Are you green or hippie?

[moogie]

I was talking to a friend the other day and dh and i were saying that we're pretty hippie now.  and our friend said that we weren't hippies as he saw hippies as pot smoking, non bathing dreadlock wearing layabouts and we clearly weren't that. 

So although i believe classifying and stereotyping can be a bit dangerous i'd have to say our family is more "greenie" than "hippie". 

I've also noticed some "hippies" do non green things, like using sposies.

Shall we start a discussion on the idea?

[jnezmama02]

I think this is a really good point. I'm not sure anymore what a "hippy" means. I think sometimes people call themselves that, when they really mean "alternative to mainstream" in certain beliefs and can't think of a different term. I had a friend once who said she followed everything a hippy does. But, she dressed conversatively, she was very religious in a conversative religion, and she was definitely not into drugs or alcohol of any kind. She was, however, very socially and environmentally conscious and she followed AP. So, I don't know who "deserves" the title of hippy...those like my friend or those who were dreadlocked druggies?  Obviously, you can be a blend of both, but I think a lot of times people follow the fashion/music/drugs w/o the social consciousness of the hippy movement; others follow the social consciousness w/o following the fashion/music/drugs.

Oh, and FWIW, back in the 60's, hippies were NOTORIOUS for being very dirty and leaving trash everywhere. Not exactly enivronmental!  (anyone ever see the pictures of Woodstock afterwards...that place was a filthy nightmare!!!).

[mwelsh214]

I don't like the idea of lables, but we are all subject to them and we all think them, wether or not we admit to it is a different scenario. The word "hippie" does conjure the thoughts mentionned in the PP and I don't know that I'd want to be labelled as that. I do follow an environmentally sound way of living, and if someone wants to give it a name, go for it; the only problem there is that any lable is meant to group and generalize, and i don't think that is fair, even if the action/type of person/idea etc is a positive thing...for example, in grade school, some people might be called a nerd- well what does that mean? Most unequivocally, it means well educated and well learned, but it tends to be thrown at a child when they are polite to teachers, enjoy learning, don't cause a ruckus in class etc and all of those are good traits, but the label puts the kid down. Likewise, labels like democrat, republican, catholic, atheist...none of those words, themselves, represent anything inherently bad or evil, but for some individuals, being a republican means conservative tight fisted jackass, when in reality, a republican can be someone who values environmental issues, values life, donates their time, energy and money etc...

I'm not sure if I'm making much sense, but I think that giving a name to a certain lifestyle generalizes it and usually gives it a bad rep even when there's nothing bad about it....On the other hand, I wouldn't want these thoughts to be mistaken as wanting a politically correct name, either- because that just makes it worse and people use the original lable followed by "or (inset PC label) to be politically correct" and that is just plain annoying....

In short, Yes, i lead a generally green lifestyle, but Iw ould want to walk about being called a greenie...

[lorimm11]

I agree that labels in general are not good, but I have no problem being called a greenie.  I do what is best for our family and the environment, and I am very proud of that.