It’s common green etiquette to not make people feel bad for their ‘ungreen choices.’ For example, if your date shows up in a hummer, you don’t slam the door in his face. If a co-worker gets her Starbucks in a paper cup, you don’t say, “left your mug at home, eh?” It’s hard to be 100% green and most people are doing their best. It is not your job to judge others because none of us is perfect. But maybe we should? A little green guilt could go a long way.
A recent anti-drunk driving campaign features an actor walking around the city and at the office with a full mug of beer. It reminds us of the embarrassment and shame you would feel if you got a DUI, had your license suspended or worse, hurt someone as a result of your drunk driving. It’s effective.
Guilt has long been a social marketing staple. Advertisers use it to dissuade people from behaviors that could hurt them or society. So why not sustainability?
At a recent job, almost everyone biked to work. Smug, disapproving eyebrow raises directed at car drivers caused most to find alternate modes of transportation. A positive outcome from a negative process. A cup of peer pressure combined with a pinch of guilt is the perfect recipe for behavioural change. In the same way that people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death, they are also more afraid of looking bad in front of others than of causing climate change.
This contradicts an older post I wrote about how ‘fun’ is the key to making sustainability stick. Fun works well for teeth-brushing and broccoli eating but undermines the seriousness of saving the planet.
Maybe we should stop being so polite and start being more judgmental? Last week I witnessed a CEO dig a banana peel out of a garbage can and say to his employee: “Don’t worry, I’ll put this in the compost for you.” That certainly sent a message.
Today, smoking, drunk driving, unsafe sex, shoplifting and sport hunting are generally frowned upon. But, they wouldn’t be if no one had formed the first frown. 
