Something has been bothering me for some time now. Its people that make a superficial effort at conservation then feel good about it. They claim that if you scale it up to millions of people it would make a big difference. What bothers me is the assumption that millions of people are also doing it. In addition, if you put many of these people under the microscope, you find out that they are extravagant with unrenewable resources in other areas and will not hesitate to tell me how I can be more conservative.
John, I feel guilty about not being conservative enough. With your composting and gardening I can't imagine anyone lecturing you. Heck, no matter how much I recycle our garbage can is as full as our recycle and green bins. I have to commute 60 miles a day to boot. We live in such a wealthy time in human history I don't think any of us could possibly lecture another person on how to live. Well maybe someone who lived in a cave and only ate roots and berries but that would be the only person I wouldn't roll my eyes at.
One example that comes to mind is, I have a 1999 Ford Ranger 4WD and my wife has a 2007 Ford Escape 4WD and both are like brand new. I frequently get suggestions to buy one vehicle instead of two that gets better gas mileage. The suggestion isn't because of cost, it is because it would be better for the environment. This usually comes from one individual that is "green" and retired and travels extensively through out the Year. He drives a sedan that gets worse gas mileage than either of my vehicles plus my wife and I drive a grand total of less than 5000 mi per Year.
Well, not wanting to over complicate the issue here - I will just say that as a man of science, I have been trained to think and apply ideas in a logical fashion. So if something disagrees with logic and the laws of nature, which are derived by experimentation (be they big laws governing the universe or at a subatomic level) - If the answer does not compute with reality, then it is wrong. Therefore it really doesn't matter how beautiful a person may have been who thought up of the idea in the first place - If it doesn't conform with practicality and logic, then it is simply wrong! So no need to humor anyone trying to start off a superficial conservation... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b240PGCMwV0 Or as we here say it in Pakistan: Jaysi shakaal, vayesa thaapar - Translation: Slap a face with a force that is proportional to how beautiful (or ugly) that particular face is... The phrase seems to lose a bit of it's weight in translation, but I think you all will still get the jest of it!
Jon, how could you keep from rolling your eyes at someone who made the suggestion to buy a different/new car. The environmental impact of abandoning a running vehicle is pretty huge (steel manufacturing, plastic disposal,etc) and seldom worth the investment if not looking at very long term. You know what is best. Here is an article on such a topic. I am sure there are many more http://environment.about.com/od/environmentfriendlyautos/a/new_old_cars.htm
I think this is related, some time ago I was at a work related Christmas party. There was a man and wife setting at the same table as me dressed in leathers. I was eating a steak and the wife states that they are vegetarians and they feel they are saving an animal somewhere when they eat. I replied that I felt I was utilizing the meat from there leathers. There wasn't much conversation after that.
I once shot, edited, and uploaded a video on my YouTube channel. It was about shipbreaking (of how an old ship gets recycled for steel). Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8wCecMTbRQ So over 10,000,000 BTU's of energy are conserved for every ton of steel recycled. Also when every time 1 ton of steel is recycled, 1.2 ton of iron ore, 400 kilograms of coal and 18 kilograms of limestone is saved. So this above is the saving from recycling metal (mainly steel). So it is now easy to visualize the impact on the environment, when something new is created (compared to recycling)... However, The ultimate saving (reaching far beyond recycling) comes by simply making your own objects last longer. So by this standards, I give Jbest123 a full 10 out of 10! Here by the way is another video of mine (which too I had posted in our member's gallery before). This one is about VCCCP (Vintage & Classic Car Club of Pakistan). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln8lsUciIH8 So yes, just having something of yours last longer is in itself a reward!
I agree with everything said here. But what really gets me are those people who don't care. Who don't even TRY to recycle, save garbage, drive vehicles without proper exhaust systems, litter, and contribute to the worlds problems. I know a guy that not only does all of the above, but who's answer to everything broken is "just buy a new one". It drives me CRAZY!
What really upsets me is people throwing trash out the car window. It makes me wonder what their residents look like.
You all would be so proud of my DH then. He wears his work clothes until they are rags... . the collars are frayed, the t shirts are so thin you can see through them...to the point of ridiculous, pant cuffs are shredded, slag burns from welding... Not even good enough for rags, but do I care? nope, not one bit...mine are mostly from goodwill since all I do is garden in them, I am not impressing anyone and since they were so cheap, I don't feel so bad about throwing them away when they are worn out, but it still bothers me to think they are going to a landfill. We have a state of the art recycling center in our county...do you think they recycle nearly most of it? I sincerely doubt it after reading an article in our local little paper this past week. We keep everything until it is useless, I think. Our cars get the wheels driven off of them, I try to keep them to the 200,000 mark. My dishwasher was free and wasn't that good when I got it, but now it really doesn't work and I am not even stressed about getting it replaced. the freezer needed fixed not long ago and I told the repair man to fix it, I am not buying a new one unless this thing quits and is not repairable. Nah, we hardly ever buy anything new. recycle, reduce, reuse as often as we can or do without. I have come to the mantra... less is MORE.
I pick up, (and save) salvagable metal for my art/welding projects mostly because the price of steel is always going up.
Dh calls me recycle queen. And people are shocked when they see $$$$ outfit I have on-- Goodwill. Restore to remodel house. DS has 2 pickup loads going to scrap yard. Cleaning up a farm. Steel prices are up. Got all my customers keeping pop-beer tabs. Ronald Mc Donald house. Takes to scrap dealer-$$$$ for Children Hospital, Pays Motel meals for family.
