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| Thursday, April 19, 2007 |
| USAToday - It's not easy going green |
 USAToday's article: Doing right thing isn't easy, even for those who want to points out the difficulties of going green. While more and more Americans agree going green is the right thing to do for the climate, they have a hard time actually making the necessary changes "going green" entails. They argue it costs more, limits purchasing choices, and takes more effort to accomplish. Folks polled also don't want to be told they have to make changes - they want it to be voluntary. There is also confusion on just what it really means to "be green".
McDonald, 29, who services motor-home diesel engines, says he often sees contradictions in his customers' commitment to going green. "In the shop, people drive in with $500,000, $600,000, $700,000 motor homes with 500-horsepower engines that get, at best, 6 mpg on the highway," he says. "And yet they tow a hybrid around to drive when they get there. It's better than driving a regular vehicle, but maybe not driving the motor home could be a greater impact."
Products that help people use less energy — or leave a smaller "environmental footprint," as green advocates say — often are more costly than their alternatives, causing some to argue that going green is only for those who can afford it. I know I struggle with this myself. While I have made some small steps in changing my old energy wasting ways (installed CFL bulbs, wash only full load of clothes in cold water, run dishwasher only when full, installed rainbarrels and use them to water garden, programmable thermostats, opening and closing blinds to help heating and cooling, and turning off lights and appliances like computers when not in use) I still would not consider myself fully "green". I could do better with my recycling and use my clothes dryer less (start hang drying items). My car is not a hybrid and my roof does not have solar panels on it. My cotton clothing is not "organic" nor is the fruit I buy at the local grocery store.
I guess I see going green as a process. It takes time to make changes and then get comfortable with them. You do what you can as you can.Labels: Saving Energy |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 7:26 AM *
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| 5 Comments: |
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This article on CNN.com points out that "organic" doesn't necessarily have a strong environmental impact because some pesticides are still allowed and without all that fertilizer you have to plant more acres to get the same amount of food: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/13/cl.organics/index.html
I think if you want to eat "green" you should focus on eating local food that wasn't shipped from far away.
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This whole issue is very difficult in general, because it is so hard to judge the environmental impact of one choice over another.
Some types of recycling, for example, come very close to actually being harmful to the environment. With recycled paper, it usually takes more gasoline to haul all of the old paper to the recycling plant than it would to bring them to the local landfill. Plus add on the electricity the recycling plant uses, and the waste products from the de-inking process. After all that, you might have been better off letting the old paper biodegrade in a landfill and planting a new tree to make paper out of.
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The "buy local" argument makes a lot of sense, but it can be hard to know what is local and what is not. My grocery store does not highlight local produce over shipped produce.
To get to a real farmers market I would have to travel outside my normal stomping grounds. I could try getting produce delivered by Boston Organics, but not sure I want to commit to buying boxes of produce I may or may not use.
Burn, I agree that some "green" things are deceptive. It can be hard to know when you are really doing the right thing. But in general I believe recycling is a good thing - I just need to get better about doing it.
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I thought of you yesterday when I heard that Home Depot is giving away CFLs Sunday. Also, Stop & Shop is selling GE CFLs for a dollar apiece this week.
As for buying local food: I love the idea of buying a share at a local food co-op, but I've been too chicken to try it (What if it's too much food? But I don't LIKE tomatoes! I'll feed bad about food going to waste, yadda yadda.) Whole Foods usually displays country (or state) of origin with their produce, but it's out of my way so I seldom shop there.
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I work in a lab that, amongst other things, does solar cell research, and so topics of energy conservation and similar are always hot topics. I was discussing something like this with my labmate the other day, and said something like "I know turning off a light when I leave the room doesn't have much effect, but I try and do it anyway". And he stopped me, and made a most excellent point - if you belittle the things you do to help, that's the easiest way to think you're not having any effect at all. Just say "I turn off lights - it saves energy" or something like that, instead of focussing on how little effect it may or may not have. (This doesn't mean one can't try to find larger things to do as well, of course!)
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This article on CNN.com points out that "organic" doesn't necessarily have a strong environmental impact because some pesticides are still allowed and without all that fertilizer you have to plant more acres to get the same amount of food: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/13/cl.organics/index.html
I think if you want to eat "green" you should focus on eating local food that wasn't shipped from far away.