Guilty Conscience

This morning I went out to start our project, “Show Me Your Green.” Before I started my interviews for the day, I thought I would speak to the owners of the coffee shop where these interviews would take place. Since one of the store owners has been a friend of mine for 10 years, I thought that this would be an easy task. The moment after I asked, “Show me your green,” my friends’ mood changed. I didn’t think that this would be such a touchy subject, apparently it was.

I will leave both the name of the business, and my friends’ name, out of this article; however, I still feel that this story would be a good addition to our blog.

Eugene has a very progressive community when it comes to environmental issues. We have a great curbside recycling program, and a community who believes in keeping Oregon green (clean rivers, community, and surroundings). No matter where you go around town, you see some type of sustainable movement.

Because of this, I think my friend has a guilty conscience. Doing the ‘right’ thing sometimes costs a little more to the business owner. With the economy the way it is, and through previous conversations, I know that their business is barely making it. Bringing up a hot button topic must have got them fired up. I think they know what they could be doing to become more sustainable, but are hesitant to do it.

Looking around the coffee shop, I believe that they are doing things that are beneficial to the community. I tried bringing this up to the owner, but they didn’t want to hear it. Well, lucky for you, I am going to mention the things that I noticed.

First, all the customers in the store were drinking from a ceramic cup. They had a station in the middle of the shop for cream, sugar, etc. I didn’t notice a single sugar pack in the building and the lights in the building were fluorescent. I know that this might not sound like much, but I am trying to be positive.

I didn’t get much information from this business, but I still feel like I learned a lot. People have an idea of what they could be doing better, but when the bottom line comes into play, economic concerns can become more important.