to think don't go around preaching about the fucking environment and taking time off work to go to rallies when you drink plastic fucking bottled water from the work canteen every day?

[WinterRat]

colleague is very into all this environment stuff. obviously i know there's a massive problem and the world as a whole needs to act. but this colleague goes around preaching to everyone about the damage we're doing to the environment. me because i have 4 children, my other colleague because she drives 30 minutes to get to work because buses dont run at the time she needs them, and so on. she is vegan and preaches about how her diet is great for the environment and we should all be vegan too. my issue is that every fucking morning she goes to the work canteen and buys a plastic bottle of water. she claims she cant drink tap water and gets really pissed off when we ask her about the environmental impact of all the bottles. she also seems to be off work a lot attending climate rallies, aibu to think she should just stfu about the environment. we all know theres a problem, we dont need to be preached to and its not exactly environmentally friendly to buy bottled water all the damn time. just get a water filter if you dont like the taste of tap water

Yeah. Or maybe no.

Yeah. What Canterbury said. But also maybe no. Torn.

Yeah I just can’t you seriously with your plastic bottle in your hand.

Then just turn away and be a big grey rock.

Try this, it might help

Presumably she takes annual leave to attend rallies?

Maybe she should invest in a water filter system if she’s so against tap water. I agree with you though, bottled water is beyond wasteful.

Yeah I just can’t you seriously with your plastic bottle in your hand.

Go with that. Preachy knobber.

I do find it quite weird when people insist on drinking bottled water. We have access to some of the best water in the world, it’s clean and safe. It seems really spoiled to insist that it isn’t good enough.

Nobody can exist in this society and be a perfect environmentalist. We are all at fault, we have all contributed to the climate crisis and when we stand up and protest about the disastrous state of things, we are all hypocrites. But what's the alternative? Do nothing?

I think your colleague's environmental stance makes you feel threatened and so you are looking for a reason to discount what she's doing. I understand; facing up to the fact our children are going to die in famine and war and flooding is absolutely abysmal. But your colleague buying or not buying bottled water is not going to make a damn bit of difference in the long run unless we can make dramatic system changes.

I think as she’s the preachy type, YANBU, single use plastic is the biggest problem and one that is easily solved. She is a hypocrite.

@Catsingangs. Yawn.

Maybe suggest she invests in a water filter bottle OP.

pInk honestly plastic isn't the biggest problem, burning fossil fuels is by far the greatest challenge mankind and our planet faces. Plastic is a problem I'll grant you but not the main one by a long shot.

Your colleague is an arse OP for their hypocrisy.

'But what's the alternative? Do nothing?'

Better do nothing than buy bottled water.

Catsingangs. Doubtless you will be moaned at shortly, for pedantry is now the most evil of crimes on MN, but I found your video most amusing.

Plastic is a bigger problem than fossil fuels imho. This geologist calculated that even if we burn every last atom of fossil fuel, the planet will still support human life and recover in only a century or two.
Plastics never degrade and we produce billions of tonnes every year of new plastic. They just break down into ever smaller fragments and disrupt ecosystems permanently. They are causing mass extinctions and killing the oceans. We have microplastics inside us humans and all land animals too. Cancer rates are going up not down. Infertility is going up not down. We make plastic from renewable bio oils now, so there is no running out like with fossil fuels. Because the Earth can never biodegrade plastics, the only way to remove it from the environment is if we clean it up. That’s why we are researching plastic eating bacteria as fast as we can. We desperately need a way to clean it up.

I'd support her in the protests but remind her of her plastic bottle usage too.
No one is perfect but I mostly admire the protesters (apart from when they glue themselves to trains )!
I like the idea of plastic eating bacteria.

You both sound as bad as each other. This ‘fucking’ environment stuff deserves everyone’s respect, including you.

And the main culprit here is your workplace for selling plastic bottles. Out site if 8,000 people only sells water cans and has filter taps to fill your bottle with.

I think she’s entitled to be an environmentalist even if she drinks bottled water because none of us are perfect but the more we do the better. Where she is unreasonable is going on at you about how many children you have. If she went on her rallies but shut up judging other people fair enough.

I do find it weird when people drink bottled water regularly. It’s such a waste of money if nothing else! But just because someone isn’t a perfect environmentalist doesn’t mean they have no right to talk about the climate emergency.

Maybe try to look at it differently. She’s not ‘preaching’, she’s trying to stop your four children - and everyone else’s children - from dying en masse in famine or castrophic weather events.

“ She’s not ‘preaching’, she’s trying to stop your four children - and everyone else’s children - from dying en masse in famine or castrophic weather events”

Oh I am so sick of this. Not an excuse for being a preachy PITA and also I bet she doesn’t give a shit really.

Aren't most bottled waters just tap water anyway? There are plenty of ways around it, she could filter water at home and bring it in a reusable water bottle for instance. Or have a filter bottle at work and filter as she goes.

Also, next time she complains about your four children tell her she's absolutely right and she should pick which two for you to kill and you'll get right on it.

I suppose so, I can't say I know anyone who preaches about the environment and then drinks fucking bottled water.

You could suggest your colleague buys water in glass bottles and brings to work. A big one could go in the fridge, or she could buy a few small ones; glass is recycled.

Other than that a few jibes such as, "Get off your soap box", from a few people over a few days might do the trick about the preaching.

I hope as a vegan that she is careful about
where she get cotton clothing from & if she wears cotton as there is a big environmental impact (overuse of water & chemicals)
eating almonds, avocados & many other foods that are causing problems to the environment
Food miles - where does she source food from
re plastic & bacteria - I have visions of bugs destroying water/gas/electric pipes! I think more work needs to be done on recycling plastic

I think if Person A makes a point of judging Person B on their lifestyle choices and publicly criticises/preaches to them, then Person A needs to look in the mirror to make sure they are as beyond reproach as they can control. Drinking bottled water is a choice therefore she's being a bit of a knob.

She’s not ‘preaching’, she’s trying to stop your four children - and everyone else’s children - from dying en masse in famine or castrophic weather events.

Yes, one plastic water bottle, train ticket and protest a day will keep Armageddon away.