commercial.
Also, Veronica's plan to buy clothes would also be doomed to fail since the clothes are already made. Unless she's getting custom wear. What Veronica want's to do is dampen aggregate demand and aggregate fuel useage, which is actually a very good idea but not the way she is implementing it. Perhaps her father could be more useful.
Posted by: Phil | September 24, 2008 4:31 PM
I see Jughead's point, since he browsed through the fridge with the door open, but I think he ovelooks two points:
First, the more kinesthetic processors among us (and I bet he's one) will still open the door and browse through the stuff with their hands (I think we see this in grocery stores).
Second, a clear refrigerator door will necessitate more time spent cleaning the inside of the refrigerator (since right now, out of sight is out of mind) and this will also have to be done with the door open.
Posted by: Rebecca | September 24, 2008 10:06 PM
I'm reminded of the "oh, so environmentally conscious" upper-upper middle class twit bragging about the size of her "recycling pile" each week. With friends like that, the environment has no need of enemies.
Posted by: bob koepp | September 25, 2008 9:54 AM