This article in the NY Times really lays out what I've been feelinging myself lately (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/fashion/15green.html?_r=1&ref=style&oref=slogin). You don't need to be a superhero, or an environmentalist to save the environment. You need to be a freaking actuary. The level of calculations necessary to figure out whether what you're doing is right or not just makes my tiny brain hurt.
Look at my coffee cup. I use a plain ceramic coffee cup at work every day. Seems like the quick fix. No styrofoam cups adding chemicals to the local land-fill. Go, me. But what about the hot water that's used to clean my cup every day? And the chemicals from the dish soap? I don't even have the capacity to do that kind of mathematics. Oh, and there are the fuel costs to transport those styrofoam cups. And does it make a difference that my ceramic cup was made in China and had to be transported here? Ow. Ow. Ow.
And if I were to eat locally, to reduce carbon emissions from trucks transporting food, my diet would consist mainly of cantaloupe and beef. And evidently if I composte my cantaloupe rinds, that's pretty okay. But the cows are producing methane, that's doing something or other to the ozone and polluting the air so that it's killing the plants. Cow farts are killing the cantaloupes even worse than the truck farts.
And then, after all the hours that I've spent bundling paper products for recycling, and taking them to the recycle center, somebody tells me that recycling paper is a toxic process that is a large contributor to environmental pollution. It was all I coud do not to beat him to death with a rolled up newspaper.
I don't mind trying to do the right thing. I just hate finding out that I've been doing the wrong thing by trying to do the right thing.
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4 comments:
Poor girl. That is why I just don't try too hard. lol
It's almost gotten as bad with the environment as it is with your health. Eat fish - Omega-3 is good for you! Don't eat fish - it's got mercury!
I'll have to say, I'm feeling a little betrayed. I was assured in jr. high science that the scientific method could guarantee consistent, reproducable, accurate results. You know. Stuff scientists could all agree on. Obviously not.
This is why I hate the "simplistic" group I'm part of = they just keep adding on MORE complications to all of life's little decisions - paper or plastic or cloth or what??? I say make the best choice with most minimal impact and stick with it - ceramic cup - yes, recycle paper - yes, compost cantaloupe - yes, eat a lot more local anda lot less meat - yess - - and stop reading contrarians - definitely.
Actually, I watched an episode of My Name Is Earl (of all things) last night that made me feel better (I only watch Earl occasionally, but Christian Slater was the guest, and it kind of caught my attention - must have been a very special Earth Week episode). I'm just going to do what I can, and hope the path to eco-hell isn't paved with good intentions.
I sometimes wonder if the contrarians exist just to make me insane. I was very happily recycling my paper products until he felt the need to riddle me with doubt and fear. Yutz.
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