Cedar’s saying o’ the day, “Mom, do you have to be a hippie if you’re eco-friendly?”
My response, “Um, no.”
Cedar: “WHEW! I really like being eco-friendly but I sure don’t want to be a hippie!”
Lord.
Not Cedar's first choice of wheels...
Where on earth do these misconceptions come from? Is there even such a thing as a hippie anymore? I’ll admit it, I’m actually pretty crunchy. That said, I’d never call myself a hippie, although other people have and it’s annoying. I’m Jennifer and I like green living. Period.
Here’s the deal; just because you believe in living eco-friendly doesn’t mean you need to move into a tree, co-op housing or an off-grid home. You don’t have to wear peace buttons and amber oil, grow dreads or smoke “herb.”
I think there’s a collection of people who think that green means a specific fashion or lifestyle is required, or that if they live green, people will assume they’re into “hippie stuff.” Obviously there’s a collection of people who think this considering my nine year old son is asking about it.
The truth is that anyone can or cannot live green. Trust me, I lived in super hippie Humboldt land and not everyone was all that eco-friendly. You can wear a business suit or bell bottoms or a flipping princess dress and still be ethical and green OR not.
In a general sense, I think we need to lose the old-school culture based ideas about eco-friendly living vs. the hippies.
What do you think?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t think hippies exist the way they did in the 60s but there are definitely, what I call, urban hippies. They eat healthy, respect the environment, burn incense, smell like patchouli, prefer to be mostly natural with their hair/make-up/fashion, they’re socially conscious. I consider myself an urban hippie and have even referred to as the “earth mother”. haha
I’m glad your son knows what he wants…or doesn’t–as it were.
My dad was one of the first urban environmentalists – green living ecologists when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies. He was also a suit wearing social worker, and then librarian. And he drove a volkswagon bus – because there were six kids. That wasn’t because of all the free loving though, but because my mom was Catholic. I think hippie is a weird term, just as tomboy is, generalizing is always off somewhere. Nobody ever fits the mold perfectly.
Yeah, I totally get the urban hippie thing having lived in Humboldt for so long. There was a much larger group of what I would call urban hippies there – in PDX too. I actually don’t have anything against the term as a norm, I just don’t like the idea that my son or other people might be like, oh, I shouldn’t be green because I don’t want to be a hippie. That’s so bizarre to me.
Wow, that must be where you and Deb get your gardening/recycling/more natural/home cooking genes
I think that’s my major issue with “hippie” it’s so general. I have really long hair, use homemade beauty products, wear thrift clothes and eat natural – so what? I’m a hippie? I think it has to do with my looks more than my actions why I get called that so it just seems like a general label to me. I guess it might help if I quit listening to Joni Mitchell and CSN on vinyl though right? 
Underneath it all, the younger eco minded zealots are still gravitating towards amoral ways as a general rule. Which means it is a generalization, yes. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t accurate. They didn’t learn from the mistakes their parents a/o grandparents did regarding say balancing a check book properly and knowing who the father of your child is. At least the ‘non-hippie’ knows they’ve done wrong after the fact but many hippie people will find this esoteric justification and rationalization for bad behavior via the ‘hippie ethos’ of “universe this and universe that” or anyone who disagrees does not practice a proper diet (since they can’t stomach orgies and unreasonable drug use) and scoff at us unenlightened folk who encourage a bit of common sense. Just some food for thought.