Filed under: J840 Week 2, Waste + Recycling | Tags: Freakonomics, green, recycling
Being green is a term I like to use loosely. If you recycle, drive a hybrid, take reusable bags to the grocery store and pack your lunch in reusable containers, does this mean you’re green? Or does talking about ways to be sustainable and environmentally friendly enough to be considered green? Or is it a combination of the both, walking the walk and talking the talk, to be considered a guru of green culture?
I don’t think it’s one particular thing a person can do to be considered green but more the way a person thinks and understands what it means to be green. Before I showed up to class on Friday, I considered myself a relatively green person. For example, I recycle endlessly. Little did I know I’m better off avoiding products packaged with plastic than to recycle the package after I’m through with it. The amount of energy it takes to either produce the plastic or recycle it after its initial use can be more environmentally harmful than if I were to avoid buying it altogether.
The "Waste Hierarchy"-note that prevention is at the top while recycling is towards the bottom.
And here I thought I was being an environmentally good citizen of the world for recycling every single piece of plastic I used. I’m starting to see I have the “what” down of being green but I need to brush up on the “how” and “why” to better understand this loose term “being green.” I know what I’m doing to try to be green but I don’t fully understand why I’m doing it or how it’s impacting the environment in the end.
I’m taking another course this summer in which I am reading the book, Freakonomics. I’ve started to follow the Freakonomics blog, and I have to say, there are some pretty entertaining but great points being made. In particular, I read an entry that illustrates my point above. It’s important to know the why of what you’re doing and how it’s affecting the environment and others around you before you should be allowed to considered yourself a guru of all things green.
-Erin Pursel
What is green is in the eyes of the beholder. A person who uses a reusable grocery bag or beverage container may not know it is a green initiative but may use it because they were given the items for free or because it is the popular thing to do.
There is not a book that lists every single green option and these options are certainly not published to a source that every single person in the entire world uses. What determines something to be green is based on a person’s knowledge of how a particular product is created or how in-depth a specific act will help a green initiative.
I came up empty after searching for a Web site that may include a large list of green initiatives the every-day-person could follow. I found many sites and articles with small lists of green acts and noticed cities are beginning to publicize specific green initiatives. An April 2009 earth911.com article entitled, “Atlanta and Miami Among Cities Declaring Green Initiatives” gives specific examples on what each city is doing but not how each citizen can follow green initiatives. This article title says “green initiatives” but does not define green – this means it’s assumed citizens already know what’s green and what’s not. But based on the first two Green Marketing class sessions, there are many areas green sustainability acts cover including health, food and nature.
Based on this article, earth911.com considers composting food, locally collected biodiesel fuel and food waste collection to be green initiatives. The simple message incorporates these topics on the home page, earth911.com, by promoting the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Maybe The three R’s is the assumed green definition. Maybe what’s green can be broken down into one of the three R’s. Or maybe this is too simple of an assumption
Christine Weremy
