The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Commentary February 15, 2008

The Ethical Obie

I get food from Dascomb and usually take it out to eat and do work. When I do this, I bring my own plastic containers, or some that I have recycled. I do this because the place is plastered with posters about the evils of rampant plastic use and recycling. When I am there though, I notice so many other people ignoring the posters and using the plastic containers. You cannot miss these posters and I want to tell the people how stupid and harmful they are being. My friends say this is wrong, but I think I have the moral high ground here. What can I do?

For your efforts to make this world a better place, the environmental studies department, Student Recycling, myself and the planet thank you. But I worry about your intentions here. While you may be without sin and disposable plastics, you should not cast the first stone.     

It could be that these other diners using plastic containers will reuse them next time they come in, or use them for other purposes before disposing of them. Or maybe they are just in a hurry today and forgot to bring their carabiner or Dascomb-issued Tupperware.

Whatever the case may be, you cannot be sure that you will not end up preaching to the choir. Or worse, bullying the choir.

When you approach to reproach, others can see it as aggressive tormenting and you lose the moral high ground. You might hurt the reproached and humiliate your friends whom you probably would expect to stand with you.

There are other ways to help reduce the use of disposable plastic containers. You could work with CDS, whose offices are located under Stevenson dining hall to get flyers dispersed throughout the dining halls. Maybe you can talk them into putting the plastic containers in less accessible places, so that people will bring their own. Even though there are already a number of posters around the dining hall, look for places where they are not and poster there: maybe on the turnstile, or right on the rack that the plastic containers are on. Maybe you could even talk to professors in the environmental department to get support or ideas to practice positive activism.

These efforts will not go unnoticed by other students, and will have a much more positive effect on observers.  Good luck.

&ensp;–Jay Nolan

The Ethical Obie

E-mail your ethical dilemmas to theethicalobie@gmail.com


 
 
   

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