Weekend rewind: Greenpeeves
June 20, 2009 at 6:00 am by Wayne GarciaCross-posted from CL’s Green Community:
By Michelle Schenck
CL Green Community contributor
Everyone has a pet peeve or two. It is common to get slightly annoyed with a member of the human race every now and again, even if it is something small, like the way way a person slurps their cup of morning joe or the last person in the bathroom not replacing the toilet paper roll. It is the way that you confront and handle these matters, if at all, that turns these pet peeves into issues.
For example, when I was a little girl, I used to see a family member (they shall remain nameless) leave the water faucet on while doing the dishes. She or he would start to wash a dish, walk away to do something else, and then come back. I didn’t understand why they didn’t just turn the water off if they were going to step away for 15-20 seconds at a time? It seemed like such a huge waste of water even at a young age when the words “green” didn’t really mean much to me.
I would say time and time again to “Stop doing that!” It became frustrating and eventually became a pet peeve of mine. As I grew older, though, I was able to talk to that same person about this habit in a better, less screamy and immature way. I would talk to them about the importance of conserving water and to only use it 
when you are in need of it, not just because they can. They finally understood my point and, at least around me, has always made a conscious effort to turn off that faucet when they weren’t using it. It felt good to get a pet peeve off my chest so to speak while also instilling a green action in a family member.
Now days, I still get those pet peeve feelings but I feel a little more confident expressing myself in a mature manner about these peeves, at least if I have some form of relationship with the person. When I go to the beach, for example, if a friend just throws their water bottle or any trash for that matter on the sand and walks away, I will confront them about it. Nine times out of 10, a trash or recycling can is nearby and I just laughingly look at them and say, “Really?!” They usually laugh a little too and realize their mistake, pick it up, and throw it away. Sometimes people just need a little light-hearted reminder from their friends or co-workers about green actions.
As readers, what kind of green pet peeves do you have and what have you done to bring these peeves to light? Have you confronted anyone or groups of people about it? What kind of tactics do you think are acceptable to confront someone about green actions? Please post here.
