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What is Normal?

November 4, 2008 @ 21:44 By Gavin Webber 12 Comments

I know I said a while back that I wasn’t going worry about the crap written in the media as much as I do, but I couldn’t resist commenting on this little gem of an article. Titled “Curse of the carborexic” and feature in the NSW Sunday Telegraph, it is the biggest load of crap I have ever read. I will post in the article in its entirety, and add comments in bold italics where I feel the need to comment.

“A DARK side to being carbon-conscious has been discovered, with a growing number of people becoming green to the extreme.

That means, I must have turned to the dark side, as well as many of my readers. Use the force young padawan and beware the Sith Lord. You will become obsessed by carbon counting. Hardly a crime in my books, and it might save you a bit of money on the side.

Experts are warning the global warming panic is promoting obsessive compulsive disorders among some.

Dubbed “carborexics” or “dark greens”, these individuals will factor their carbon impact into every aspect of their life and go to extremes to avoid using energy.

So now I am a carborexic! What a load of tripe. All I want to do is to lower my carbon footprint, so that our children and my grandchildren will have a planet fit for their habitation. Now if that make people like me a carborexic, then guilty as charged. There should be more people like me.

According to a study conducted by Porter Novelli this month, four per cent of Americans now fit the profile of a carborexic.

And from what I see around me, 0.00001% of Australians fit this category!

Participants of the study who were considered dark green included a man who relieved himself on his lawn to save water, and a woman whose family slept en masse to save on heating.

I wee in the compost bin to add nitrogen, and when it is hot we all sleep in rooms with ceiling fans. Does that make me weird?

Head of the University of Sydney Anxiety Disorders Clinic Dr Mairwen Jones had seen an increase in patients suffering from climate change-related obsessive compulsive `checking’ disorders.

She explained that some patients had begun checking their gas and power meters constantly to monitor their usage, while others worried about their petrol consumption and their car’s odometer reading.

I check my meters weekly, and keep an eye on my fuel consumption. I don’t worry about it, I just make sure I don’t use these finite resources excessively. Does that make me OCD? How can you change behaviours if you can measure the consumption. Many people would get a big shock if they actually took any interest in their resource consumption instead of complaining about it upon the receipt of their energy & water bills!

“A person who says: ‘I constantly check the tap’, now it’s not that they’re worried about a flood, but they say ‘I don’t want to waste water with elevated temperatures and drought, and I’m worried about my impact on the environment”’.

Good, so they should be. I still see arrogant people hosing down their driveways every weekend. If you are not worried about the environment, then you have your head in the sand, ostrich boy! The way things are going, a major Australian city will be drinking mud fairly soon. Water restrictions are in place for a freaking reason, and not just to inconvenience people. A lack of concern for the environment is what has got us into this shit storm.

Founder and CEO of eco retailer Todae, Danin Kahn, said while he was obsessed with reducing his carbon footprint, it was a way to lead by example.

Here, here. I couldn’t agree more. If you talk the talk, you aught to walk the walk!

“You’ve got to be really passionate about it or it becomes too difficult,” he said.

“I don’t eat any meat, when I drive I drive a hybrid, I try to walk to work as often as I can and I power my gadgets with solar.”

Look, someone like me. He must be carborexic! Good job Danin, keep up the good work.

In September Mr Kahn, 31, went on a no-plastic diet. “I went cold turkey; I didn’t purchase anything with plastic,” he said.

That must have been very difficult, but rewarding. Just about everything is wrapped in plastic these days, and many things don’t need to be.


Founder of raw cuisine catering company Conscious Choice Julie Mitsios runs workshops on how to prepare food without cooking. She said demand for classes was unprecedented, as people realised the impact their diet had on carbon consumption.

I would like to go on that course. It sounds interesting, and fun. Something that this article is not!


People with signs of OCD should contact the Sydney Anxiety Disorders Clinic on 9351 9426.

True, if that is really the case for people dubbed as ‘carborexic’ showing extreme examples of OCD. Personally, I think everyone has a little bit of OCD in them, but they don’t let it control them. I also believe that if more people were dark green, then the world would be a much better place to live in, and we wouldn’t have a quarter of the drama we are having now. There might just be a future for our kids!”

I told you it was a load of tripe! Obviously the journalist who wrote this has never been to a Sustainable Living Festival. They find themselves surrounded by these dark, mysterious carborexic weirdos (normal, concerned citizens of the planet Earth), myself and my family included.

If I am suffering from carborexia, then most other Australian who haven’t reduced their consumption must be suffering from “carbulimia”, carbon gluttons, in which they gorge themselves on energy, and ashamedly, the highest per capita carbon polluters in the world. Now that is really something to go and see the Anxiety Disorders Clinic about!

Get real, and have a look around you and report on facts about climate change, including the great things me and my readers are doing, and not this kind of bullshit!

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Filed Under: carbon footprint, Change, Media, Sustainable Living

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About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. Teena says

    November 4, 2008 at 22:26

    Holy Crap Gav!!! Is that for real? I am appalled at such a load of S**T. Does the author of that story have any idea? Me finks not!

    Well then count me in for OCD therapy cause I got it REAL bad.
    xoxox

    Reply
  2. Sharon J says

    November 4, 2008 at 23:50

    Oh dear. I’d better stop nagging about dripping taps and lights being left on otherwise I’m sure to be carted off to the nearest clinic.

    What a load of old trollop!

    Reply
  3. wombat064 says

    November 5, 2008 at 00:02

    Does a light saber qualify as an energy efficient device Darth ?

    All theses new things to worry about… Maybe Ill just go shave my Wookie and knit me a new jumper just in case it gets cold on the dark side.

    Reply
  4. Julie says

    November 5, 2008 at 11:18

    What’s WORSE is that this journalist is just freeloading off a recent crappy article in the New York Times, featuring amongst others, Peak Oil writer Sharon Astyk, who was made out to be a complete freak and (almost) child abuser (she’s “the woman whose family slept en masse to save on heating”). Idiots.

    Reply
  5. nevyn says

    November 5, 2008 at 13:30

    Unbelievable! The journalist who wrote that article must be living under a pretty damn good rock. Because he/she is apparently oblivious to what is going on around him/her.

    A friend once said to me ‘better to be a fool in silence than to speak and let the whole world know’

    Reply
  6. greenfumb says

    November 5, 2008 at 18:00

    My tip for the week is DONT read the Telegraph, a bigger pile of sh** you are never likely to see. i have never seen anything in there worth reading.

    Reply
  7. Gavin says

    November 5, 2008 at 19:17

    Thankyou everyone for your valuable opinions. They all confirm that we are keen to be Dark Green!

    Just as a follow-up, here is the link to the original NY Times article.

    I find it hilarious that even one of my personal heroes, Colin Beavan AKA No Impact Man, gets a mention even though his experiment was a planned event! With the article listed under the fashion & style section this would have to be journalism at its worst 🙁

    Reply
  8. greenerme says

    November 6, 2008 at 10:47

    Hi Gav,

    My husband read some of the article to me. My response was just like you – what is wrong with those people are doing? If we are to become green our lives, focus and behaviour is going to change.

    Yes some people are more ‘extreme’ than others but let’s not put them down put say “well done”!

    Yes I can see the point however when the article goes on to say that one man uses his lawn as his toilet to save water. He may be saving water but wonder if we all decided to do this what affect this would have to our health and water ways for example.

    Yes I think everyone’s sustainable journey is going to be different. I am inspired by others that are further down the track than me (like you Gav).

    I try to remain of positive attitude on my green journey not allowing myself to be overwhelmed by everything I want to achieve or guilty because I am not living a perfect sustainable life yet.

    Positive attitudes inspirer people to change. Let’s get off the backs of people who are trying to make a positive change in our world. Let’s shake their hand and say well done……you inspire me to keep going.

    Reply
  9. Anonymous says

    November 7, 2008 at 00:15

    Dude. Carborexia?! Look at where it came from. Only in America. Mrs Wombat

    Reply
  10. The Tin House says

    November 7, 2008 at 15:04

    Gav, just as with bulimia, carbulimia sufferers might regret their intake and try to offload it afterwards….but it doesn’t work that way does it! I suppose if they purged their intake by going offline and solar, then maybe there’d be a chance.

    Interesting read. I think the term “shitstorm” is entirely appropriate, and very, very Australian!!!

    Lisa x

    Reply
  11. Deb says

    September 5, 2010 at 10:53

    Isn’t that interesting? It must mean the anti-consumerism, go-green movement has gained enough momentum to begin to terrify Wall Street!
    I’d say this calls for green high-fives all round!
    Gavin, I so admire your *accomplishments*! No BS, no high-faluting talk about doing it some day, just doing it. When I get discouraged by all the rest I come over and reread your posts.
    Thx to you *and* Kim
    Deb in Canada

    Reply
  12. Gavin says

    September 5, 2010 at 21:43

    Hi Deb,

    Thanks for the praise. Yes, I am a no BS sort of guy.

    Warm regards,

    Gav

    Reply

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