If it was ever possible to discuss personal thrift without elevating it to a public quarrel, those days are long gone. Weber sees a refusal to consume as the consummation of a progressive environmental agenda. She seems almost unaware that the right also claims thrift as a virtue. The popular evangelical finance guru Dave Ramsey has long told his followers to slash their lifestyles so they can become entirely debt-free, give 10 percent of their income to charity and save huge chunks of the rest. Weber could probably pick up a few tips from his Web site’s forums, where people who spend more than $100 a month on groceries are righteously scolded.
This idea of thrift as a moral virtue, rather than a prudent one, has some problems. Some Catholics see anorexia as a form of gluttony, because stuffing and starving yourself both elevate food to an inappropriate importance in your life. The freegans and many of Ramsey’s followers are gorging themselves on parsimony. Overspending can, of course, be disastrous. But how healthy is it to agonize over every tiny purchase? Walking half an hour to save $1.50 on an A.T.M. fee means you put a ludicrously low value on your time. And if you have the means to heat the house, your children should not have to do their homework with fingers made clumsy by cold. While Weber says she still hasn’t totally forgiven her father for that, by the end of the book she lauds him for reducing his carbon footprint. But this is no more reasonable as a way to lower your environmental impact than it is as a way to lower your gas bill.
Weber says she had to do homework near a cooling stove because her father kept the house at fifty degrees. Our house isn't that cool, but as I was typing this the HM came out and informed me that our house was 63 degrees. We are all wearing socks, warm but comfortable fall clothes, and most of us have either light jackets or, in my case, a fleece blanket over my lap as I type.
It actually doesn't feel that cool- The HM asked me to guess the temp, and I thought it was around 69 or 70 degrees. He thinks it's because we finally got our corn boiler fully installed and the radiant floor heating system set up, and this makes us feel warmer than the ambient temperature registered on the thermostat would indicate.
Anyway, there's a lot more I would say about this interesting article, and I wish I had time to find and read the book. But we are having a wedding on Friday night!!!
You can read a generous excerpt of Weber's book here at her website. Pin It
