Savng the planet through guilt

The Green Movement, the 100 Mile Diet, Save The Planet, Carbon Credits: it turns out that determining the best way to go about putting environmental concerns into action just isn't that clear or easy. Take shopping at the grocery store for example. Do you want to help the impoverished grape pickers of Chile eke out a meager existence and have the bunker fuel burning cargo ship's pollution on your conscience, or do you want to buy those somewhat more local Fraser Valley blueberries and subsidize the destruction of valuable disappearing wetlands? Do you want corn on the cob in January brought in the tens of tons by train from California, or are you willing to wait until August when Jerome drives three bushels over from Midway in his rusting out '73 Ford pick-up? Which is more eco friendly? And then of course we still have to bag it. Paper or plastic? Do you want to pillage the green treed slopes of Beaverdell, or ravage the oil sands of Alberta? Normally I'd say Alberta, but you can't even joke about this anymore; it's become just too serious.
Power generation is another area that poses a dilemma for the environmentally concerned. Recently in the Vancouver Sun, former Socred minister Dr. Pat McGeer ranted against the move to small privately-funded power projects. Instead he wished for a return to mega-dams, the Site C project south of Fort St. John in particular. If built, such a dam would indeed provide great amounts of power, 900 megawatts, but flood 80 km. of the Peace River Valley. The small run-of-river power generating projects on the other hand flood nothing. Instead they divert water around waterfalls and rapids that are enjoyed by outdoor enthusiasts and require the construction of access roads and power lines through often environmentally-sensitive areas.
When I was growing up, the issues people faced were local or perhaps just family related. Now we are expected to think regionally, nationally, and globally.
The guilt we are supposed to feel about our actions or inaction has now expanded to embrace the rapidly expanding deserts of Africa to the dwindling ice caps of both Poles.
I can't allow myself to become depressed, however; the medication I would then have to purchase would merely support the irresponsible policies of the avaricious multinational drug monopolies. At my age, any more guilt might kill me.