The new 'scuppies' wear a mantle of green

[DainBramaged]

First came hippies, followed soon by yippies, then preppies, yuppies, buppies and guppies. Now meet the "scuppies": socially conscious upwardly mobile persons.
You know these people because they're everywhere. They eat, drink and sleep organic. They think it's easy being green. They want to live well while doing good.

"You can't throw a stick and not hit one in Starbucks or the Whole Foods parking lot," says Chuck Failla, who knows scuppies because he says he is one. "My whole living room was done by Novica.com," the do-gooder artisan-promoting website.

Failla runs a successful New York/Connecticut financial planning firm, and he's a do-gooder, offering his services free to non-profit groups. He says he invented this latest neologism 10 years ago when he was a yuppie stockbroker (Armani suit and Rolex) doing pro bono work for a homeless organization.

"I wondered, why can't we be socially conscious and upwardly mobile at the same time?"
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2008-04-16-scuppies-book_N.htm


:rofl:

[truedelphi]

1. To me they are Scruippies - where the i stands for "inconsistent"

And inconsiderate.

They have spent the last decades green belting the tony neighborhoods where they live, ensuring that the non-affluent have to be in a car for hours to get back and forth from work.

Then they propose things like taxes on gas. Without any consideration if the person driving the long distance is a rich mucky muck in a brand new Hummer or a nurse in a half broken down Honda.

We shouldn't eat meat because cows fart, but it's okay for them to slaughter off meadows and forests for their glass of chardonnay. Never mind that it is just as rotten for an animal to die from lack of habitat as from conversion to meat.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Disgupsting

Why don't they pick on Freepsties or some other retrograde group intent on destroying the earth outright?

[napoleon_in_rags]

3. Oh that's what the green movement needs.

To be associated with yuppies and "upward mobility", to be a flash in the pan style thing. Not gonna happen.

[Javaman]

4. you mean the "greenies" that build 5000+ sq ft "eco-friendly" houses with

wood frames?

[sandnsea]

6. Heard of certified sustainable wood?

If a person really puts the effort and money into it, they can build a large eco-friendly home. Most people don't do actually do as much as they should. They just get some energy-star appliances and pretend they're eco-friendly.

[Javaman]

8. oh yeah, I know about that, but very few of the "greenies" do.

like you said, most people just put in the energy star stuff and think it's all good.

I wish more of these "green" homes would also put in recycling cisterns.

[DainBramaged]

9. And lists of what REALLY needs to be recycled

Like putting water from your TAP in bottles, lithium and alkaline batteries, plastic shopping bags, ALL of the cardboard from your pasta, cereal and cracker boxes, dog shit (nasty for groundwater) an endless list that should be attached to their bathroom wall.

[alfredo]

10. My friend built a concrete, styrofoam house. It has walls several feet

thick. It uses passive solar heat, in floor heating, triple glazed windows. He's employed many other energy saving devices.

The utilities and stairwell are in the section protruding from the tall poured concrete wall. Notice the small windows on the north side. He used to be an architect and was able to save up enough to pay cash for everything including the property. An observatory will be built there soon. It will house a 20" dobesonian telescope.

[sandnsea]

11. I've heard of those

My husband was looking into this a few years ago. How long has your friend had his home? It looks really nice.

[alfredo]

12. Thanks. He's had it for years, maybe 3 years. I forgot to mention

that it is reinforced with steel rods. It's very cozy. The only heat needed that winter day was the heat from the oven.

[Javaman]

13. That's really neat! nice alternative to the straw bale/rammed earth construction. nt

[alfredo]

14. He considered that, but found the concrete/styrofoam method superior.

I wonder how it fared during the earthquake?

[Javaman]

16. concrete is pretty flexable. Aside from a few cracks I bet it did okay. nt

[alfredo]

17. The walls are reinforced with steel rods. The owner was raised in

earthquake country, and is up on all the new techniques.

[Javaman]

18. all concrete over a certain thickness is required to have rebar, but...

concrete in and of it self is actually extraordinarily flexible. I've seen it do things that makes the mind go, "whaaaaa????" LOL

[alfredo]

19. My friend called and said the house shook and it sounded like a tornado.

They inspected the house and there was no visible damage.

[Javaman]

20. Glad to hear it. :) earthquakes over a 3.5 aren't really a whole lot of fun. nt

[alfredo]

21. The last big shake was in 1980. My wife to be was trimming

my beard. She had just got down to the area near my jugular when it hit. It sounded like someone was scooting heavy furniture across the floor upstairs.

This morning the birds stopped singing right before the bump.

One lady said her dog was digging at the carpet right before the quake.

[Javaman]

23. it's freaky how animals act during quakes, isn't it?

I was working on a film during the wee hours when the northridge quake hit.

We were about to roll for a take when all the dogs in the neighborhood started barking like crazy. This was 4 am mind you. The all the transformers blew. the started off in the distance, and rolled past us. blowing off into the distance. The dogs stopped, then the quake hit.

[alfredo]

25. I know a quake made my wife hyper alert after the quake. She knew

something was up when the birds went silent. She thought maybe there was something in the woods.

My friend out in the country said it got very quiet right before the quake.

I've noticed some more aftershocks.

[DainBramaged]

7. That be them

[islandmkl]

5. i would advise Chuck to stay away from my neighborhood bike bars...

might be some divergent wave lengths...

[blindpig]

15. Disgusting wretches

How wonderful that they can feel good about their elitist lifestyle. What joy to be able to look down their noses at Walmart customers, who can afford no better. That this 'green lifestyle' which they live cannot have squat effect on the deteriorating state of the planet doesn't matter, it's all about them.

'Green Consumerism' is a hideous scam. What part of 'consumerism' don't they understand? It is only by ending this mad, unjust economic system that there's a chance of pulling our chestnuts out of the fire.

[Dr Fate]

22. Why knock a guy for at least trying to move in a good direction?

I would prefer that these "scuppies" go to a local coffee shop, but hey, at least they are heading in the right direction...

The guy in the article devotes free time to charities- what is wrong with that?

And who in the world is PERFECT when it comes to being green?

[blindpig]

24. not

Ain't nothing by feel good self indulgence. Do you think for a moment that a handful of people, a subset of a subset of a subset, can have any effect on what's happening to this planet with their discretionary spending, other than masturbating their egos?

[Dr Fate]

26. I'd say that trying is better than being totally cynical.

Who do you prefer- the millionare who recycles and does charity work and looks at his activities to see how he can improve things-AND votes DEM-

-OR- the millionare who does none of these things and votes Republican??

Knowing that not everyone will ever be as rightious, dilligent and aware as the 100 percenters, I'd chose the first example as a better start.

[blindpig]

27. I prefer NO millionaires.

Their insignificant efforts do nothing for the planet and create the illusion that they do. It's like buying indulgences.

I'm sure there are some monied folks who are decent enough, not that I've met any. However, the disparity of wealth they represent and the source of that wealth is the major single source of all of our woes. It's the capitalist/consumer economy that's killing the planet.

[Dr Fate]

29. Good luck with that one. I'd prefer the millionares who DO exist to be on my side....

...even if it is only on a few things...

[Quantess]

28. Good point, at least they're trying.

Better than saying "I love global warming", like that nutty whats-her-face said recently.