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How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 4:24:40 AM

SilverMark

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I hear a lot about being "green" from manufacturers trying to sell me products, to politician's to a few comments here and there. I do understand the environmental concerns, global warming etc not looking for a lesson in the issue. All I want to know is: Personally to each of you, how do you rank it in importance? Would you rather have more fuel or be more green? Does it matter in the products you buy etc? The next car you buy? Economics or greenenomics?

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 4:36:31 AM

Aneirin

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Green, or eco friendly is the latest buzz word in those industries that seek our money.

We have had , 'hand made', 'economic' , and a whole host of other 'buy it now ' adjectives, 'green' is just the latest word in sales.

Being green to me, is living my life in moderation, and by moderation, I don't get sucked into the latest craze.

My impact on the world, well the energy I use is only the energy I need to use, no more and no less, if I can walk somewhere, I will and in all weathers. If I need to buy something, then I research before dipping my hand in my pocket. I lead a low impact on life, an impact based upon what is comfortable for me exist by, comfortably.

Oh and I ignore politicians.

_____________________________

Everything we are is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything, what we think, we become - Guatama Buddha

Conservatism is distrust of people tempered by fear - William Gladstone

(in reply to SilverMark)

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 5:02:27 AM

LaTigresse

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Alot of being green is living the way I was taught, living frugally. Things like sealing the house up well for winter. Keeping the heat low and dressing for the season rather than the house hot and walking about in few clothes in January. Combining errands with going to and from work rather than separate trips. Reusing things, like plastic containers, when possible. I've a small stockpile of yogurt and cottage cheese containers for sending extra food home after a dinner gathering.

It is very difficult to do alot of the return type recycling out here so I just try to buy less of the type of thing that needs it. I have always been very cautious about chemical use like herbicides and pesticides although I cannot avoid it completely. I've always been that way for the health of those living around me.

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 5:11:44 AM

sirsholly

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I agree with LadyT. Living green is a matter of common sense more than anything else for us. Since we live midway between Nowhere and Nuttin, recycling (as in trash pickup) doesn't happen here but i think we make up for it on our own

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 5:13:36 AM

patwi

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FR

I try t be "green" as much as my budget allows. I buy organic milk and eggs, to try and avoid the extra hormones and things and also to try to smooth my concious a little bit. I resue everything I can and avoid things like harsh clenaing chemicals, opting instead for things that don't make my eyes water. The obvious things like lights off, heating and cooling used conservatively etc. Thats as much a function of budget than environment though. I could be as green as grass if only I had th ebudget for it.

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 5:56:39 AM

MissIsis

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I try to live in moderation, reuse what I can, including purchasing some things used, so I can recycle them, if possible. I try to buy good food. While I can't afford everything ecofriendly, I try to shop when I can at places where I know for sure the companies care about the environment. Whole Foods does a lot to help producers go green, through education & support to their suppliers & vendors, so I buy there when I can afford it. I know people have a perception that it is an expensive store. It can be, but they are very concerned about getting value to consumers right now. They have many products that are competitive with regular grocers, & often less expensive, but you have to look, or ask questions of the people who work there. Their 365 store brand of natural & organic products are generally a great value. I can purchase the butter for less than I pay at the local walmart. I want to know that animals & the people who work for them are treated kindly. I try not to shop at Jewel, because it is owned by Albertsons & generally, the people there seemed overworked, & unhappy, a sign to me they aren't being treated kindly.

I think being green is about being able to balance the little that we can do, with what we can't, & doing our part to insure that maybe someday we can do more.

Our complex never used to recycle. I found out that it has to be offered, & made a couple phone calls. It wasn't long before every garbage area had recycle bins here.

These are little things, but I think if we all do what we can & make a little effort, we can, collectively accomplish a great deal.

(in reply to patwi)

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 6:15:28 AM

PrincessJ77

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It ain't easy being green.

(You knew somebody was gonna say it.)

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 6:17:23 AM

Quivver

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people were green long before they made an ad campaign for it.
it was science that moved us away from the old ways cause they sold it to us as a better choice.
farmers used to use manure to fertilize their fields but that ended up unsanitary.
milk used to be delivered in glass bottles that were reused.
meat was bought in a paper wrapper and so on.
all that went by the way side in favor of `progression`.

people are too easily led and this `green` movement is no different.
try composting in your back yard if you have one and see if your neighbors dont complain about the smell.
green is going to fix nothing.

although i am pleased to see so many who view green as living frugally with common sense.
that's a definition worth being at comfort with.

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 6:49:02 AM

NeedToUseYou

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To me "green" means doing things different in order to arrive at the same result with less impact on the environment. Electric cars would be "green" to me, if they ever get fully developed, because they don't require you to drive less or change anything really, just do it more efficiently. Green doesn't have to equate to frugal, IMO, though being frugal is generally a good quality.

I was reading a website, and companies could do a lot more without costing anyone anything. One guy had a novel idea, of making two liter bottles, or any largish container, to where they could snap together like lego blocks after use. So, doing that, let's say you wanted to build a dog house for example, you'd just fill the blocks with rain water after use, and you'd have the sides built, if the dog house wasn't to wide you could build the roof out of it, A little super glue and you have a dog house that will degrade in 10000 years. Also, interior non support walls could be built of it. You could get very creative with what to do with 2 liter sized lego blocks. I could easily see someone building a entire house out of them. Filling them with different matterial depending on what purpose the block was going to serve.

But I guess I didn't answer the question "how important is green to you". Well, it's probably the most important thing to me on a societal level using my definition above. As if we want to allow more humans to live like humans, we must use our resources more efficiently. There really is no other choice. If we don't use them more efficiently it will just result in a degrading slope of human living standards, some will still live well, more won't though, and that's a sad thing, that is not necessary.

IMO, the only government subsidies that I could ever feel "good" about in the sense that everyone will benefit, are those targeting efficiency enhancements.

< Message edited by NeedToUseYou -- 9/14/2008 7:04:41 AM >

(in reply to SilverMark)

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 8:51:57 AM

corysub

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"Being Green" is a political statement kinda like the "Feminist Movement" whose organiszations support only women who agree with a liberal oriented agenda. No sane person wants to destroy the planet we live on. Many people have been eating well, turning off light switchs, fixing leaking water pipes, picking up garbage recycling papers because it was in intelligent thing to do..I guess "Being Green" would be a lot more important me if I was an alien from out of space or a frog...

< Message edited by corysub -- 9/14/2008 8:52:32 AM >

(in reply to LaTigresse)

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 9:28:28 AM

meatcleaver

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quote:

ORIGINAL: SilverMark

All I want to know is: Personally to each of you, how do you rank it in importance? Would you rather have more fuel or be more green? Does it matter in the products you buy etc? The next car you buy? Economics or greenenomics?

Very important, I want there to be a world worth living in for the succeeding generations. I don't want people to look back at my generation in disgust, saying they could have done something but they didn't.

On a practical level, when I moved here after my separation about five years ago, I gave up my car and bought a modest apartment and studio to work in. I furnished the place with good quality secondhand wooden furniture (very cheap because it was out of fashion) and the bottom of the range electrical goods, no added gizmos etc. I have an allotment about 30 minutes bike ride from my apartment where I grow a lot of my own veg. Keeps me fit too. The plus side of all this, I have saved so much money in the last five years I've bought a small apartment in Berlin and I'm going to buy a small one in Paris too. The fantastic trains here mean I can travel to each apartment at a very low carbon level. My income isn't bad but it isn't fantastic either so I'm not stinking rich, I just buy what I need and cut out all the crap and I don't miss out on anything. I'm not a mizer, I enjoy myself and live well, I just don't throw money away on companies that want to sell me a pig in a poke. The plan wasn't to save money, just living green has saved me money.

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 9:37:26 AM

NihilusZero

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Save for simple common sense things (as have been mentioned) it's one big eco-guilt trip without substantiation. I'm not moved. But many humans are prone to do silly things simply on the grounds that it feels good.

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 9:42:18 AM

fearghus

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For me it is a more complex question.
On a personal level I believe that we should be more green. As individuals there is a lot more we can do, but most of the masses will never do these things while we are so 'comfortable'.

As for the word 'green' mixed with the political scene - that always gives me deep - deep chills. When the would-be-powers-that-be talk 'green' ... what they mean is control of the resources. Someone will have the control, and they will manage it for our own good. They use these buzz words to rob the people of our own responsibilities for managing the planet and its resources.

Scarier still is when you see polar opposite people in the same commercials extolling this new 'green' concept in TV ads. CHILLS me to the bone that the two major parties will agree on this issue enough to steal control from the people with even more effciency.

(in reply to NihilusZero)

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 9:43:01 AM

meatcleaver

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quote:

ORIGINAL: NihilusZero

Save for simple common sense things (as have been mentioned) it's one big eco-guilt trip without substantiation. I'm not moved. But many humans are prone to do silly things simply on the grounds that it feels good.

The evidence is pointing the other way that we are overharvesting the planet and we are effecting the climate. As I pointed out in another thread, evidence is growing that the Amazon provides N.America with rain. Soon you will know if that is true because as the Amazon forest is hacked down, drought will increase in N.America. You shouldn't have to wait to long to find out if the scientists are right with the speed the Amazon forest is being hacked down.

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There are fascists who consider themselves humanitarians, like cannibals on a health kick, eating only vegetarians.

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 10:03:23 AM

NihilusZero

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From: Nashville, TN
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quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
Soon you will know if that is true because as the Amazon forest is hacked down...

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought we were talking about "going green" in a personal 'daily life' sense (rather than overt activism)? I don't think any of us here are directly involved in the deforestation of the Amazon....and to consider the entire greenhouse-gas effect, we'd have to have a pretty conclusive idea of how much effect human activities play in it...

_____________________________

"I know it's all a game
I know they're all insane
I know it's all in vain
I know that I'm to blame."
~Siouxsie & the Banshees

NihilusZero.com

CM Sex God du Jour
CM Hall Monitor

(in reply to meatcleaver)

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 10:13:47 AM

YourhandMyAss

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It's honestly not that important to me. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'm about a 4 on greenness. I do freecycle a lot of things most people would trash, broken lamps, old cooking canisters old clothing, old toys ect ect And if not freecycle then good will, and I do reuse a lot of things that most people would trash once the food in them is gone. And I do believe it's foolish to blast the heat in the winter when you're cold, but you haven't bothered to put more clothing on yet first to see if that helps warm you up some. And of course I try not to waste food and paper towels and toilet paper, by not using gobs more than needed, and I don't leave shit running long after they're needed, But as far as buying only organic or staying away from say like stryrafoam cause it's bad for the enviroment, or buying special organic foods or special organic cleaners, or any of the hype about it, nope. I really don't care.

quote:

ORIGINAL: SilverMark

I hear a lot about being "green" from manufacturers trying to sell me products, to politician's to a few comments here and there. I do understand the environmental concerns, global warming etc not looking for a lesson in the issue. All I want to know is: Personally to each of you, how do you rank it in importance? Would you rather have more fuel or be more green? Does it matter in the products you buy etc? The next car you buy? Economics or greenenomics?

(in reply to SilverMark)

Post #: 16

RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 10:20:18 AM

YourhandMyAss

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We compost in our back yard, and the neighbors did not complain about the smell. Actually it didn't really stink to badly or much at all. Course it was mostly egg shells and coffe grinds and food scraps from the table like those little bits of lima beans that didn't get eaten and Our neighbors composted too, and again nobody complained.

But then again I guess it depends on what you're dumping into the compost pile.

quote:

Quivver

people are too easily led and this `green` movement is no different.
try composting in your back yard if you have one and see if your neighbors dont complain about the smell.

< Message edited by YourhandMyAss -- 9/14/2008 10:25:46 AM >

(in reply to Quivver)

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 11:00:29 AM

popeye1250

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From: New Hampshire
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aneirin

Green, or eco friendly is the latest buzz word in those industries that seek our money.

We have had , 'hand made', 'economic' , and a whole host of other 'buy it now ' adjectives, 'green' is just the latest word in sales.

Being green to me, is living my life in moderation, and by moderation, I don't get sucked into the latest craze.

My impact on the world, well the energy I use is only the energy I need to use, no more and no less, if I can walk somewhere, I will and in all weathers. If I need to buy something, then I research before dipping my hand in my pocket. I lead a low impact on life, an impact based upon what is comfortable for me exist by, comfortably.

Oh and I ignore politicians.

Aneirin, I pretty much agree with you there.
I recycle cardboard, newspapers *all plastics* and all aluminum drink cans.
It takes plastics about 1,000 years to breakdown and manufacturing aluminum takes a tremendous amount of energy that's why aluminum plants are always near power generating plants.
That said, yes, most of this stuff is just marketing.
And some of it is just out and out fraud like that "Kyoto" scam.
If the "U.N." is involved in it you know it's a money making scam.
They always want "western countries" to participate in their money scams but other countries seem to get a pass.
I just bought a new Lincoln MKS with a 3.7 litre 6 cyl engine that produces about 280 horsepower.
It gets 20.6 mpg around town so far and they claim "up to 29 mpg on the highway."
The Mercury that it replaces got 18.5 and 26.7 respectively.
So I'm headed in the right direction.
After 50 some odd years of being in the U.S. I think it's WAY past time that the "U.N." moved it's headquarters to another country.
Part of being a "good guest" is knowing when to leave!

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RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 3:20:09 PM

subsong

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It's a pretty important issue with me . I see choosing to be "green" as a lifestyle too . Though I've always kinda fallen naturally into it - before it was so "in" .      I like being frugal , and over time , have wanted for little .

     I've brought my own cloth bags to the grocer for years , and dealt with check-out folks wondering what the hell they were for , or them putting plastic bags inside the ones I had with me - like the food would escape or something !

    My business/haul everything car is an old Honda civic wagon ( 18yrs old )that gets 28/35 mpg ,   and a second old Honda ( 20yrs. old ) for long trips - is a 5spd hatchback   ( a blast to drive ! ) that gets a full 40 mpg !    I keep both of them looking good .
Sure makes me wonder why they can't make more like that now - regular gas - simple motor .

   I do as much as I can within a roughly 8mi. radius - by walking , or bicycle .    I puposely selected my location so I could do more of that, and not be so auto dependant .

    I recycle whatever I can , and also compost .

   I joined the Freecycle network - a great way to go ! Have unloaded unnecessary items to grateful recipients , and aquired a couple things I needed .

Most of the things in my house were either curbside treasures , Goodwill finds , or hand-me-downs from various sources .    I buy many great clothes/shoes at thrift shops - and when I get tired of 'em , I bring them back so they can make more money !   As a result , my house is eclectic , funky , interesting , and very homey .

   Plastic zip bags get washed and reused .

   I pick up trash along the roads in my neighborhood - 'cause I get tired of looking at it ! , and take it to the dump . While I'm doing that , I collect aluminum cans to take to salvage, and get paid by the pound !    Two full garbage barrels of flattened cans brings in approx. $25 ! Helps pay for gas !

   I've always lived within, or below my means , and try to keep my "footprint" small .

   Turn off lights , use water sparingly - water saver showerhead etc.

   Here in Florida - I only run the A/C from afternoon to about 7am - then shut if off . Thermostat on 79. Lots of shade , and a block house let me get away with that .   As soon as late fall comes - no more A/C, and all the windows are open .

Try hard to never waste food .   Am a vegetarian .     Try to select products with no , or minimal packing - and have written to some companies to change their packages altogether . Or look for products I need that happen to come in reusable containers - which I keep .

   I use Feline Pine in the cat's litterbox ( actually Equine Pine is the same product and MUCH cheaper ! ). Used - it is compostable , and good in the garden .

   Always looking for new creative ways to save , use , and re-use things .

   Oh - and like many of us - I have made some interesting toys out of inexpensive , everyday stuff !

< Message edited by subsong -- 9/14/2008 3:21:28 PM >

(in reply to popeye1250)

Post #: 19

RE: How important is being "Green" to you? - 9/14/2008 3:34:55 PM

Musicmystery

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I like paying far less for heating, gasoline and food by taking the time to make more conservative choices--which also happen to be green.

That's different from the lines manufacturers will use to sell anything. Hell, arsenic is 100% natural.....

(in reply to SilverMark)

Post #: 20

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