Are you "green" or just following a trend?
Living "Green" has become the "trend du jour". Eco-friendly is now THE marketing catch phrase with all sorts of products claiming everything from being "organic" to protecting the environment and people are buying it. Don't get me wrong here there is nothing wrong with wanting to protect our environment or preserve our resources but that is not the effect this green movement is having in many cases. Much of the time it is simply a case of trading one damage for another.A couple of examples:
In Florida there's a man who wants to ban ALL paper and plastic bags. I have to ask is he being "green" or would that potentially cas more damage? After all he advocates using cardboard boxes to take home his groceries. What is cardboard made of? That's right paper and paper is made of trees. But lets talk about those plastic bags, most people recycle those either by taking them back to the store and putting them in the recycle bin or they use them. Around my neighborhood people walk their dogs with a pooper scooper in one hand and one of those plastic bags in the other. They use them to pick up their pets waste, that's recycling. In my house those plastic bags are used as trash can liners meaning we don't buy Hefty bags for the smaller trash cans we receycle the bags we get from the store.
Another good example is those newfangled energy saver bulbs. They use less electricity than the standard filament bulbs but those bulbs contain Mercury. Granted its a very small amount but when you look at the carton It carries a warning to "Dispose of according to local state or federal laws" What exactly does that mean? It means that when one burns out you are supposed to look up the laws in your area on disposal of mercury and follow them. How many people will do this as opposed to tossing it in the trash can? So you toss this small amount of Mercury in with your garbage and it goes to the local landfill just like your neighbors' bulbs. There the trash gets shoved around with heavy machinery which breaks the bulb released that small amount of Mercury. Now think about just one bulb per year from each home in your town or city, how long before that small amount of Mercury in your bulb combined with the small amounts of mercury in your neighbor's bulb becomes a toxic amount? So you've saved a significant amount of energy but in the processed poisoned your enviroment
While living green is good, it takes responsibility. Recycle what you can. When switching to green or energy saving products, make sure you find out if they can be toxic. Dispose of all toxic materials properly. If you are going to be green be green don't just do it because it is the "in thing to do."
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Comments (9)
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
@CSea Looks like lots of great ideas there. I lived in the FL Panhandle for 20+ years and those freezes definitely are not the norm.
And recycling is one small thing that we can all do to make a difference. Not just putting stuff in the recycle bin, but finding new uses for things that have served their original purpose. I make my own shower scrubbies using old hosiery and little soap pieces.
CSea Perkins4
Yes indeed, I qualify for a few shades of green and have for over 3 decades. Why? I conserve, reuse and recycle more than most (those in this area anyway). I compost because I desire to put back into the earth what it has given me.
Started a nonprofit (http://EcoMapped.com) for a public online vehicle sharing community events, action and education. We pick up trash, tag hazardous materials, log it and call it into the Hazmat unit to remove.
It is very rare I drive, actively measure my
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
The thing that we need to remember is that what we do today affects tomorrow. All sorts of Green ideas are out there and we need to take the time to think about what impact they will have in the long run.
Jan aka Jaz Green7
"trend du jour" becomes the norm when many individuals adopt "someone's offering" ~ like the Internet. This is a very GREEN initiative for communicating, learning, socializing, ...
If all the stuff individuals publish online was accomplished with print and paper ~ I am sure this post would be missed just by those who have so far responded.
There are many "recycling trend du jours" like the 9-step program initiated by the Environmental Protection Agency to recycle plastic. Some communit
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
As with all things the little efforts do add up. We can each commit to one small thing and it would make a major difference. The green industry is is a profit machine, they will do what they can to make some green so we need to keep that fact in mind while we think about the changes we make.
Pete Balasch Jr.14
Internet Marketer Pod caster
Great Article interesting and informative And I bet Google loves it Too!
Marvin Whitehead Jr....14
Internet Marketer
I am doing different repairs and replacement around my home
that have made my home and surrounding much better.I have started replacing all my Light Bulbs with 40watts Fluorescent
Bulbs and using Green Trash Bags and recycle what I can recycle.This is a very good post Cheryl.
Your Success!
Marvin Whitehead Jr
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Yes they do get forgotten until years down the road when the damage is apparent. It great to go green but you have to give a thought to what have effect it will have.
It's like this whole global warming thing. Is there really enough evidence to prove that global warming is a man made condition? It can't be that Global warming is a natural phenomenon? After All this planet has already experienced an ice age and we would still be in an ice age without global warming. Mankind wasn't around t
Joseph Botelho15
Working on one project at a time.
Well done my friend, loved it, a lady with class in her writing. Yea we all forget them simple steps for a better green....great reminder to all of us...Keep up the good work,
You have great talent....
All the best!