It is becoming exceedingly easy to get on the “green bandwagon” lately. But some of us were on the wagon long before the band ever joined us…

Outside Magazine, in its recent 30th anniversary Green Edition, points out that only a couple years ago environmentalism seemed to be “dead”–or, at least, greatly diminished in stature from the Earth Day era.

Suddenly everything is (or should be) green this or green that, and a lot of what has made “sustainability” and “living in harmony with nature” nouveau cause celebres is the so-called climate crisis, kicked off by various studies that clearly show man is responsible for the planet’s warming and many of the ill effects being visited on us now, and sure to come.

Well, ok, I admit that few of us long time “greenies” were as completely aware as Al Gore–who sponsored the first Congressional hearings on global warming 25 years ago–that this issue would be at the nexus of the latest environmental guilt trip. I do remember buying a book by Jeremy Rifkin called Entropy: Into the Greenhouse World in the late 80′s. Another, Hothouse Earth, by John Gribbin, published in 1990, I found at a used book sale a decade or so ago–a LIBRARY used book sale, I might add.

So a lot of us have been in denial for some time (especially librarians?) But how much denial? It’s been common knowledge for some time that the United States is just about the very worst environmental offender, with 5% of the world’s population using up 25% of the world’s resources. Our smokestacks have been causing irreparable harm to air quality for decades, our chemicals have caused the last big crisis–a hole in the ozone layer–and we act and live like we’re never going to run out of anything on this planet. People are the only mammals who consume much more than they ever give back to the earth–think about that one. By the time we are dead we will have personally filled a large corner of most landfills, polluted the air with thousands of pounds of our toxic (including carbon dioxide) gases, and lain waste to hundreds of acres if we used wood to build our homes–as most do.

I know, guilt, guilt, guilt. But let’s be honest here. Although I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to live more simply–and writing about it–as a middle class boomer (who just turned 60), I’ve done plenty to make things harder for succeeding generations.

Ok, I didn’t MEAN to, but that’s not entirely a good excuse. Living in any developed country like the United States means being a consumptive consumer, even if you hardly ever spend a dime at the store. For many years I went to thrift shops for clothes, furniture, and other household goods–but even there the stuff is better than what possibly 75% of the rest of the world has–if they have it at all.

The New York Times recently did a story on a couple residing in downtown Manhattan (a place I once worked and lived) who have decided to forego every luxury for a year and see if they can have NO deleterious effect on the environment. The experiment is called No Impact Man. No, not Low Impact Man, or Little Impact Man (or Woman). From what I’ve read of the experiment–which will be turned into a book, a sort of modern day Walden, the couple has made a great start. My God, they are even foregoing toilet paper, or food trucked in beyond 100 miles. For lighting they are using just one CFL (compact fluorescent) bulb, along with candles, I believe. Most reading this would be aghast. The “deep ecologists” would give them plaudits–though they might, as I would (I’m the former director of the Greener Pastures Institute, a back to the land organization), wonder why they aren’t trying this in the countryside. After all, for every positive of living in the big city, there are a long litany of negatives. (Take my word for it–I was (?) an expert).

In any case, No Impact Man and Woman would be pretty common folk in places like Ghana, Iraq (especially Iraq!), Kuala Lumpur and 100 other countries I could name. ( If you’re born in the United States, have a job, a computer, and even an old beater of a car, you’re rich by much of the world’s standards.) And those people are a lot less carbon dioxide spewing, even when they’re burning stuff in the open air.

So, ok, I sound a little cynical, but this one-time Whole Earth Catalog listee hasn’t REALLY seen much forward movement in defense of the earth and its threatened species. It is depressing to realize, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that it doesn’t matter what we do personally in the next 50 years or so, global warming (and natural/manmade disasters) are still going to ensue. We made our bed and are sleeping on it–a warm, synthetic mattress manufactured, no doubt, in China for a few dozen dollars, and shipped 6000 miles–with a $1000 (or more) price tag attached. (I remember how comfortable I used to be sleeping on the floor or a wood platform on a 3 inch basic foam mattress with a couple sheets and a blanket.) If there is truly a trend toward downscaling in America, I fail to see it in ways that will matter anytime soon.

Take “carbon credits,” for example. I’d buy them if I REALLY thought it would make a difference. An inlaw recently purchased them to “offset” a trip by plane. Wouldn’t it just be better not to take the plane in the first place? I’m seriously thinking of giving up plane travel because there IS no alternative to polluting jet fuel. I read that the new giant Airbus, that can seat over 500 passengers, creates a carbon “economy of scale”

whereby a couple flying are responsible for no more greenhouse gas emissions than if they drove the distance in a 2007 Mini Cooper. Sounds impressive, but I don’t buy it. How many gases were emitted to build the monstrosity? How many minerals were sucked out of the earth, with the attendant scars? Also, the thing about air travel is that it is increasingly a luxury as the world depletes its petroleum stores, since no one will never be able to run planes on batteries or biodiesel.

So what, you say. Those of us who fly are realists and the rest (including me) are impractical purists. But as I have said, I’m just about as responsible as the next person for having a negative impact on the planet. (My hybrid car still consumes plenty of gas). Even eschewing plane rides makes me complicit. Just about no one in America gets to be truly “green”–just take the test at myfootprint.org

I don’t want to be difficult, but let’s face facts. I have read about several ten year plans to help our civilization reverse course now that we know what “the problem” is. Well, clearly we don’t. The problem isn’t just global warming, it’s the global proliferation of people like us who can’t stop using and abusing things. We see consumption as our birthright, and our recent efforts to “green” everything may turn out to be puny at best.

One example is in the area of “green” building. I built a house entirely out of straw bales in Mexico–straw being a waste product–with recycled timber for the roof. Most “green” buildings use plenty of new lumber, concrete, stone and plastics–albeit in smaller quantities than the average 2400 sq. ft. American house–and incorporate energy saving features like solar or super insulation. But if you think about it, the buildings still use a heck of a lot of resources, and by this measure may only be 10% or so “green.”

Saving energy just happens to be my latest focus. I don’t want to demean what could be done if several million of us stopped using coal-fired electricity. My little book on “basic” solar power has sold at least 10,000 copies, and not just to Americans. I would love to see a few solar panels on even 50 million rooftops. It would be a terrific start, but who is going to get us there? In this regard, my work is just out of the starting gate, but this info has been available from me since 2000. Utilities, not consumers, are going to have to dump polluting energy in a very big way very soon–maybe it will happen, but certainly no time soon.

In the meantime, I’d like to SUGGEST that we all stop doing the really dumb things, like driving our cars two blocks to the market, leaving light bulbs on when not in use (especially the tungsten variety), or throwing out most garbage–probably 75% of which is recyclable. At least doing these kind of things will create a little shift in thinking that might lead to even more sensible living habits. (First, though, this article has to get published, and it’s not easy to get the cold hard truth in print–so if you see it somewhere, thank the medium involved.)

Someone said you have to crawl first before you can walk. For far too many of us, going green will be doing what we can, in rather small measures at first. I guess it WILL have to be governments which embark on the major changes, through legislation and regulation. For years I thought individuals could lead the way, but there are too many day to day obstacles to expect much progress–unless you become No Impact Man. And that isn’t going to be embraced by very many, even (especially?) in Manhattan.

by William L. Seavey

William L. Seavey ran the Greener Pastures Institute for many years. He is at work on a memoir, Confessions from Generation Woodstock. He runs an alternative energy site at http://www.PowerFromSun.com and recently published The Climate Crisis Action Plan Checklist.

Please Note... All links within articles are placed by their author-owners and not by this blog.Products with in those links may or may not be the best in the world.If it sounds too good to be true it could be a scam.Articles are posted for their info,ideas and or entertainment value only.

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It is becoming exceedingly easy to get on the “green bandwagon” lately. But some of us were on the wagon long before the band ever joined us…

Outside Magazine, in its recent 30th anniversary Green Edition, points out that only a couple years ago environmentalism seemed to be “dead”–or, at least, greatly diminished in stature from the Earth Day era.

Suddenly everything is (or should be) green this or green that, and a lot of what has made “sustainability” and “living in harmony with nature” nouveau cause celebres is the so-called climate crisis, kicked off by various studies that clearly show man is responsible for the planet’s warming and many of the ill effects being visited on us now, and sure to come.

Well, ok, I admit that few of us long time “greenies” were as completely aware as Al Gore–who sponsored the first Congressional hearings on global warming 25 years ago–that this issue would be at the nexus of the latest environmental guilt trip. I do remember buying a book by Jeremy Rifkin called Entropy: Into the Greenhouse World in the late 80′s. Another, Hothouse Earth, by John Gribbin, published in 1990, I found at a used book sale a decade or so ago–a LIBRARY used book sale, I might add.

So a lot of us have been in denial for some time (especially librarians?) But how much denial? It’s been common knowledge for some time that the United States is just about the very worst environmental offender, with 5% of the world’s population using up 25% of the world’s resources. Our smokestacks have been causing irreparable harm to air quality for decades, our chemicals have caused the last big crisis–a hole in the ozone layer–and we act and live like we’re never going to run out of anything on this planet. People are the only mammals who consume much more than they ever give back to the earth–think about that one. By the time we are dead we will have personally filled a large corner of most landfills, polluted the air with thousands of pounds of our toxic (including carbon dioxide) gases, and lain waste to hundreds of acres if we used wood to build our homes–as most do.

I know, guilt, guilt, guilt. But let’s be honest here. Although I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to live more simply–and writing about it–as a middle class boomer (who just turned 60), I’ve done plenty to make things harder for succeeding generations.

Ok, I didn’t MEAN to, but that’s not entirely a good excuse. Living in any developed country like the United States means being a consumptive consumer, even if you hardly ever spend a dime at the store. For many years I went to thrift shops for clothes, furniture, and other household goods–but even there the stuff is better than what possibly 75% of the rest of the world has–if they have it at all.

The New York Times recently did a story on a couple residing in downtown Manhattan (a place I once worked and lived) who have decided to forego every luxury for a year and see if they can have NO deleterious effect on the environment. The experiment is called No Impact Man. No, not Low Impact Man, or Little Impact Man (or Woman). From what I’ve read of the experiment–which will be turned into a book, a sort of modern day Walden, the couple has made a great start. My God, they are even foregoing toilet paper, or food trucked in beyond 100 miles. For lighting they are using just one CFL (compact fluorescent) bulb, along with candles, I believe. Most reading this would be aghast. The “deep ecologists” would give them plaudits–though they might, as I would (I’m the former director of the Greener Pastures Institute, a back to the land organization), wonder why they aren’t trying this in the countryside. After all, for every positive of living in the big city, there are a long litany of negatives. (Take my word for it–I was (?) an expert).

In any case, No Impact Man and Woman would be pretty common folk in places like Ghana, Iraq (especially Iraq!), Kuala Lumpur and 100 other countries I could name. ( If you’re born in the United States, have a job, a computer, and even an old beater of a car, you’re rich by much of the world’s standards.) And those people are a lot less carbon dioxide spewing, even when they’re burning stuff in the open air.

So, ok, I sound a little cynical, but this one-time Whole Earth Catalog listee hasn’t REALLY seen much forward movement in defense of the earth and its threatened species. It is depressing to realize, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that it doesn’t matter what we do personally in the next 50 years or so, global warming (and natural/manmade disasters) are still going to ensue. We made our bed and are sleeping on it–a warm, synthetic mattress manufactured, no doubt, in China for a few dozen dollars, and shipped 6000 miles–with a $1000 (or more) price tag attached. (I remember how comfortable I used to be sleeping on the floor or a wood platform on a 3 inch basic foam mattress with a couple sheets and a blanket.) If there is truly a trend toward downscaling in America, I fail to see it in ways that will matter anytime soon.

Take “carbon credits,” for example. I’d buy them if I REALLY thought it would make a difference. An inlaw recently purchased them to “offset” a trip by plane. Wouldn’t it just be better not to take the plane in the first place? I’m seriously thinking of giving up plane travel because there IS no alternative to polluting jet fuel. I read that the new giant Airbus, that can seat over 500 passengers, creates a carbon “economy of scale”

whereby a couple flying are responsible for no more greenhouse gas emissions than if they drove the distance in a 2007 Mini Cooper. Sounds impressive, but I don’t buy it. How many gases were emitted to build the monstrosity? How many minerals were sucked out of the earth, with the attendant scars? Also, the thing about air travel is that it is increasingly a luxury as the world depletes its petroleum stores, since no one will never be able to run planes on batteries or biodiesel.

So what, you say. Those of us who fly are realists and the rest (including me) are impractical purists. But as I have said, I’m just about as responsible as the next person for having a negative impact on the planet. (My hybrid car still consumes plenty of gas). Even eschewing plane rides makes me complicit. Just about no one in America gets to be truly “green”–just take the test at myfootprint.org

I don’t want to be difficult, but let’s face facts. I have read about several ten year plans to help our civilization reverse course now that we know what “the problem” is. Well, clearly we don’t. The problem isn’t just global warming, it’s the global proliferation of people like us who can’t stop using and abusing things. We see consumption as our birthright, and our recent efforts to “green” everything may turn out to be puny at best.

One example is in the area of “green” building. I built a house entirely out of straw bales in Mexico–straw being a waste product–with recycled timber for the roof. Most “green” buildings use plenty of new lumber, concrete, stone and plastics–albeit in smaller quantities than the average 2400 sq. ft. American house–and incorporate energy saving features like solar or super insulation. But if you think about it, the buildings still use a heck of a lot of resources, and by this measure may only be 10% or so “green.”

Saving energy just happens to be my latest focus. I don’t want to demean what could be done if several million of us stopped using coal-fired electricity. My little book on “basic” solar power has sold at least 10,000 copies, and not just to Americans. I would love to see a few solar panels on even 50 million rooftops. It would be a terrific start, but who is going to get us there? In this regard, my work is just out of the starting gate, but this info has been available from me since 2000. Utilities, not consumers, are going to have to dump polluting energy in a very big way very soon–maybe it will happen, but certainly no time soon.

In the meantime, I’d like to SUGGEST that we all stop doing the really dumb things, like driving our cars two blocks to the market, leaving light bulbs on when not in use (especially the tungsten variety), or throwing out most garbage–probably 75% of which is recyclable. At least doing these kind of things will create a little shift in thinking that might lead to even more sensible living habits. (First, though, this article has to get published, and it’s not easy to get the cold hard truth in print–so if you see it somewhere, thank the medium involved.)

Someone said you have to crawl first before you can walk. For far too many of us, going green will be doing what we can, in rather small measures at first. I guess it WILL have to be governments which embark on the major changes, through legislation and regulation. For years I thought individuals could lead the way, but there are too many day to day obstacles to expect much progress–unless you become No Impact Man. And that isn’t going to be embraced by very many, even (especially?) in Manhattan.

by William L. Seavey

William L. Seavey ran the Greener Pastures Institute for many years. He is at work on a memoir, Confessions from Generation Woodstock. He runs an alternative energy site at http://www.PowerFromSun.com and recently published The Climate Crisis Action Plan Checklist.

Please Note... All links within articles are placed by their author-owners and not by this blog.Products with in those links may or may not be the best in the world.If it sounds too good to be true it could be a scam.Articles are posted for their info,ideas and or entertainment value only.

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