What is Normal?

“A DARK side to being carbon-conscious has been discovered, with a growing number of people becoming green to the extreme.

That means, I must have turned to the dark side, as well as many of my readers. Use the force young padawan and beware the Sith Lord. You will become obsessed by carbon counting. Hardly a crime in my books, and it might save you a bit of money on the side.

Experts are warning the global warming panic is promoting obsessive compulsive disorders among some.

Dubbed “carborexics” or “dark greens”, these individuals will factor their carbon impact into every aspect of their life and go to extremes to avoid using energy.

So now I am a carborexic! What a load of tripe. All I want to do is to lower my carbon footprint, so that our children and my grandchildren will have a planet fit for their habitation. Now if that make people like me a carborexic, then guilty as charged. There should be more people like me.

According to a study conducted by Porter Novelli this month, four per cent of Americans now fit the profile of a carborexic.

And from what I see around me, 0.00001% of Australians fit this category!

Participants of the study who were considered dark green included a man who relieved himself on his lawn to save water, and a woman whose family slept en masse to save on heating.

I wee in the compost bin to add nitrogen, and when it is hot we all sleep in rooms with ceiling fans. Does that make me weird?

Head of the University of Sydney Anxiety Disorders Clinic Dr Mairwen Jones had seen an increase in patients suffering from climate change-related obsessive compulsive `checking’ disorders.

She explained that some patients had begun checking their gas and power meters constantly to monitor their usage, while others worried about their petrol consumption and their car’s odometer reading.

I check my meters weekly, and keep an eye on my fuel consumption. I don’t worry about it, I just make sure I don’t use these finite resources excessively. Does that make me OCD? How can you change behaviours if you can measure the consumption. Many people would get a big shock if they actually took any interest in their resource consumption instead of complaining about it upon the receipt of their energy & water bills!

“A person who says: ‘I constantly check the tap’, now it’s not that they’re worried about a flood, but they say ‘I don’t want to waste water with elevated temperatures and drought, and I’m worried about my impact on the environment”’.

Good, so they should be. I still see arrogant people hosing down their driveways every weekend. If you are not worried about the environment, then you have your head in the sand, ostrich boy! The way things are going, a major Australian city will be drinking mud fairly soon. Water restrictions are in place for a freaking reason, and not just to inconvenience people. A lack of concern for the environment is what has got us into this shit storm.

Founder and CEO of eco retailer Todae, Danin Kahn, said while he was obsessed with reducing his carbon footprint, it was a way to lead by example.

Here, here. I couldn’t agree more. If you talk the talk, you aught to walk the walk!

“You’ve got to be really passionate about it or it becomes too difficult,” he said.

“I don’t eat any meat, when I drive I drive a hybrid, I try to walk to work as often as I can and I power my gadgets with solar.”

Look, someone like me. He must be carborexic! Good job Danin, keep up the good work.

In September Mr Kahn, 31, went on a no-plastic diet. “I went cold turkey; I didn’t purchase anything with plastic,” he said.

That must have been very difficult, but rewarding. Just about everything is wrapped in plastic these days, and many things don’t need to be.

Founder of raw cuisine catering company Conscious Choice Julie Mitsios runs workshops on how to prepare food without cooking. She said demand for classes was unprecedented, as people realised the impact their diet had on carbon consumption.

I would like to go on that course. It sounds interesting, and fun. Something that this article is not!

People with signs of OCD should contact the Sydney Anxiety Disorders Clinic on 9351 9426.

True, if that is really the case for people dubbed as ‘carborexic’ showing extreme examples of OCD. Personally, I think everyone has a little bit of OCD in them, but they don’t let it control them. I also believe that if more people were dark green, then the world would be a much better place to live in, and we wouldn’t have a quarter of the drama we are having now. There might just be a future for our kids!”