Media Release - Slobby & Green

Many mistakenly think that Me First! as libertarians would be 'climate skeptics'. Our response to this is that there is a big difference between skepticism and blinkered pig-ignorance.

The biggest culprit in human-induced climate change is industry but the trend in popular political debate is to focus on the domestic impact of the average citizen. Me First! would like to shift the focus of debate but are just too small and pissy to do that. But we can try and get our unique line into the existing debate. With that in mind we asked a question of the Me Thinks think tank. That question was:

What existing popular way-of-life within Australian society is best placed to minimize environmental impacts?

The answer Me Thinks has provided is reproduced here.

The suburban or garden-variety slob is the Australian whose unconscious actions produce the smallest environmental impact (as distinct from those who consciously act to minimize environmental impact). Consider the following day-to-day behaviours of slobs:

- Slobs wear their clothes till they are falling apart.

- Slobs only clean and tidy in a sparing and cautious manner and so use less grooming products, cleaning products, water and electricity as compared to non-slobs.

- Slobs may own cars but many of those cars are left sitting (bereft of petrol or even registration) in front yards slowly returning to nature. This is even better than having never owed one as they are depriving a non-slob of a car they would otherwise be driving.

- Slobs resist travel and entertainment. They would rather sit at home in front of the telly or the game machine than go for a night on the town and indulge in all the many kinds of consumption that ensue.

- Slobs utilize 'community kitchens' thus contributing to an economy-of-scale which minimizes trasport and energy costs. Compare ten non-slob households with ten slob households. The ten non-slob households have all gone and purchased food from the shops and likely using cars. They have all utilized water and energy across ten kitchens in preparing home cooked meals. As much as they "buy in bulk" they still dispose of a lot of packaging. Contrast this with the bahaviour of those ten slob households. They all slouch on down to the local fast food franchise which can truly bulk-buy and has taken care of all the transport and food preparation in one kitchen. The only draw-back of this way-of-life currently is the use of packaging for every fast food meal (rather than reusing crockery) but this can change with the development of edible fast food packaging.

It would be prudent for governments to provide incentives for more Australians to convert to slobbiness for the sake of the environment. Slobbiness is much more attractive than self-sufficiency and many Australians already practice it in numbers. Addressing the prejudice currently directed at slobs would be an important part of such a process.

Me First! has accepted this recommendation of Me Thinks and will be developing the Slobby & Green campaign for the next Federal Election. We will start by creating a number of amusing and endearing cartoon characters reminiscent of the Life Be In It family but with more diverse and inclusive backgrounds to demonstrate that slobbiness can be for everyone.

Me First! would also welcome campaigning help from slobs but accept that most of them will be just too bloody lazy to bother.