The Green Debate

A few weeks back I went out for burgers and beers with a few friends and when one of us returned from the bathroom, of all places, a conversation on sustainability and all things green unfolded. The bathroom trip had followed with a moan extremely annoying blow-dry hand driers. While no one debated the undesirability of air-drying our hands, a debate ensued on whether using all that electricity was more or less green than the proverbial paper towels. And when some suggested cloth towels someone else (myself) objected arguing the high carbon footprint that would occur when a huge cleaning house cleaned all those towels with industrial strength cleaners and electricity. Although we did not come to a consensus it started me thinking about what is actually green and how to figure such questions out.

For those of us looking to do our part moving society toward sustainability the question of green can become a very confusing quandary. I’ve been in a continual debate on plastic vs. paper grocery bags. I mean sure, the best bet is to take your own cloth bag with you every time you go shopping, but hey, let’s admit, most of us just don’t have it together enough. Unless you’re carrying a big enough or multiple bags with you at ALL times (I mean pleesse) chances are the bags will pile up. I’ve got a bag full of bags under my sink. Un-f’n-inevitable. Which suggests the question, should all stores switch to paper, instead of the all too familiar plastic? At the heart of the ongoing debate my girlfriend and I toss around is a debate of landfill vs. tree loss. Although we both have very compelling argument (with MINE being right and hers being WRONG) the complete answer is much more complicated.

And, of course the list goes on: clean coal vs. NOT (this one drives me absolutely insane – I mean do NOT get me started; the viability of wind power vs. the cost and necessary infrastructure, buying a new Prius vs. buying a used car, i.e. recycling such things as cars, TV’s etc and…your own additions & debates. Please let us know of any that you feel strongly about.

Finally, I want to point you all towards Jeffrey Sachs’ monthly articles in Scientific American and his many other public appearances. Sachs is the director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and what I love about this guy is his high visibility, bringing the sustainability debate into the public sphere. Try googling him and be warned the man has got a strong, well developed, and well founded view on sustainability in US and global public policy. To see his latest article and links to past opinions click on http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=still-needed-a-climate-plan.

I’ve listed a few websites that may be of assistance in some debates, and I hope that as we all move towards green, sustainability these types of questions will have easily sourced answers. Until then, beware of those advertisements and websites that want to sell you the next, best thing in green, cause not all of the products out there are actually green. These companies are just looking to plunder you well meaning wallet and improve their amount of cash.

A few helpful sites full of helpful, interesting ideas and advice:

http://www.treehugger.com/

http://www.worldwatch.org/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/report.cfm?id=earth3