Let's Make Some Lemonade

Today’s hype is “Going Green”. I think this is great. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. How could you be against it, unless you are a selfish bastard? Who doesn’t have the time in their life to make a few simple changes? Whether that is changing out some light bulbs, carrying a handful of groceries instead of getting a bag or using the human machine to get somewhere instead of that fine internal combustion machine, the result is reduced waste.

But…

I do have a problem with the hype though. It is being sold to us (like my beliefs that you are getting in my blog right now). GE will sell you a CFL (compact florescent light) and the whole time they will pat you on the back for the reduced carbon emissions that go along with your installation of that light. On the flip side of that coin they rarely mention the amount of mercury that we are dumping into the ground/water every time one of those burn out and we send it to the landfill (florescent lights will not work without a drop of mercury inside of the gas tube).

Car companies would love to get you into a brand new hybrid, or high gas mileage car. They seem to neglect the fact that adding cars to the market at a rate higher than that of cars being retired only perpetuates our carbon problem. This is a slam to the entire theory of the three R’s, unless it really stands for Rconsumer, Rconsume, Rprofit.

The hotels I’ve been staying in love to preach about the water that I can help save the world if I simply put the towel on the rack and reuse it the next day. We are doing our part to preserve the earth and invite you to help us conserve water by using your towels more than once. Each day millions of gallons of water are used to wash towels that are nearly clean. Please hang your towels up if you wish to participate in this water conservation program... if you choose not to participate, simply leave your towels on the floor. What they fail to point out is the harsh chemical detergents that are used for each wash (those towels HAVE to be nice and sparkly white for me). Why don’t they put some of the Go Green responsibility back on themselves and spend a little more for the enviro-friendly detergents? Simple. Going Green with that method doesn’t increase that branch manager’s bottom line. He gots to get payed!

For the record: I do hang my towels on the rack and I don't even own a house, much less the lights within that house I don't own. I think that helps balance out my 15 miles to the gallon race car.

Now it may sound like I think these earth-friendly gestures are not good, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. I simply have an issue with how businesses (people at the top, not the entity of business), instead of accepting the responsibility personally, they pass it down to the low man on the totem pole (read: consumer). They point out our earth-friendly deficiencies and then sell us the “solution”.

For these companies to realize their yearly profit goals, I realize that they can’t do everything earth friendly. If they take the “high road” and follow the 3 R’s approach to business, the next company in line would gladly fill the void they left and take every single one of their customers. Well…except those 15 people in Missoula that are at the brewery drunk-ranting about how they are “buying from a company that isn’t raping the earth, maaannn”. With that in mind I don’t think we are going to guilt these companies into being earth conscious.

Sadly one of the only ways to reduce carbon (for our country) is to strain the economy with pressure on big businesses in the form of governmental restrictions on waste/emissions and monetary penalties for noncompliance. Large manufacturing companies (including the ones I work for) produce, by comparison, far more waste than the end user. Primarily, this is in the form of energy consumption (I make this claim after selling the electrical gear for residential, commercial and industrial applications. This puts a huge metaphorical wrench in the gears of one of our other beloved liberal agenda groups though (those silly goofs trying to keep jobs in The America), as this sends jobs overseas where the restrictions and fines don’t yet exist. They can produce whatever they want at a fraction of the cost, not only because of the lower energy costs and manpower cost, but because there is virtually zero cost associated with NOT cleaning up your industrial waste.

In my eyes there is only one viable solution that our country ought to pursue. Stop spending billions on other countries (I’m looking at you Iraq) and focus that money on education in our own country. More specifically, put an increased focus on math and science and subsidize college tuition. Do everything in our power to create a highly educated society, not for us, but for the future of our country (and planet I guess). To design a method that would lower emissions from a coal fed power generation plant, you must have the chemical background to understand what the hell is even going on in that process (true story for you: coal does not just magically turn into electricity) In order to redesign a wind turbine for increased efficiency, you must have the mechanical background to understand the materials and forces associated with it or the electrical background to understand Faraday’s law and how you can use it to increase efficiencies within the generator.

To really address the mess is to invest in our youth. No more running our mouths about how to make schools fair. Nothing in life is fair. You are given something and it is up to you as an adult to make the best of it and more importantly make the best of it for our youth. We need to stop being so short sighted for while (fuck! It’s going to be tough as [The] Americans) and really work on a long term solution.

That being said: Higher gas prices reduce carbon emissions. Yay for people making money on dead dinosaur plants! (I’m looking at you Ryan)