Facebook is to blame! Eco-hipsters – know-it-alls who think they’re the only ones protecting the environment. But they are one thing above all: opportunists.

Popular with eco-hipsters: cloth bags with imprints. Photo: imago/robert fishman

As a woman, you’re always confronted with slut-shaming. That’s when others are bothered by the fact that a woman gets involved in a relationship "too early," has one-night stands or – heaven forbid – wears skirts that are too short, and then they talk about it as if it’s none of anyone’s damn business. It’s a familiar story. A rather new and apparently very widespread variant of shaming in Berlin is eco-shaming.

Mostly run by young people who, with the demanding attitude of insurance agents and the reproachful tone of the Catholic Church, want to parade their lifestyle in front of them and impose it on others. "Menstrual cups!" they then demand. And, "Filter coffee!" Usually followed by, "Have you ever thought about how harmful that is to the environment?" The similarity to slut-shaming lies in the fact that inferiority, remorse and shame are to be deliberately evoked in the other person.

This type of person is especially common in apartment communities, age between , eco-hipster brand. If there were studies, they would show that this group of people is one of the many spawns of the Facebook generation. They read something on the Internet, often the title of an article is enough, and then adopt a position because it sounds somehow clever, is somehow plausible, or because their eco-hipster friends have a similar opinion.

With a bit of luck, this position is not actually wrong. It’s true that coffee capsules make superfluous crap and that aluminum is stupid. But the problem is that these eco-hipsters are now fist-waving at their surroundings without even taking a second to examine their own lifestyles. There are coffee capsule opponents who neither separate garbage nor know any proportionality in the consumption of aluminum foil. They wrap as if there were no tomorrow.

The latest eco-fashion: menstrual cups. You can do it, but you don’t have to

It’s the double standards of these opportunistic would-be environmentalists that really gets your goat. Sentences like "Well, I only read digitally now, newspapers make so much garbage". Yes, that’s true. But then maybe you shouldn’t use kitchen roll for every water stain, just because the advertising says that’s the way it has to be. And the cloth bag knights! Good stuff. But they still freeze their home-baked rolls in plastic bags, which they throw away after using them once. But the main thing is that they drive by car ("company car!") to this great, totally hip supermarket two districts away, where you can buy unpackaged goods. Standing ovation.

But what the eco-hipsters like best is to talk about where you can and can’t shop. Lidl (evil), H&M (very evil) and Kik (diabolical). Because: exploitation of workers, child labor, chemicals, transport routes. If you can listen to a conversation like this, it’s a lot of fun to let them go deep into their accusations and indignation. And when they’re knee-deep in their contempt for others, you ask them what they think the coke comes from that they put in their brains with such relish every weekend. It’s worth its weight in gold, really.

The earth is threatened with heat collapse. That’s why the world’s heads of state want to agree on a global climate protection treaty in Paris at the beginning of December. The taz reported daily from November 28 to December 14, 2015 on four pages in the newspaper and here on https://xn-----8kcaojauch3bibibprf0be1r.xn--p1ai.

And then the latest eco-trend: the menstrual cup. Great thing, is made of silicone and reusable. Saves money and avoids waste. You can do it quietly. But women who decide against it because they find it unpleasant or they have little desire to stand on the office toilet during their bleeding with bloodied hands, like Freddy Krueger after a successful night, are talked at like sick cows. And then it starts all over again: tampons! What a load of garbage that makes. Shame on you!