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| Monday, April 21, 2008 |
| Why Bother? |
The New York Times Magazine was devoted to "Green" topics this weekend. They packed a lot of information into that one publication! But one article stood out for me. It was titled Why Bother? and was written by Michael Pollan - who seems to specialize in food topics.
It was a bit of a devil's advocate type article, spelling out all the ways an individuals energy savings are just drops in the global warming bucket. After stating all the ways our carbon offsetting are being sabotaged, he then comes to this conclusion: Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it’s one we probably all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren’t great. Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can’t prove that it will. I don't know if my personal choices are really helping the environment or not. I can't measure how many millimeters of glacier ice I may have helped save by turning my thermostat down a few degrees this winter or just how much smaller the landfill pile is because I recycled my Diet Coke cans.
What I can measure is how much lower my heating bill was last winter when compared to the winter before or how much my coin jar grew after redeeming those Diet Coke cans. When I plant my container gardens in the next few weeks I will see how much my produce bill goes down as I harvest food from my backyard. I will see how much my gasoline bill drops as I walk to the local shops for errands.
Not all my choices will have an immediate monetary benefit. I am now using reusable cloth shopping bags for my groceries instead of paper or plastic. My grocery store of choice does not credit me a few pennies for doing this, but I still do it. I think making the small initial change, like replacing those lightbulbs with CFLs is good advice. Hopefully seeing the money savings that one very small, very simple change provides will spur you to make the next change, and then the next.
To me, it is all very much worth the bother.Labels: Saving Energy, Saving Money |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 10:40 AM *
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| 10 Comments: |
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hi Gal,
Please note spelling of Pollan's name -- with an "a" not an "e"
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The funny thing about this article is that he became depressed by Al Gore's recommendation to switch to CFL's -- but that is one way where you WILL immediately see the difference in your pocketbook. Switching your whole house to CFL's (as we have done) should save you $5-10/month in energy costs. Here in CA, where CFL's go 4/$2 now, there's not much reason not to.
I gave CFL's and rechargeable batteries to all my relatives for Christmas and explained I would rather give them a gift that saves money month after month. None of them used them and all of them had eyes that lit up after I explained how much they could save. I gave them about $40 worth of CFL's each -- enough to cover the vast majority of their houses.
I really like the sunlight CFL's as well -- if you haven't seen them, they emulate the whiter light that looks like daylight. Perfect for those of us who crave more sunlight.
-Erica
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Ok, I'll play devil's advocate for a second. If you reuse cloth shopping bags, what do you use to throw out your trash? Do you buy new, unused plastic bags to toss in your dirty garbage?
That's the one trend I hope doesn't hit here. I think it's ridiculous to buy something to only throw it out.
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To: Peachy.
Current environmentalist thinking is to use the store's recycled plastic bags for garbage. When you have a lot stored up, that is when you shop with your own cloth bag. When you run out of stored bags, that is when you get the store's bags again.
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I'd rather be part of the solution than part of the problem.
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I am all about making a difference, even if it is a tiny one. I will save the diet coke cans, I will drive the speed limit, as oppose to driving 10 mph over, to save on gas.... it all will help in the long run. If we ALL just did a little... imagine the impact.
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Boots, What about the areas and stores that ban plastic? Sure you can shop with your own reusable bag, but I'm sure the Hefty garbage bags are still on the shelves. Either way it's ironic.
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OK, the grocery store bag as trash bag problem.
Yes, I reuse grocery store plastic bags as trash bags around my house. However, I also use one large hefty bag on my side porch. Basically I was taking the smaller grocery store plastic bags in small trash cans around my house, tying them up and depositing them in the larger hefty bag. The larger bag then gets put on the curb on trash day.
Now that I am using cloth bags for grocery shopping, I am still working through my stock pile of grocery store plastic bags for my small trash cans. But now, because I don't have an infinite supply of them, I find that I only tie up and throw away the small kitchen and bathroom bags. My home office and bedroom trash cans I just walk to the large hefty bag on my side porch and empty directly. So basically I am reusing over and over again those two grocery bags.
Eventually I will run out of plastic grocery store bags for my kitchen and bathroom trash cans. At that point I anticipate asking friends and family who don't use cloth grocery bags if they have any extra plastic bags for me.
What I would really like to do is get much better at recycling. If I am filling my blue bins and not my small trash bags I will have much less need for plastic grocery bags.
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The article came just today.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-042108-whole-foods-plastic,0,4502777.story
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You should write this guy at the New York Times Magazine and tell him EXACTLY what you just said!!!
GO GIRL!!!!
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hi Gal,
Please note spelling of Pollan's name -- with an "a" not an "e"