How GREEN are you? How GREEN should we be?

AK - Jeff

I recycle where I can - don't pollute intentionally - never litter - but that is about as far as I go.

How active in maintaining this planet for the future are you?

Jeff

undercover

It's not easy being green... just ask Kermit the Frog

DanTheMan

I have no children nor will I ever.

That's about the greenest decision anybody could make.

Elsewhere

I rarely, if ever, recycle anything.

<----- The look I suspect many of you are making right now

Why, you ask? Simple: The process of recycling products consumes more energy and resources than it saves.

If you add up how much energy and resources are consumed in the process of planting a tree farm, harvesting the trees, processing them into products then planting new trees, and compare that to how much energy and resources are consumed in the recycling process, you find that recycling actually consumes more energy and resources. Also, more coal and oil are burned to accommodate the extra energy required which in turn produces even more air pollution.

I know this is counterintuitive, but recycling actually causes more harm than good.

How do I know this? Very simple: No one is willing to PAY us for our recyclables. If recycling consumed fewer resources than taking new resources from the earth, people would be lined up willing to pay us for our recyclable products. The simple fact that cities must subsidize the recycling facilities tells us that we are NOT saving resources by recycling. If recycling products was more efficient than taking new materials from the earth then the recycling facilities would be profitable, like a tree farm, and would not require subsidies from our tax dollars.

If you want to save the earth, then DON'T recycle.

“What about the land fills?!?!?!” -- I’m certain some are wondering about this.

Very simple. Landfills produce free methane.. This is free energy for us to use and many cities do collect and use it to produce electricity. I’m sure you are also wondering about us running out of landfill space. That’s not a problem either. If you were to take all of the garbage produced by every human for the next 1000 years, it would require a landfill that was 30 x 30 miles and a few yards deep (That is 0.000045% of the earth's land surface - almost nothing). Assuming we did try to make such a landfill… the vast majority of the volume would completely decompose long before the 1000 years were up.

People worry about Styrofoam cups taking hundreds of years to decompose... but they never talk about how it takes over two million years for a glass bottle to completely break down into the silicon powder it was manufactured from.

Legolas

Our whole island is on recycle! I hate washing my garbage! Plus it cost us $175.00 a year!

Elsewhere

If there were any benefit to recycling, they would be PAYING you $175 a year to receive your recyclables.... hell, they'd offer to wash it for you by paying someone to do this.

fairchild

LOL, I might win the award of being the greenest. I am probably "green" to a point some might find ridiculous.

My garbage can probably fill no more than one little grocery bag a month.. everything gets recycled around here.

Everything that can be burned (cereal boxes, etc...) gets burned.

I use most empty plastic containers to put plants in when I start them indoors.

All vegetable scraps, eggshells, etc.. get thrown back into the garden or on my compost pile.

I don't own a vehicle, don't use chemicals, etc....

ColdRedRain

I get pretty green after drinking a bottle of everclear. Does that count?

Ticker

I only smoke the finest green!

Ticker

EarthMan

Well, here in Japan, recycling is mandatory. Everyone must separate their recyclable houshold garbage into six categories - cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, plastic containers and wrapping, cardboard containers and wrapping, and newspapers, magazines,and books. At first it was a real pain to do all of that extra work, but now it's just par for the course.

How GREEN are you? How GREEN should we be?

Share this