A reader sent along a link to this George Monbiot piece with the somewhat accusatory question:
In a recent column, George Monbiot excoriates environmental superstars for not walking the talk. So what about the Grist luminaries? How do you live in reality?
One often sees this sort of thing, and ... well, I wish one wouldn't.
At least once a week we get a letter from some fruitcake saying: "You [or some celebrity or writer] can't support [some environmental change or policy] until you give up your car, grow your own food, and live by candlelight." Otherwise -- gasp -- hypocrisy!
This is, in fact, a favorite right-wing talking point on the environment -- it's all part of the modern-day conservative attempt to reduce everything to "personal responsibility," thereby freeing the centers of financial and political power from any structural restraints. When well-meaning greens echo the line, they do themselves a disservice.
Let me be clear: Of course there's nothing wrong with living an environmentally exemplary life. It would be better to live that way than to not. It would be better to devote oneself to charity, too, or go to Africa and work on poverty relief. For any given individual, he or she could be living a more virtuous life.
But that's more or less a distraction.