Cultural Journal 5 - Green!

Why is it that people in Ireland seem to be so much more concerned about conservation and the environment than in the USA? I’ve stayed in hostels that have push-button showers, requiring you to keep hitting the button to keep water flowing, and the shower in our home has its own pump and heater to keep water consumption regulated. Many of the toilets I’ve encountered have two flush buttons – one gives a little water, the other a lot, depending on what exactly you are trying to get rid of. The streets are lined with metal rubbish bins, many with a receptacle of some kind built in for cigarette butts (ostensibly to prevent fires). I’ve seen more motion/occupancy sensors on lights here than I tend to see in the US. Servings are smaller, packaging is more compact, and many stores charge a small fee for a plastic bag (the National Trust does the same thing, at least at the Giant’s Causeway). Most tellingly is how CLEAN it tends to be – the streets, although not devoid of litter, seem far cleaner than in Chicago or DeKalb.
I suppose one explanation could be that Ireland is an island, albeit a big one. Completely surrounded by water, any resources that are unavailable or exhausted here must be brought in by boat or plane, a relatively costly method (in the case of drinking water, costly desalinization would be even more vital if fresh water sources were tainted or destroyed). So it would be in their best interests to place minimal demands on their resources, natural or otherwise, in order to reduce their dependence on importation, and thus their dependence on petroleum, international trade, etc. Added to this is the fact that Ireland is part of Europe, which has been heavily settled for a far longer time than North America. The resources that exist here have been relied on for centuries or even millennia and have on occasion vanished, which might spur a more conservational mindset. In Ireland specifically, it might also be a result of their past as a colonized and exploited nation. Britain harvested wood and other resources for export back home and for centuries, before relinquishing control. This might have ingrained in the Irish people a sense of real ownership of and responsibility for their natural resources, a desire to preserve them for their own present and future use rather than stripping the land of its riches at the British once did.