Intricate complexities

The latest fad in the world today is to be super-green. Falling off the "grid" energy-wise, recycling as much as possible, and consuming more local goods. In all, I personally feel this is a good trend to start, and even better for our future. But before we all commit, we should investigate the deep intricacies of the situation.

One of the clear benefits of living a more green lifestyle is the sustainability and the reduction in additional carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. For those that have been under a rock for 20-30 years, this means our planet will eventually stop artificially warming, and we don't have to keep drilling and mining for raw materials to make new things.

The recycling triangle has been around for at least three decades and it makes good sense, right? Maybe. Initially it may be more eco-friendly to reuse plastics, glass, paper, and other materials to reduce our consumption of natural resources such as oil and wood. But, let's look a little deeper. Recycling has a cost and that cost might be substantial- we need to move used materials, clean them, and process them into new materials. This directly translates to dollars for employees and transportation costs, as well as carbon from commuters to transportation of goods. Personally, I am willing to spend an extra few cents per plastic bottle I consume if it means it has come from a recycled product. But I don't know what the carbon contributions are, and we need to investigate those.

On another note, most if not all of the paper we consume has come from tree farms. Companies do not roll into a forest and tear it all down for paper. The trees that will naturally grow in a forest are gnarled and inconsistent. Genetically engineered trees planted on farms produce consistent wood, which creates consistent paper. This is another vast improvement in an industry, even if it's a little recognized one.

Anyway, this all brings me to personal conversion. Installing energy efficient windows and utilities is a good step in the right direction. Not only do you save money out of your pocket, you get to reduce your consumption of gas, oil, and/or electricity. That's something to feel good about, right? Maybe. What is the cost in carbon and materials to produce and consume the new utilities and windows? What does it cost in carbon and money to recycle your old washer, dryer, stove, water heater, fridge, etc? What about the windows? There are a lot of vinyl materials in those, and how well do they recycle? The glass has to be melted down and reformed, which costs an immense amount of energy anyway. The gas has to be recharged between the window panes as well. What is the cost of that?

Basically, what I'm saying here is this. We need to carefully study the benefits of conversion, and then the costs. We need to find out if there is a risk of doing as much or more damage by tossing out what we have now just to replace it with slightly better products. The benefit has to far outweigh the cost of sticking with what we have now in order to make the effort worthwhile. But, having said that, I think going forward any NEW products and materials should be produced with a careful eye toward reusing raw materials and resources. What do you think?