Not so green

I have another confession to make. It's one I've been reluctant to share since I live in the SF Bay Area and may be pelted with rotten tomatoes as I leave my building after admitting it. Here it is: before a couple months ago, I almost NEVER recycled. Anything. There are 5 bins in my building, but I just didn't. But since July, I've been separating my paper, plastics, and glass into a paper bag and dutifully walking it down to a blue bin. Aren't you proud of me? And I also frequently use re-usable shopping bags! (mostly because San Francisco banned plastic bags from large grocery stores several months ago, but still...).

The proof

There's a lot of "save the earth, global warming, buy organic, conserve energy"-type talk these days. And don't get me wrong, I think it's great in many ways and admire those who make huge efforts to be so responsible. But there's SO much of it that I often want to scream, "Get off my back!" and have a Styrofoam-burning party. And I get really skeptical when I hear stuff like this:

-The EPA's website says you should recycle those twisty light bulbs that save energy (a.k.a. CFLs) because they contain mercury that can be released into the environment if not properly disposed of. What?! I suspect most people throw them in the garbage where they are later crushed. Is releasing mercury better than using a bit more energy with traditional bulbs? You should check out their instructions for clean up if you break a CFL bulb too. Hint: do not sweep or vacuum up the pieces.

Check out this article that explains paper bags aren't better for the environment than plastic, there's no evidence that BPA in plastic harms humans, and locally-grown food isn't necessarily easier on the environment (big props to Paula for sharing this first).

There's also an excellent excerpt from a John Stossel book called Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity that debunks other notions. He reports that pesticide residues in food are largely harmless, we are not running out of oil fast, we're not running out of room for our garbage, and the world is not too crowded.

There, I've said my piece.