What Does “Green” Really Mean?
Is it just me, or are others sick of companies calling themselves “green” without really making the commitment?
First, here on island, there was the Buck Island tour company that had a new “green” boat built. It already had two sailboats (sailing is the greenest, non-manual mode of transportation on the planet), but this new “green” machine has electric engines in addition to its diesel ones. Interesting, but not “green”, in my book.
Then, there are the new “alternative energy” companies. Whatever. A bunch of people have jumped on the bandwagon that one guy started here on St. Croix YEARS ago. But few, if any, have the experience to put the systems together properly and in a timely manner. They get front page articles in the paper, though. I’d also like to see how many of the people selling “green energy” products actually use them. That would show me some true commitment.
The Alpine Energy Group is a whole other can of worms, which I may discuss in a future post.
Now, for the past few months, a local grocery store has been calling themselves “completely green”. I spoke to the owner a while back, after I heard the radio ad about this. I was excited and asked if she’d be putting solar panels on the roof to run the refrigeration, etc. Well, no, but they’re not using styrofoam containers anymore for their take-out items, and the plastic bags are degradable, too. Well, that’s a start. But no wind generators and no solar panels, so no “completely green”.
Okay?
March 6th, 2010 at 7:48 am
Complex issues here Terry.
Technically any of the aforementioned could buy carbon credits to off set their carbon footprint and they could then declare them selves green. And Al Gore would back them.
I have struggled at trying to be green. I have one of those squiggly “green” light bulbs on a lamp on my desk. The lamp is mainly for looks because the overhead florescent lights illuminate just fine. But the lamp is a prop of my trade so I have it there running 24/7 (not green) consuming power from nearby coal plants (not green here but green in West VA because I saw a sign there a few weeks ago that said coal was green) and nuclear power (Obama just said it is green enough for him even though I was taught it was dangerous).
I looked at that bulb just the other day and it has degrade to an amber glow. It looks kind of dangerous now and I thought of changing it. But if I pull that bulb I have to make a special trip to the dump to properly dispose of it because this little guys guts are toxic and hazardous to the environment. (Not Green) Plus a trip to the dump would definately spew more carbon that the bulb would pollute so I’ll just leave the little guy glowing on my desk for now.
Our local and state government last year mandated recycling last year. They raised our rates for waste disposal and issued us little blue containers for our recycling. I went kicking and screaming but eventually caught on. Gigi and I now are able to recycle about half our garbage, far more than that little blue container will hold. What we do now is load plastic garbage bags with recyclables and stack the bags on and in the blue box to indicate that all this stuff is recyclable.
Last week I caught the recycle collector stuffing all those bags in the roll out garbage can. What a waste of my time. I felt morally green but I was not actually green.
Like Kermit said, “It is tough being Green”.
March 6th, 2010 at 8:26 am
Wreg, you’re gray through and through, not green, so don’t even pretend.
What Kermit actually said was, “It’s not easy being green.”
March 7th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Reggie has a good point about those “green” light bulbs and the mercury they contain. There is a lot of misinformation out there and sometimes it’s hard to know who to believe. Lots of products and services are being “greenwashed” to cash in on the bandwagon. Here are some other discouraging facts from my Sustainable Design class.
2) Some plastics take more energy to recycle than the energy needed to make them in the first place.
3) Solar panel manufacturing produces silicon tetrachloride, which is a highly toxic substance that poses environmental hazards.
4) Biodiesel, is often made from palm or soybean oil that comes from Brazil and Southeast Asia. But in these countries, the market for biodiesel leads to the destruction of rainforests, which are cleared to become palm oil and soy plantations. This process destroys ecosystems and releases tons of greenhouse gases
5) The Toyota Prius, is propelled part of the time by a battery that contains nickel, which is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to its environs that NASA used this land to test moon rovers because there is not a speck of life around! The Prius has so many hidden environmental impacts that some people contend that its impact on the earth is actually worse than a Hummer or SUV. Check out this link to judge for yourself whether a Hummer or a Prius is better for the Earth: http://www.popularlogistics.com
6) We think that information technology has lightened our load on the Earth because we can now create paperless offices, but the truth is that offices now use around eight times more paper than they did before computers! We say that a PDF is more eco-friendly than a printed report, but is it? The creation of just one laptop produces 4000 times its weight in waste! And internet computing consumes three trillion kilowatt hours — as much power as the entire US economy consumed in 1991. Server farms hold our information, and a single such farm consumes the same amount of energy as Honolulu.
As a member of the global middle class, you are carrying around an invisible “ecological backpack,” which is a tally of the waste produced by everything you consume in one year. Guess how much it weighs? One million pounds!
March 7th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Wow, Jenna. Interesting info! And discouraging indeed.
Consumerism and greed are and have always been the main problems. Everybody wants more, easier, better, and they want it ASAP without caring about the harm to the planet.
The Native Americans considered the effect of their actions on their ancestors 7 generations later. Now, we don’t care about the consequences of our actions even 7 minutes into the future.
It looks like we’re screwed no matter what.
March 13th, 2010 at 11:54 am
For the simpler days when we took our milk and soft drink bottles back to the store. They washed them and refilled them. How quaint.
Wax paper and no plastic.
Food came in steel cans or cardboard and wax boxes.
March 20th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
And she uses plastic bags. Don’t understand why stores down here don’t use paper bags like they do in the states
November 20th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
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September 11th, 2011 at 1:31 am
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[...]Livin’ on St. Croix » Blog Archive » What Does “Green” Really Mean?[...]…
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