Go Green or Go Clean
May 05 2010
Returning to the states has presented transitions for us, such as: MC going from active duty to retirement (and not working); the childrens’ schooling; and, my switch from hausmann (as the Germans called me) to being the spouse going to work (I keep wondering though if I’m technically the “breadwinner” of the family when MC’s retirement pay as a LtCol of 23 years is greater than that of an adjunct professor at a state university).
Another transition we’re making is cultural. For instance, we’ve noticed the green movement in the states and the efforts to lessen everyone’s footprint. Heck, I’m thinking of looking into a wind turbine for our 5 acres if we’re able to sell excess energy back to the utility. First, though we have to decide on a dog, then I’ll address wind issues.
Coming from Germany, where green has been a way of life for decades, we got used to and appreciating the benefit of things like sorting our garbage, watching our neighbors collect rain water, hanging our laundry out to dry, and walking or riding our bikes to the store (or pub). The lifestyle appealed to my utilitarian Scotch-Irish heritage. Thus, we decided we wanted to continue as many habits as we could upon our return to the states. So, what do we do first, we buy a 41-foot RV – no footprints, just 6 wheel tracks. Granted, an RV trip does sound like a big footprint, but if you consider that the RV was our house, and that we got the same mileage as a Hummer, our footprint was smaller than a typical household with 3 kids and 2 cars.
The other trend we’ve noticed here, but happens to be the opposite of Europe, is the cleanliness issue. We went from Europe, where food workers don’t wear hats or gloves, and there are sugar bees flying over the pastries, to being asked to use hand sanitizer on grocery carts, kids being told not to reach for candy during Trick-or-Treat, and business execs “fist-bumping” instead of shaking hands.
America seems a bit “germaphobic” to me (if you’re over 40, you can appreciate that feeling remembering your childhood), but I realize that the two issues are confusing Americans, or, at least, me. I was using a public restroom and as I washed my hands (lifelong habit), a sign instructed me to keep the water running, go dry my hands, then come back and turn the water off.
I’m torn by the do-gooder issues: Am I supposed to be green? Or clean? Should I waste water or be wary of germs? Did people really get that sick in the past by turning off the water first? Don’t germs stick to dry hands as well as to wet hands?
Don’t the green and clean groups ever talk to each other about these conflicting issues?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tom Wahl, MOAA. MOAA said: Go green or go clean? Adjusting to the cultural differences between America and Germany @WahlsRVAmerica http://bit.ly/axPEHy [...]
We have gone off the deep edge but now they are saying that some of the allergies children suffer today are because the environment is too sterile. We played in the dirt, ate the dirt, visited friends with measles and chicken pox (to get it over with) and we were all healthy.
Everything in moderation!
@Lea: Sam has become a germaphobe, I think in part to our culture – he sees so many warnings everywhere and takes them to heart.