Normally, as the name of site implies, i aim to answer questions. Normally, i do research and focus on the bigger factors at play. Not today. This is a basically a clickbait-style rant. Enjoy!
Water Bottles
Most everyone in the USA (my sincere sympathies, Flint, Michigan), has pure water flowing out of taps all around them. It’s the cheapest and healthiest drink on your utility bill. And water is free in basically all service establishments. So why are water bottles massively popular anyway?
Why They’re Bad
Did you notice how it’s free or very cheap to pay water bills? Bottled water is unnecessary. It’s usually not cleaner than tap water (sometimes it’s worse). Ph basic water is a pointless health fad. Most significantly, bottled water uses millions of tons of plastic every year! Petroleum products hurts the environment from beginning to end Extracting, transporting, and producing petroleum for plastic causes significant environmental problems. Millions of plastic water bottles don’t get recycled and end up floating around the planet leeching harmful microplastics into the global ecosystem and choking whales.
Alternatives
Anything reusable. You can grab all kinds of water filters if your tap water tastes bad. I can relate to nasty tap water. The stuff i grew up with tastes like dirt and blood. You can even make a water filter. Even in super primitive living situations, you can at least boil water to clean it up. You can also buy reusable water bottles. I have found them in thrift stores for less than the disposable ones in shops. Give them away to people who buy disposable ones. If you end up with one, don’t let the term disposable stop you; you can refill them a few times before the bacteria start growing to dangerous levels. Then you can recycle it or make into rafts or walls or some other cool thing.
Idling Engines
There are a few valid reasons for idling your engine, like your passenger walks slower than you expected or you aren’t sure the engine will start again and you need to be ready for a quick getaway.
Why It’s Bad
Your car exhaust raises CO2 levels, poisoning animals and raising the earth’s temperature. It burns fuel needlessly and that costs you money. The carbon monoxide can also kill you in a few minutes in closed, non-windy environments. Idling engines cause noise pollution that broadly messes people up through sleep disruption and causing our bodies to produce stress hormones. Noise pollution also interferes with the hunting, not being eaten, and sleep cycles of animals.
Alternative
Get a greener ride. Cars running on electricity don’t give off harmful exhaust. Neither do bicycles. In hot weather, consider rolling down your windows or spending time in shade instead of your greenhouse-like car. If you are just jamming or using other electronic functions, most cars have a partial key turn option that doesn’t engage the engine (just be careful not to totally drain the battery and strand yourself). Unless you will need to move away quickly and suddenly, say at a normal length red light, you can save fuel and the environment by turning off your engine when stopping for more than 10 seconds.
Littering
Sometimes things blow out of your hands; sometimes there aren’t any trash cans around. I still don’t care though, no excuses.
Why It’s Bad
While it may seem stationary, trash floats downstream in the rain and most ends up in the ocean leeching pollutants and choking animals. Did you know there’s so much trash in the ocean a Texas sized-island of it has formed? Lots of common garbage can take centuries to decompose. Also it´s ugly and can spread disease.
Alternatives
Use more reusable things. Buy more bulk items to reduce packaging. Go the extra mile and pick up some trash. The planet and the future of humanity needs the help.
Styrofoam
That’s right; i am picking on one particular kind of plastic now.
Why It’s Bad
Other plastics already cause plenty of problems, styrofoam causes uniquely bad problems for the following reasons: 1) In the far distant future millenia from now future archeologists will still be digging up perfectly intact coffee cups with bite marks on the rim and those blocks big appliances come in because styrofoam never decomposes. Styrofoam might be our longest lasting legacy, are you ok with that? 2) Styrofoam can’t be recycled. 3) Styrofoam breaks into pieces very easily. That makes cleaning up each piece very hard. 4) Styrofoam can travel far and fast because of its light weight. 5) Styrofoam is unnecessary. Most other plastics cause less harm even though they still stink and that’s forgetting the materials that humans have used for ages before plastics came around. 6) Styrofoam is everywhere probably because it costs very little considering its size.
Alternative
I said styrofoam will always be here, but let me add a Loraxian “UNLESS”. I have heard of some chemical efforts to dissolve styrofoam, but the harmful petroleum chemicals still remain, so it really only seems to be shrinking the volume of the waste and making it easier to percolate through the earth and into the water supply. Do some chemical research to find a way to shrink and neutralize its problematic composition.
If you are using styrofoam for something, take great care to properly dispose of every flake. Steer clear of buying products packaged in styrofoam. That eliminates certain restaurants and suppliers. If we work together as money spenders and influencers we can slay the styrofoam beast employed by money saving businesses everywhere.
Going Big on the AC
I like to think we all have at least one friend who brings a blanket to everything and that other friend who sweats indoors in the winter- i mean, i do. Some people have trouble regulating their own body temperature. But then, compared to someone, be it Canadians wearing shorts in rivers of glacial run off or Bedouins chilling in the seemingly molten Sahara, i bet we are all temperature wusses. And to be fair, long enough exposure to temperatures considerably outside your accustomed range can occasionally kill and definitely causes discomfort and distraction.
AC has become so ubiquitous in the US, it can be hard to imagine life without it. I can say it can be unpleasant from experience, after having spent a week in south Texas without AC. However, the breezy bliss of thermostats comes as a historical novelty. People didn’t prefer to form into big clusters in total deserts. The advent of AC coaxed many into warmer latitudes though. Traditionally architects built with their environments in mind, but now building designers use much more standardized materials all over the place. Many modern structures don’t maintain tolerable temperatures naturally and instead depend on electric machinery to do the work of heating and cooling.
Skipping the extremes of frostbite and your house peeling and melting around you, AC really functions as a comfort commodity. At some point we must ask, what is our comfort worth?
Why It’s Bad
Heating a building uses more electricity than most anything else in a house. It makes sense if you think about it, power plants (which, in the USA, are mostly burning highly polluting coal) send electrical energy into your house which is changed into thermal energy which heats air particles which transfer warmth to you poorly. It’s like blending a smoothie with a fan on the other side of the room. Cooling also takes a significant amount of energy. Together they use about 46% of an average house’s electricity and that doesn’t include space heaters. AC units also release hydrofluorocarbons AKA HFCs when made, when working while damaged, or when improperly discarded. Hydrofluorocarbons make the planet hotter when they get stuck in the atmosphere. Nations around the world are working to ban the use of HFCs though mostly because of their use in other technologies. More significantly, ACs release a lot of carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas. Ironically we are choking ourselves in a vicious cycle; by cooling our houses, we are heating the planet.
Alternatives
Location: Ideally, live somewhere with a climate you can more or less tolerate.
Design: Pick and build houses that use local materials and that suit the climate. For instance, adobe houses in the desert use thick earth walls that block the sun’s heat from coming inside and have small windows on opposite ends to attract a crosswind. In the cold desert nights, fire can be lit inside and those same insulating walls trap the warmth. None of those features require electricity. Grow sturdy shade around your house and pick a light color to absorb less heat. In hot places, use curtains or tints to reduce heat coming through the windows. Build a vent or fan in your attic to release heat. Also, look for ways to utilize heat released as a byproduct from other processes to avoid the energy loss of changing the energy’s state from electrical to thermal. For example, hooking up the heat releasing back of your refrigerator to heat water for your shower. Generally, well-sealing windows and strong insulation prove helpful thermal features. Also install energy efficient AC units, it saves you money over time too. And put your heat leaking appliances away from your thermostat. Otherwise it will throw off its readings and make it run harder and longer. Check out Cleartheairac.com for more tips.
Localize: If you remember some basic molecular and thermal science, you know that heat is vibration of particles. When moving through conduction (i.e. touching), it moves most effectively through solid objects, pretty well in liquids, and poorly through gases. It takes a lot of energy to heat or remove the heat from the air around you because the spaced out particles of air mostly miss each other pinging around you in the lower atmosphere. You are only in one area of a building at a time, but the AC is hustling all the massive volume of air in the whole building that you are not even touching! So consider a chair that transfers heat to or from your body directly with flowing water. You could buy a cooling/heating device to strap on the back of your chair. If you are hot, try pointing a jet of cool air across your body with a fan or vent. If you are cold, 98 degrees would be plenty warm enough, right? On the inside, you are already 98 degrees! (Unless you have an unusual body. So use your own warmth by wearing a coat or a blanket instead of shedding that heat and then letting a dehydrating, energy guzzling, machine do it to the air. Be creative. Remember how liquids transfer temperature better than air? So touching drinks and towels can go a long way to regulating your temperature too. Focus on key circulatory spots like your neck, ears, feet, and hands. If you can keep them a pleasant temperature, the rest of your body should follow along. When resting in hot places, remember that padded furniture like sofas and beds trap heat, so consider sleeping on minimally enclosing cush and you will find it much cooler and, counterintuitively, better for your back than most mattresses. If it’s cold, don’t forget the joys of cuddling; your bodies can trade warmth.
Thermostat: Finally, if you decide to use electrical means of temperature control, try to think of AC as a supplement to other methods. Aim to keep a steady temperature rather than frequently changing it. Set your thermostat to the exact setting you want, overshooting does not speed the process since ACs either run or do nothing. Cool off your house in the cool of the night so that it is already cool when the sun’s wrath appears. If you are going out of the house for a few hours, then change it to a less comfortable temperature- you aren’t going to be there to enjoy it.
Plastic Bags
They seem like they are everywhere. Service professionals hand them out at every turn even for single sticks of gum, so i have trouble not ending up with a load of them.
Why They’re Bad
I already mentioned that plastic all around harms the environment. Decomposers like bacteria don’t eat plastic bags so they don’t truly decompose. In sunlight, they can break down into toxic microplastics after about 15 years. The microplastics can then continue traveling through the food web. Whole plastic bags in particular travel easily because of their parachute shape and weight. They choke animals; sea turtles, for instance, often mistake them for jellyfish.
Alternatives
Paper bags are generally sustainable though weak and lack proper handles.
New plant-based hydro-biodegradable plastic bags, if they work, should provide the strength and flexibility of PET plastic bags without the forever polluting aspect.
With similar strengths, petroleum-based oxo-biodegradable plastic bags are designed to break down safely in natural outdoor settings, but might not in other settings and still contain problematic petroleum. Cardboard boxes can be snagged from some stores free, but lack portability for easy reuse. Reusable bags are usually plastic but sturdily hold a lot and fold down nicely and can be cleaned with relative ease. Cotton is not a very sustainable material because it uses a lot of pesticides, fertilizer and water, but its bags can be machine washed usually and are strong.
For small loads, consider just using your hands.
Fads
...are bad, environmentally speaking. Basically environmentalism and trendiness clash like swim trunks and sports jackets. I am not saying you can’t look nice or have nice things. And i am not saying you should fill your residence with old junk. See, making and selling products to you takes resources.The earth has a finite amount of resources, so we should avoid using more than it can produce. The more stuff companies can persuade you to buy, the more they make. Also, i think human nature naturally gravitates to change. When something goes out of style, many people feel the pressure to move on to the next hot style. Usually the trendier the item, the faster it goes out of style. US culture puts value on newness.
Why They're Bad
Basically the earth can’t keep up. So what happens to the old stuff? Most people throw it away. Most products are designed to be thrown away. Do you know anyone who still darns their old socks? Do you even know what darning is? This use and dispose mindset amounts to full landfills. And of course, “out with the old, in with the new,” people buy new replacements. Out of sight of the mall parking lot, retailers are rapidly funneling the natural world onto our store shelves faster than the earth can keep up.
Alternatives
A lot of environmentally important decisions happen out of the consumers’ sight, so it’s important for those businesses to consider their impact and not just their profits. A few suggestions to companies from someone who has not studied marketing: Some fads cost the earth more than others, ivory instead of pearls, for example, aim for sustainable materials and production. Create smart trends. I understand that marketing companies vie in a fast moving competition of appeal, but they should temper fast fashion with foresight for its impact, perhaps by producing long lasting, durable products instead of products to be replaced as soon as the next trend hits. Perhaps pushing for variations that change the whole look instead of overhaul from the group up; strategic renovations instead of demolition and total redesign.
As consumers i would list our responsibilities like this:
1. Buy What You Need
I understand wanting to look fresh and fly and live comfortably with class, but trends change fast and the earth cannot support our current use. Is killer Instagram fame now worth living in a toxic, flooded, landfill later?
2. Choose Quality Products
Sometimes they are more expensive, but the longer they can be used, the longer they can stay out of landfills (or the ocean). Since fads are fickle, consider using some classic looks over ones that will look dated in a few months. As an odd example, a reusable cloth top hat for your a classy New Year’s Eve party for multiple years instead of a flimsy plastic one that might not even last the night.
3. Run a Product’s Course
Ideally, pick items you will use until they wear out.
4. Fix and Repurpose Broken Stuff
Your creative opportunity awaits. Look up a way to repair it online, ask someone of the generation before the use and dispose era or someone with handy skills, hit up a professional, it may cost you more but it costs us all less ecologically if you can keep a product going rather than trashing it. Plus it makes your stuff more unique and builds skills that you can share and could make you a more competent adult/professional. Sometimes weathered looks good.
5. Watch for the Fashion Boomerang
Lots of fashion cycles, if you have space for a versatile or classic item, you might consider saving it for the day it returns. For example, leather jackets (while not very sustainable or vegan), seem to weave in and out of style, perhaps with some achievable modifications. 6.
6. Sell or Donate
If you can’t fix it and don’t want to fill up your domicile with unused junk, find someone else who will use it. On the flipside, you can benefit from this process by snagging some used stuff. Also, living green doesn’t mean you have to be a martyr of some kind, some people and businesses will pay for your old stuff if you ask around.
At least recycle what you can.
Releasing Pets
In Middle school, my friend Jesse’s dad was a veterinarian. His bird bit men, his dogs were overweight, and in the front yard, he kept a cainan in a plastic tub. Soon after, the mini alligator escaped into the sewers of the ghetto. As funny and/or perturbing as that is the cainan probably does much less environmental damage than your cat.
Each organism in an ecosystem plays a role. Something probably eats it, something lives on or in it, and it consumes something. Each ecosystem has certain roles and players that work in balance. Imagine a game with 5 of the players goal keeping but no one playing offense.
Why It’s Bad
Personal feelings (and litterbox smells) aside, outdoor cats alone kill more birds than anything else (except maybe window collisions, it depends on the source). They kill even when well fed. Kitties have completely exterminated between 30 and 63 species of animal. And the 1.2 million yearly tons of cats feces threatens animals from otters, to rats, to humans, by altering their brains with a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. Stray dogs build packs and attack humans and animals alike, spreading their fecal bacteria into the watershed. The decomposers can only handle the feces of about 2 dogs per square mile of land. People release Easter bunnies after Easter, which go on to breed like... you know. People buy pet turtles, forgetting they can live to be “150. And still young, dude!” And instead of writing them into their will, they turn them loose to fend for themselves. Released pythons and monkeys are wrecking Florida filling their stomachs with food naturally alloted to native animals and without having to worry about the specialized predators from their home ecosystems that would normally keep their numbers in check! It may seem like releasing a pet into the wild won´t do harm, but so many people lose or kick out their pets that they actually find each other and breed. Ecosystems have natural checks and balances with each species in its niche in the food web. Feral pets throw off the balance. If one ecosystem fails, it damages the others and the imbalance can and spread.
Alternatives
Research a pet before you buy it. How long does it live? Will you actually want it around? Can you afford to give it what it needs to be healthy? Keep cats and escape happy animals inside. Spay and neuter your pets. Legally kill or, at least report, strays. If you have a pet you can´t keep taking care of: 1) Find an amnesty return day or a ¨Don´t Let It Loose Campaign”. 2) Give to someone else. 3) If it hasn’t gone too soft in captivity, return it to its home ecosystem. 4) Put it down. It may seem harsh to kill an animal, but consider how many animals it would kill if released.
P.S. For the record, i have lived with and taken care of 2 cats. I like cats and other pets; don’t hurt me.
Scaring People Away from Environmentalism
Environmentalism is not a complete political party.
Environmentalism is not a health commodity.
Environmentalism is not a fashion style.
Environmentalism is not just a trend.
Environmentalism is not a single diet.
Environmentalism is not a product line.
Environmentalism is not a paycheck.
Environmentalism is not an excuse to be mean.
Environmentalism is not a way to act better than others.
Environmentalism is not a ploy to make dolphins fall in love with you.
Environmentalism is a planet care movement. Obviously, i want you to live it or i wouldn’t write Green Q & A. Apart from meanness and snobbery, i respect those side interests. Intentionally or not, people sometimes send mixed messages about what environmentalism is.
Why It’s Bad
Living with environmental responsibility can pair fine with other pursuits, i only ask that people be conscious of how they do that. Mixing environmentalism and other pursuits can turn people off or confuse people about what environmentalism is. For instance, passing any legal protections for nature, will require some cooperation with Republicans and other parties. If a proposed emission bill mixes in welfare packages and abortion centers in the fine print, the whole bill will not pass. If building architects think that environmentalism means burning incense and cleansing crystals, they might not look into adding solar panels or rainwater retention basins.
Some people might care about the environment so much they want to do it as a job and so they have found a way to get paid to help the planet. I see nothing wrong with making a living. Still, seeing the green marketing trend and token environmentalism helped inspire me to write this blog. When companies charge triple the price for slapping leaf graphics on the side of their mostly product, i question if their true concern is sustainability or exploiting a demographic for greater profit. Some people can´t afford “green” versions of products. It creates a class divide with rich people buying fancy and sometimes more sustainable products while feeling satisfied that they have done their part for the planet and poorer people believing that environmental responsibility is an unaffordable luxury line. Some brands target environmentalists. They focus on a different kind of green, so their priority for profit influences their design. Many sustainable life choices involve older and simpler technology that costs more thought than money, but environmentalist-poaching companies obscure that by designing for profit over actual responsibility. Then assuming the product does help life on earth continue, is it ethical to price block it?
Alternatives
Diversity is a treasure of this world. I respect the various fun and interesting ways environmentalists live, basically i am just asking you to please put in some thought into the following. What started you caring about your ecological impact? How could you best welcome people into joining us in steering the earth to wellness? Remember that there is more than one way to advocate for nature. People may show their values in different ways than you. Do environmentalism because it matters. Remember the difference between stewardship and the other stuff. Be a savvy consumer and don’t let your intentions, like the planet, become polluted.
Disclaimer: Other people’s websites and books might be worse (or better) than mine. They might have false, rude, inappropriate, unbiblical, or otherwise disagreeable content on them. They might have taken down their website since i last viewed it in 2020. None of those issues are my problem. I include them because they were useful to me as i wrote or they might be useful to you
Sources:
“Finding Nemo”. Disney. 2003.
“The Lorax”. Dr. Seuss. Random House. 1971.
Damage of cats
How many birds killed
Alligator image by Louis Camacho
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