Comments on: Green Clean Effort

By: Bwise

Bwise — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:24:31 +0000

As Ramesh has correctly pointed out, its important to be aware that there is a flip side to every apparently “green” act. For instance printing out a document vs seeing it on a computer monitor – (dont forget the power bill), or driving your car with the AC on Vs windows rolled down (extra drag at high speeds makes the engine work harder). There are many variables and sometimes commonsense does not tell us the right thing to do.

But two obserations :

1) One often forgets what is the end goal, and to prioritize what you can do. I find people bragging about not using plastic stirrers for their coffee. The same folks jump on cross country flight when the meeting could be taken on the phone. So misdirected morality or just being fashionably green prevails over the desire to do the math. It’s like claiming to have done “your bit” towards erradicating poverty by throwing a daily penny in the beggar’s bowl when you oould donate the same money in lump sum to a fund.

When it comes to your carbon footprint – think if there is a one right thing thats equivalent to a million tiny things. And that one right thing could sometimes be doing nothing different.

2) Biologically, we’re like a bacteria colony. Growing exponentially following a geometric progresion, striving for greater longevity, and higher living standards. We measure our success not in terms of “sustaining” current levels but by “rate of growth” and speed of consumption. Even if every individual cut down his Cfootprint by half compared to his previous generation, would it matter net net? Do we expect slower consumption of finite resources to last us forever?

Your CFootprint only determines the “when” rather than the “if” and juxtaposed with other modes of self-destruction, the “how”. We need to make quantum leaps and find viable alternatives since plugging holes in our usual way of doing things won’t take us very far.

By: Ujjal

Ujjal — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:21:57 +0000

Thank you Ramesh for your comments. Yes I agree this is a complex subject and as a layman I do not understand all the issues fully. Recycling paper and bags is of course becoming standard practice in many countries. Finally, it is knowledge, dissemination of knowledge and sensitivity to the environment that will matter, in my opinion.

By: Ramesh

Ramesh — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:01:23 +0000

Understand the focus on contributing in every small way to the environment, but this is a highly complex subject which we are only beginning to understand. There’s too much fear mongering – every natural disaster is not due to global warming; worse warming has taken place in earth’s history and climate changes all the time. And yet we should be conscious and do the right things – plant a tree is a great suggestion. But sometimes we can do the wrong thing driven by what’s fashionable. For example its sometimes more energy intensive to collect and recycle some things, than to just dispose, if they are biodegradable . Just dumping them is better environmentally.

Just discovered your blog – very nice writing that is thought provoking.