I’m a Tree Hugger and Proud

by Jeffrey Mindell

I’m probably not what many would consider your stereotypical tree hugger.  I’m not sure what a stereotypical tree hugger looks like, but Birkenstocks do come to mind.  In fact, I work in a law firm, wear button down shirts, have short hair, try to shave (at least a few times a week), and don’t spend an inordinate amount of time in nature. 

Yet, several years back I developed this reputation and pseudo nickname of “tree hugger” around the office.  Maybe it was because I was trying to decide if I wanted to buy a hybrid car before they were popular.  Maybe it was because, if you got me started, I would go off onto some rant about human abuse of the environment.  However it began, that rap sort of stuck, which didn’t really bother me because at heart I suppose I always knew I was a tree hugger.

This went on for years, and I learned to be careful to avoid conversations about the environment so that I would not bring about jibes from my co-workers.  I also learned to be content with my own choices without having to convince everyone else that they had to follow my lead.

Yet, within the last year or so, everything changed.  All of a sudden you couldn’t turn on the TV or open a newspaper without reading something about global warming.  Everyone seemed to be talking about it everywhere.  Then, as if Mother Nature was trying to prove her point, we unexpectedly earned several months of spring this past winter.

One day last year I was sitting in the office of a very rational, level-headed, and conservative colleague of mine - one who was always first to make fun of me and my tree hugging ways - when he informed me in passing that he absolutely agreed global warming was a scientific fact.  I practically fell off my chair, though I didn’t show it.  Actually, I nodded quite casually as if we were sitting in a Sierra Club meeting together.  That was the moment that I truly understood how much belief about the environment had changed. 

Looking back I am sort of astounded at the major shift in consciousness that has occurred over a very short period of time.  People really do seem to be more environmentally aware.  I see more hybrid cars on the road nowadays than I ever have before.  Friends of mine just told me they bought some high-efficiency light bulbs after seeing Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth (a must rent if you haven’t seen it).  And I’m sure each of us has seen at least some change around us.

The bottom line is that people are waking up, and all I can say is that it’s about time, because I’m tired of being a closet tree hugger.  It’s time for me to share my tree huggy-ness with the world! 

And besides, now that tree hugging has gone mainstream, maybe I can start wearing Birkenstocks to work.    

Jeffrey Mindell is a writer, poet, cartoonist, attorney and all around nice fellow.  He can be contacted at jmindell@gmail.com