We live in a binary culture where you are either all in or all out, a man or a woman, eating well or eating bad, gay or straight, green or khaki; and anything in-between is hard to understand and to validate by society.
The motivation to write this blog, was the interaction I had with my roommate a couple of days ago. She’s a vegetarian, and as she was going out wearing a leather jacket, I said she was looking very nice. Immediately after I highlighted her outfit, she had the necessity to assure me her jacket was fake leather, even though I didn’t asked or emphasis the leather like material she was wearing. I feel she had the need to say it was fake to maintain her reputation, or carry her title. As if society was policing her behaviour as a vegetarian, and even though she hasn’t eaten meat in 5 years, if she were to wear leather that one time, she could no longer carry that title. Which is ridiculous and made me reflect on this mentality because the overall concept might be hindering sustainability.
The problem with all-in-all-out mentality is that it demotivates people to be in anything “in-betweeen”. It is hard for people to see rewards in being just a little bit more sustainable, because the all in all out mentality dictates that just a little bit of change doesn’t count, you will still be in the same binary box unless you make a major change. In this world consuming less meat doesn’t mean you’re a vegetarian. This behaviour feels non recognizable, as if someone who eats meat and someone who rarely eats meat are the same, however not eating meat often, actually helps the environment a great deal more.
I’ve seen people ask, environmental engineers, vegans, vegetarians, basically anyone who cares about the environment, things like “If you care so much about the environment, why are you drinking from a plastic bottled?” “Why would you use a car or public transportation? That emits greenhouse gasses.” “How can you use the dishwasher? That uses energy and water”
Society, invalidates people’s major contribution to the environment if the overall behaviour is not a clear representation of perfect forest green.
How do you think we can overcome all or nothing mentality? Have you notice this behaviour before reading this blog? Are there any advantages to this binary culture?
Thank you for this blog post! I think that it highlights an important aspect of sustainability: the social side. Yes, businesses, marketers, social activists and other key players all influence us in terms of what to eat, what to buy, how much to spend, etc. But what about our closer communities? Friends? Families? Last year, one of my roommates was vegan, and another was vegetarian. We had quite a few conversations about the health impact of these choices, but also the environmental one. These personal interactions I had regarding diet choice was very binary, like you point out. In the eyes of a close friend, eating any meat or animal product was not only unethical, but was destroying the planet. However, I try to take a different approach. I have made a conscience decision to continue to eat meat, but I am more aware of where I am buying it from (the local butcher versus a chain grocery store), how the animals were treated (cage free eggs versus Free range eggs) and how far the food had to travel to end up in my grocery basket. While I know this is always a contentious topic, at least in my close circle, I am trying to take a less binary approach, but rather a more mindful one. Bringing up the social pressures and awareness is important, and I think has been interlaced within our lecture content. I hope that it becomes less of a binary issue, and more of an awareness/mindfulness/responsibility attitude.