Hypocritical Humanity

With the slew of Earth Day activities that our school engaged in this past week, I couldn't help but reflect on how hypocritical the vast majority of us are when it comes to environmental efforts. If questioned, I imagine very few individuals would be willing to admit to indifference regarding the fate of our planet and its resources, but how many of those same individuals truly go out of their way to recycle in times of inconvenience?

At marching band rehearsals in the summer, we take water breaks about every 30 minutes (if we're lucky) in order to combat the intense heat that so often stifles the field. This ends up allowing for 3-4 water breaks in the span of a 2.5-hour practice, and while I greatly appreciate the efforts of the parent volunteers who tirelessly fill up 250 plastic cups with water in preparation for each break, I know there must be a less wasteful approach to this system. We could avoid discarding almost 1,000 cups at just one practice if kids were forced to be responsible for their own water bottles, so though our school is doing great things in its attempt to raise awareness about environmental issues, I think multiple flaws still exist that we must confront before we are able to claim to be truly "green."

Of course, it's not just the realm of conservation efforts in which people are hypocritical. With Steven Pinker arguing that "hypocrisy is a human universal," this trait does seem to infect nearly every aspect of our lives. It's become such a frequent encounter to witness someone criticizing the political climate and government of our country, including those who remain idle, refusing to do so much as vote in an attempt to use the small power they've been granted.  But why is it that humanity remains incapable of avoiding hypocrisy?

In the case of "Words Don't Mean What They Mean," I think many of us are afraid of the truth. Despite what we may say about our desire for "people to say what they mean," honesty can be painful, and it often becomes much easier to sugar-coat problems, phrasing things politely to account for the fact that most of us aren't accustomed to the bluntness we claim to crave. But as Kakutani argued in "The Word Police," "calling the homeless "the underhoused" doesn't give them a place to live" any more than nonvoters impact the politics of their community. Perhaps the seemingly universal hypocrisy of humans is the problem we must first confront if we are to create lasting issues for solutions elsewhere in society.