to call my friend a "plastic warrior"

[montenuit]

I was out this morning with my friend and instead of having a coffee, we decided to grab a coffee and go for a walk. I rarely buy take away coffees and got a disposable cup. My friend took out her reusable cup and had that filled. All fine.

Then as we were saying goodbye i was thirsty and grabbed a bottle of water to go - at which she told me i really had to stop my "irresponsible use of disposable items". I thought she was half-joking but she went on to give me a lecture.

I responded that it is very rare for me to do this and if i want a drink of water when I am out then i am going to have it (and will reuse and recycle the bottle) and she is a plastic warrior and should focus more on the bigger picture of climate change and
a) stop driving her kids around in her big volvo diesel and tell them to get the bus/cycle
b) stop flying up and down to Edinburgh to see her parents, she should get the train
c) how many foreign holidays does her family actually need? Last count was 4 this year, all by plane, some long haul.

So, clearly she is now very pissed off, but WIBU?

Nope

By giving her a list like that it sounds preprepared, like you'd be mulling over things you didn't like about her. You could have said it in a less personal way like, "I look at the bigger picture.I take public transport whenever possible and rarely taking long haul flights." That way its not so personal.
She was U for having a go though, she could have been more tactful too.

No op, ywnbu. What did she say when you listed those things to her? You’re right though, it’s very contradictive of her.

You guys both sound really fun.

I imagine a night out fueled by alcohol would be interesting for the pair of you!

The sort of performative hypocrisy of your friend would really really hack me off. However, it doesn't really sound from your post that you actually like each other that much. Are you really getting anything out of this friendship?

Do real people in real life actually get worked up about "irresponsible use of disposable items"?

I had to laugh at this!! We all know them!

That Blue Planet episode (and similarly the Stacey Dooley programme about fast fashion) was great for raising awareness but I think some bandwagon-jumpers are struggling to grasp the bigger picture. This Daily Mash spoof calls some of them to mind!

"I look at the bigger picture.I take public transport whenever possible and rarely taking long haul flights."

yes i suppose i could/should have said that.
maybe i was mulling it over about her subconsciously, i know i've eye rolled internally when i've seen her very demonstrably bring her glass mug out then climb into her humungous volvo.

i do actually like her! Honestly.

she looked a bit shocked tbh. i feel bad. i'll apologise, i'm sure she'll be fine.

Why is it better to get the train instead of the plane? Genuine question as I use both

we all need to make changes we all should ideally try to do as much as we can. You obviously try and use public transport and she is trying to use less plastic. Both of these are good things I think that we are hopefully all getting in to the swing of changing things but it will take time for all of us. It does sound like you had a go at get so I would apologise

I would have just said “yeah I know” and then bought my water.

Pull this out your bag next time you go for coffee. Say nothing else....

I would have had to point out the hypocrisy too. Virtue signalling really grates on me.

She pissed you off. You brought up a whole lot of subsequent complaints you have against her. Meh ....

Off topic...I WANT that mug

@Stubbornuincorn
Because flying has a much bigger carbon footprint than taking the train. Long haul flights are one of the worst things you can do for the climate and short haul aren’t great either.

I say good on you. I hate fake preachers like her.

I like SharedLife's idea.

I would only say something like that to my mum or sister and I'd expect them to point out my own environmentally damaging behaviour in return.

i know i've eye rolled internally when i've seen her very demonstrably bring her glass mug out then climb into her humungous volvo.

Ha this really made me laugh. I think I'd do more than eye roll. Saying that, I guess even small change is better than no change but I don't think I could take someone seriously if they were lecturing me before they got in their huge 4x4.

My employer has recently become fixated on no disposable cups or cutlery. They've all been removed from our floor and we can only get them by paying extra at a cafe on another floor. Which is fine most of the time as most of us have our own water bottles / cups but gets very annoying when you're running between back-to-back meetings and can't grab an unexpected cup of tea if a meeting finishes a few minutes early (unless you have the 5-10 mins to go back to your desk and get mug before then heading for the kitchen). Whilst we are helping the environment, we are costing our employers an awful lot of lost time spent washing up (there are now queues to wash up!) The irony is that my company spends a fortune on long haul travel. Everyone is constantly flying round the world 'visiting clients'. Seems we're not so green after all - we're only green if it saves us money.