There are some things you can do to make your 4th of July green, as well as red, white, and blue.
If every American household bought a pack of 40 recycled paper plates instead of buying and using ones that aren't recycled, we would save over 450,000 trees a year, making it a very important decision. So make that important switch a part of your Independence Day.
By utilizing reusable kitchenware, such as 'Tupperware' or 'Gladware', we reduce the amount of trash produced, thereby making a less noticeable impact on landfills and trash heaps. You can also save money by doing this because now you won't have to buy disposable plates or bowls.
Don't forget the recycled napkins as well if you must buy some. These items are all realistically attainable because they sell them at most supermarkets, just look carefully at the labels.
10 comments:
Thank you for your advice on recycles papers products. Some of those came as a surprise to me. I met they did to others as well. We should assume there IS a green product before assuming there ISN't. In this day and age, we must be smarter than we think we are....please God, let us be smarter than we think we are.
Another good post/rant. Keep 'em coming. Katzbox.
I'm a scientist who doesn't believe in man-induced global warming. In fact, I have to snicker when I see Al Gore's graph of CO2 vs temperature and a simple look at his graphs shows he has the cause and effect backwards.
Also, Gore owns SUVs, flies a lot in private jets, has a HUGE carbon footprint, and has a usage per square foot of electricity on his many houses far higher than average. Personally, I consider that hypocritical.
Be that as it may, I am also an environmentalist. We drink (gasp!) tap water at our house. I hate it when I buy one thing at the store and they insist on a bag. When I say no, they throw the bag in the trash instead of using it for the next customer!
I recently had a dinner party for 30 and used plates I had to wash. I got complaints because they weren't paper! I only use cloth napkins and have been using many of the same ones for over 30 years. I buy food in larger packages and cook from scratch and find my trash is much smaller than most homes my size.
When average people start raising their eyebrows at obvious wastes of energy (peer pressure works with adults as well - no gashogs!), start buying and insisting on energy efficient cars, start endorsing clean nuclear energy, take an honest look at the trash they generate, start lobbying for sidewalks and better public transportation, then we can start making a real difference.
But Hollywood says that isn't cool and Hollywood teaches a lot of us our morals.
How many miles of driving does a plastic bag or a paper napkin cost? Not much. How much of your trash is plastic bags and paper napkins? We need to focus on the largest energy guzzlers and pollutants first. Just my two cents.
Dubby,
Thanks for your comments. I understand your environmentalist mindset. It's a bit alarming that you, as a scientist, haven't come to terms with what the population of the world, coupled with industry, has been doing to the GHG levels which have in turn been raising average temps. I've only taken the science classes required of me in college, but I know enough to understand that man-induced global warming is a fact that is not only embraced by nearly the whole of the scientific community, but is also staring us in the face. We must do something, and some of the suggestions you have made are a great way to act.
You know, whether the global warming is "man-induced" or otherwise, it appears that something is happening that we need to pay attention to. Good suggestions. Thanks to both Dubby and the Green Blogger.
The earth will always go through natural cycles of heating and cooling, earthquakes, volcanoes, sunspots, etc. Oceans will rise and fall. Man can adapt.
But that still doesn't give us an excuse to trash it, clear land unnecessarily, use resources wantonly, pollute, and destroy.
We need to reduce, reuse and recycle and be serious about the energy we waste.
By the way, when I was 20, there were dire predictions about global cooling. Google "Global Cooling" and check out the Newsweek article on it in 1975.
(If you think I shouldn't be commenting because I don't know you, and am overstepping my welcome, please let me know. I truly don't mean to offend)
I'm glad that you comment, dubby. I won't silence anyone here. I read an October 23, 2006 article in Newsweek explaining the article they wrote in 1975 about Global Cooling. It's rather good. The science behind the cooling effect was never embraced as much by the scientific community as the science behind warming effect has been. I think they were being concious and aware of a problem, but today's scientific methods are much more accurate and effective. Humanity is having a climate effect on the planet. We are making it warmer by releasing GHG emissions into the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and methane gas. The science is real and it is now. Evidence is continually piling up that supports the matter. It makes it easier to deal with once one accepts it as their immediate reality.
The figures I looked at were cherry picked. One international study spearheaded in Germany found that only one in ten climatologists worldwide believe in man-induced global warming, hardly a consensus. But the media, except for Fox News, refuses to publish any information to dispute it. There is a lot more dissension, but you have to look to find it, because it will not be reported.
The bigger issue, though, is that the "solutions" to global warming we should be doing anyway, because they are solutions to pollution, which IS a problem. We are egotistical and ignoring the problems we are causing for future generations.
Instead of huge energy-sucking concerts to "increase awareness", they should be increasing personal responsibility and solutions to environmental issues in general.
It is one thing to say the automobile companies should make more fuel efficient cars. I'm not a company, it doesn't affect me. It is another to say people should insist on buying more fuel efficient cars.
Encouraging consumers to vote for energy efficiency and greenness with our pocketbooks is the best solution we have to businesses. Laws tend to screw everything up.
We need responsible and educated consumers to solve the problem, with lots of information about what the impact of our choices really make.
I understand the point you are trying to make. I think you are spot on regarding pollution and the choices we make everyday that affect it. We should be doing those things anyway. I believe that we need to do that, but I also believe that by doing most of those things we are helping to reduce GHG's. The temperatures around the world are generally increasing. Nine out of the last ten years have been the hottest ever recorded. Soil evaporation is more of a problem now than ever before...just look at northern Africa. Water temps are higher throughout the globe which have led to the first hurricane EVER in the southern hemisphere, and that includes all ancient evidences we have. These are all very serious. Higher CO2 levels equate to higher temperatures on land and at sea. This is why the enlightened live like they do...we reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Ok, I believe global warming is mostly human-induced, actually -- but I also think that's beside the point.
Here's the point. Or should I say points?:
Regardless of what causes global warming/climate change, 1) it affects us, 2) we have the capacity to do something about it and 3) we should, if we value the planet and the creatures on it and 4) doing the things we can do about it will probably also result in a number of other good results, such as lowered pollution, better conservation of biological diversity, less dependence on foreign oil/ nonrenewable energy sources and better health.
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