by kate |
You think you have reached the brink of greendom, you have mastered the art of recycling – I hate to burst your bubble, but here are three things that you may think are green when in fact they are not. Don’t feel bad if you are guilty of any of these practices, shoot, I already know I violate at least two, this post is just to help us further open our minds to sustainability.
Recycling
You may be sitting there right now thinking ‘ why in the world would I say that recycling isn’t green?! ‘ Or you just re-read the title. did ya? 
Well, think of this – some people use recycling as an option to not reduce their currently un-green practices. For example, do you know someone who picks up 24- 12oz water bottles on each grocery trip and put their finished bottles directly in the recycle bin upon completion? This is a perfect display of using recycling as a scapegoat. This person could very easily purchase gallons of water at a time & have them refilled at the grocery store or install a filter to their sink to avoid the recycle bin altogether.
Same goes for beer bottles – consider purchasing a mini keg of your favorite brew instead of a six-pack, or visit a local brewery to pick up a growler (glass jug with a screw on lid with a plug), which is equivalent to a half gallon. Some breweries offer a liter or quart size as well.
Reusable bags
Reusable bags have been one of my favorite things to promote here on GTB. I love them, but then again, I am a little bit of a bag lady. In my experience, a grocery store bagger will use 5 plastic bags to each reusable bag you bring to the store. Say you usually go home with 5 reusable bags full of groceries – this means you saved 25 plastic bags! A very green feat.
So, what makes reusable bags unenvironmentally friendly? Like I said, I typically walk away from an average grocery trip with 5 full reusable bags – I own at least 20 resuable bags. This is 4 times beyond my necessary use.
Excessive, yes. My point – exactly.
Just because reusable bags save plastic bags, there is no reason to have a huge, excessive collection beyond necessary use. The good news is that there are still plenty of people who do not use reusable bags at the store -so carry one of your collection with you & pay it forward to someone in need Ah, the gift that keeps on giving!
Hybrid cars
Hybrid cars are awesome. I am a full supporter of finding a way to cut down on our natural resource use for transportation purposes. However, I also believe that the auto industry over manufactues cars to a point of waste, and people get new cars at an unbelievable rate. For every hybrid car made, there are several used cars out there.
Besides the waste of extra manufactured cars – people are driving too much. Hybrid cars provide consumers an excuse to drive further and use more resources, whatever they may be, just because they burn at a slower rate. Consider cutting your mobility by using a bike once or twice a week on leisure trips, or get a carpool started at your work.
Alright, I may have laid it on thick – but you know I have a point. For your next green venture, consider it from all sides if it is in fact a sustainable event.
Have another idea that is green, but not – leave us a comment, tweet us @greenthinking, or email us at greenthinkinggtb@gmail.com. We would love to hear what you have to say!
Brighter Planet
We Can Solve It
Laurel Health Coaching
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice thinking! I recently read an article in Scientific American about hybrid cars. They are greener than traditional cars only if you live in a place that is not generating most of its electricity from coal. If the energy is from coal then hybrids have a much larger carbon footprint than if the energy is from natural gas, solar, or wind.
I don’t include nuclear in the list above because of the obvious cost, security, and waste problems with the huge centrally-supplied facilities. National Geographic had an article in the past year about “small nukes”. These are produced by Toshiba and another company and they are buried in local areas, can supply 300 homes for 30 years without replenishing the fuel, and because they are so small they do not pose any meltdown threat. Distributed nuclear like that would be something worthwhile.
I have written a book “Thinking Green: Ethics for a Small Planet” that is on sale at Amazon and other bookstores. E-versions are available for all readers at http://www.Smashwords.com. It’s full of green ideas that make sense from a time-species-global perspective.
Karel, Thank you so much for coming by GTB and shaaring your comments. We couldn’t agree more with your way of thinking and appreciate the insight about the “small nukes.” I took the opportunity to read the sample from your book & I am excited to read more – let me know if you would like to do a guest post to introduce it to all GTB readers.
Thanks again! Best, Kate.
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