Are you a Betty or a Veronica with respect to environmental stewardship?

My daughter recently bought a copy of Archie’s Pals’n’Gals Double Digest (#124), and lo and behold the first story is about the kids from Riverdale thinking up things to reduce carbon emissions for a school contest. Anyway, the gradient from how Betty carries herself and how Veronica looks at things is intriguing, and I thought it could make an interesting slide down the road.


Just so you know (Spoiler alert!), Jughead comes up with the winning entry by suggesting fridges with see through doors. Awesome!

I guess the bigger question is where you think most people fit in this gradient, and maybe more importantly, where we need to be in order to have a real chance at being sustainable (both in terms of resources used, as well as the big climate change challenge).

Speaking for myself, I wish I was more like Betty, but if I’m honest, there’s probably a fair bit of Veronica in me as well. I constantly hear myself making excuses for doing this or that, because I already do this or that. I can say that I’m trying and getting better.

It’s funny, but this discussion actually follows the cultural nuances of the Archie world pretty closely: i.e. Archie choosing Betty should be a no-brainer, but damn if that Veronica always seems to get in the way.

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David (@ng_dave) is Faculty at the Michael Smith Labs. His writing has appeared in places such as McSweeney's, The Walrus, and boingboing.net. He plans on using Terry as another place to highlight the mostly science-y links he appreciates. In fact, if you liked this one, you might also like his main site generally - this can be found at popperfont.net.