I couldn't live with those people either....

I would like to see that one on the TV program "Divorce Court", it would be more entertaining than the sub humans they feature now.

The "no free lunch" rule applies to almost all "green" things

Drive a Prius? What about those toxic batteries?

Sreetcar? Does the power come from Boardman?

Recycle? Does it get recycled or tossed in the dump?

Ride a bicycle? Parts shipped in from Asia

One could find many such examples. Living local means the stuff has to be made or grown here, or you have to give up a big chunk of what you eat or use. Put some thought into it, will ya?

Hey Greenies, don't go all Barry Goldwater on me!

There is someone in this world that thinks food tastes better off Styrofoam???
Yikes..I couldn't live in that house!

Her mother, who says she prefers the way food tastes when it is served on Styrofoam

This is the real head-scratcher in the article. I didn't know styrofoam was a flavoring.

Regarding the mother who prefers Styrofoam plates: I would wager Mom is using a little of that old black passive-aggressive magic back against her daughter. It sounds like they're good at pushing each other's buttons.

Most of this is so ridiculously class-based: disposable-income types in Santa Barbara and Portland and Seattle, working out their First World Problems on each other and their families.

It takes time and money to be this annoying. An urban woman who works two jobs and relies on public transportation isn't likely to be raising chickens in her backyard; that takes time she doesn't have.

A $1200 graywater toilet just to impress an object lesson on a child? That takes money most people don't have, either.

And the notion of seeing an "environmental therapist" because one person in a relationship didn't wash out the yogurt cup and put it in the plastics bin -- that takes time, money, and a serious lack of perspective on what's important in life.

Food tastes better on Styrofoam because you can relax and enjoy the meal, knowing that you wont be sweating over a hot sink or loading and unloading a machine later...

This leaves no doubt that Greens are preaching their own religion. They are first to get offended if some Bible thumping Jesus freak tried to shove ideas down their throats but eco-nuts feel no qualms shoving their sustainability up our collective rear ends.
They need to drink a big glass of 'shut the eff up.'

Some of these greenie weenies need to get a clue. Here in Nevada we don't have any mandatory recycling of cans or bottles and there is NO DEPOSIT paid on them when you buy beer, pop, water, wine or liquor at the store. And amazingly, I see almost no litter on the highways. In fact, I would go so far as to say the stretch of I-5 from Portland to Salem has a lot more trash than US 395 from Reno to Carson City.

Does Nevada have a bunch of Oregonians who post on Nevada blogs about how much better life is in Oregon than it was in NV? Because, if not, that's definitely one for NV.

Oh, that "green." Yeah, that's lame.

The article impressed me, (not the particular 'troubled' persons it described, but the article itself for this topic being reported), more than other voices here say -- sounds like they're not impressed.

This 'green' thing is an important strong emotional factor, for couples, families, and social relations. What is so grating about it, (more for some, less for others), is it being absolute. Like: no, in fact, you canNOT drive any vehicle you like; and/or, yes, in fact, if you want to eat you have to pedal your bike to the once-a-week rationed food distribution depot or farmers market, take it home and cook it yourself -- absolutely.
Go ahead and don't if you don't want to ... nice knowin' ya', you die. Absolutely.

The objection to, and rebellion against that 'being told what to do' feeling, comes out of people in several different ways of behavior. Let me. say. only. one.

One 'psychological displacement' (of the ego limitation feeling), comes out as blaming disembodied "government" (choose adjective: 'big', 'armed', 'dictatorial', 'fascist', 'socialist', 'environmentalist', whatever), as the blame for 'taking away my rights, and liberty, and pursuit of happiness.' Some awful persons are getting elected by exploiting voters who get emotionally stirred up, and so vote, by those buzzy hot-button code words.

But, the fact is, it is NOT "The Government" which is taking away our profligate high-life Earth-raping 'rights, liberty, happiness,' etc. The fact is: The natural resources are all used up, leached sterile, chopped down, dug up, fished out, gone extinct, drilled sucked refined and spewed out in contrails across the sky and smogtrails along the freeways. That's just simply the facts.

There ain't no trees left to log, that's why the mills shut down, not because of the 'tree huggers'; (but some opportunists got themselves elected by TV-teaching to simpletons to spit! hate! when saying the words 'spotted owl' -- only, now those opportunists are come and gone, living on a cushy PERS retirement and simpleton voters are not, for public officeholders). Of course, no one would realize it's NOT the spotted owl, and it IS that the trees are all gone -- unless some ones were around years ago and remember how many trees there was, to begin with.

Same with the salmon. Before that, same with the beaver. The buffalo. The coral. Fresh mountain streams without pollutants, drinkable. Clear blue skies, breathable, no 'allergies.'

All of it ... going ... going ... gone. It don't matter what gun you got, who you shoot to stop them from saying the facts, or whose butt you shove your frustration up. The natural resources that high-life is made of are going ... going ... gone. Absolutely. It's not nice to rape Mother Nature ... but you can sure make a wad of quick cash pimping her pleasures, and then bag it and get outta town when she gets V.D.

It ain't "The Government" taking away 'rights, liberties, happiness' of the manner everyone enjoyed 50 years ago. It is the people 50 years ago who took away your 'rights, liberties, happiness' today, like they had then. Grandparents spent it, the inheritance.

... and there ain't nothing we can do about it, except ease up, back off, consume less than we regrow, and wait several lifetimes for Mother Nature to regain her virginity.

The NYTimes article says people are starting to draw battle lines down the middle of the living room, and marriage, about this. Hey, what's to battle?, you're either lazy and dead, or busy doing arduous manual labor and scrimping by. Whoever chooses to quit and die, though, might get some life-satisfaction by fingering the blame on the ones still around who raped the planet 'back then.' Check out what some of them done 50 years ago, and you're out of luck doing today -- such as Papa Bush, Kissinger, the King of Saudi Arabia ... who all happen to be the same age; or google David Rockefeller, the older mentor of the first three.

I guess the bigger question is what was this guy doing dating a control freak like her in the first place. An environmental therapist? That should have been a HUGE red flag.