Greener Than Thou

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Now, I’m not saying the local foot soldiers of the green movement are actively hankering for the apocalypse. But if it happens, the rampant I-told-you-so-ism will be audible from space. And our ancestors will nod in solemn approbation.

How green can Boston—or any city—get? As with most things, success depends on how we deal with the frauds and zealots in our midst. The former, certainly, are in ample supply, with all the faddists out for a quick way to feel better about themselves. They give themselves away by the lengths to which they’ll go for their cause. One local contractor says more clients are asking about green materials—but once they learn the cost, many go for the conscience-soothing minimum.

As for the zealots, they will, by necessity, try to take care of the frauds themselves. The risk is that, being zealots, they’ll eventually go after the mainstream converts, too. Movements forged in dissent have a way of turning that dissent inward. The Puritans, while placing the strictest demands on their own personal comportment, write Heimert and Delbanco, soon “were rooting out their own deviants from their midst.” This isn’t to suggest we’re in for a round of witch burnings (too much carbon; composting would be the eco-sensitive choice), but it does raise the specter of the sort of tireless sermonizing that led subsequent generations to abandon Puritanism altogether.

The backlash factor is worth bearing in mind. The trick, for all interested parties—from the longtime vegans to the come-latelies to City Hall—is to learn from the Puritans’ example. Do what’s right to the fullest, but try to avoid doing it in a way that makes people hate you and, out of sheer spite, do the opposite. Seems simple enough. Whether we have the restraint to pull off such a thing without it devolving into the kind of piety-measuring contest popularized by our ancestors, and still very much in fashion today, remains to be seen.

Joe Keohane’s writing also has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Slate, and the Boston Globe. E-mail him at joe.keohane@gmail.com. Excerpted from Bostonmagazine (July 2008); www.bostonmagazine.com 

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