There are so many save-the-world groups shouting about subscriptions, donations, products, signatures, calls to action, as well as those irritating chuggers (charity muggers) who jump out at you on the sidewalk wanting you to smile, stop, sign, and give money. This product is green, the one next to it is eco-friendly, a company promises sustainable manufacturing, another is socially responsible. The quantity of and confusion around things we should be concerned about is overwhelming. It’s time to get back to basics to try to figure out what really matters.
Jef Lloyd, a friend who has a Ph.D. in biochemistry, sorted it out nicely for me.
It’s actually quite simple, he says. The confusion comes from mixing up damage to the environment caused by greenhouse gas emissions and damage to people caused by the misuse of chemicals. These are two very different issues with different solutions.
All chemicals are toxic and all life is chemical. You and I and everyone else are individual chemical factories. If we eliminate all chemicals, we eliminate ourselves. That’s one way to save the earth, but probably not the best way.
Environmental damage is caused by human activity. The more feet on the ground, the more damage is done to the earth and the air. Even hunters and gatherers damage plants, wipe out species, and pollute the air with their fires. With the world’s out-of-control population, environmental damage is huge and will only get worse as more and more people are born.
Two things cause 90 percent of damaging greenhouse emissions: heating and cooling our buildings and transportation. And yet, who is giving up their cars and planes or willingly sweltering in triple-digit heat? It is much easier to fight to save the red-winged, five-legged snople. After driving to the frontlines to block gas-guzzling bulldozers, a person can go home to air-conditioned comfort and drink a chemical which causes birth defects and other health problems — alcohol — and feel good about his or her efforts. Buying green detergent or those dangerous fluorescent bulbs has almost no impact on saving the world. Only a reduction in fossil fuels will make a difference,
Few are brave enough to stand up and say that we must control our populations. The problem is that growth — more and more people buying more and more houses and cars — is considered essential to the health of the world’s economies.
So, bottom line, we have a conundrum. Do we save the earth and trash the economy or do we fight to save the economy and hope for the best?
[pagebreak]Here is a list of things everyone can do that will make a positive impact on healing our environment:
- The most important item is to thoroughly insulate your home. This not only will save you money, but it also reduces your use of fossil fuels.
- Turn your thermostat down at least 5 degrees in the winter and set your air conditioning temperatures at least 5 degrees warmer in summer.
- Add a ceiling fan for summer and a whole house fan for spring and fall in hot climates.
- Fix leaks around windows and doors.
- Install the most efficient heating and cooling systems and then maintain them at optimum condition.
- Consider changing your energy source: think about burning wood pellets, installing solar panels, or geo-thermal heat.
- When you have to replace windows or appliances, go for the most energy-efficient ones.
- Use everything you have until it really needs to be replaced.
- Reuse as much as possible – antique (or used) wooden furniture is much better for the environment than new particle board.
- Insist on a wood-framed house instead of concrete, steel, or brick. These last three materials are very bad for the environment. Lumber requires the least energy to produce, releases lowest amounts of greenhouse gases, and locks up CO2.
- Install wooden floors, not carpet. Don’t buy a second home or a boat — other than a wooden sailboat.
- Think twice about having more than two children.
- Reduce energy use in transportation — work at home or walk, bike, or bus to the office. Trade in your gas guzzler for a smaller car.
You may notice that all these tips are for individuals, like you and me, and they are voluntary. The same goes for corporations that are using enormous amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture the items we apparently can’t live without. When you shop, try to check how far the item has traveled and how much energy was required for its manufacture. There has been talk about requiring manufacturers to list the amount of energy used to produce the product on packaging, but so far, no action.
Fossil fuel prices around the world are artificially lowered by government subsidies. These subsidies are benefiting the energy companies’ bottom lines and they encourage consumption by keeping prices artificially low. It also discourages innovation in alternative energy sources. Call your senators and representatives and demand that they act to end the subsidies and support research into alternative energy.
There are those who say it’s too late and that in the near future we will all fry under a relentless sun. But sitting around hopelessly resigned to our dependence on the finite quantity of fossil fuels is not the answer. We need to take responsibility as individuals, we need to demand that companies reduce their consumption of fossil fuels, and we have to get our governments to stop fighting with each other and fight the common enemy that threatens to destroy our planet.
Get out there and DO something!
Priscilla Burgess is CEO, co-founder, and co-inventor of Bellwether Materials, an award-winning, triple-bottom line company that manufactures deep green building insulation made from an agricultural by-product. Before founding Bellwether Materials, she ran her own management consulting business. She has traveled all over the world, asking questions about how people work and from that, has developed several models and many opinions about the best way to grow a flourishing business.image: Darin Barry via Flickr cc (some rights reserved)