First off the term “green” bothers me. Who created this word? Why is being aware of your surroundings considered green? Kermit is the only thing that should be “green” (and they have even stolen him). Where to start on a topic that infuriates me! For a long time, the past 20 years probably, people around me have not cared at all about what is happening to or with the planet. I would lump a lot of people into this short sightedness. I started the first recycling program at my high school and even did fund raisers to buy up acres in the rain forest (much to most people chagrin). People thought I was a toss back to my fathers live and let live attitude (which now some people might even call hippy). I personally know people who think that global warming isn’t real, the ozone can’t be damaged and fossil fuels will never run out. I have been watching as the number of people who do things that are “green” increases (because it is currently the in thing to do). Even if I don’t agree with why they are doing it – I’m happy that peer pressure is making them do something good for the world.
I got to wondering what the current accepted “green” methods were and what green propaganda was being pushed as the lowest hanging fruit for newbie’s to the act of environmental protection. I’m sure you would guess that shopping bags are on that list – let’s ignore them for now. The first thing we will look at is the napkin.
The age-old debates of paper vs cloth.
In digging up information on both paper and cloth napkins, I found that decided what is better for the environment is hard and a personal call really. Here are the facts. Paper napkins (even if they use recycled paper) require energy to make (all be it most of the bi-products are currently used as energy in paper/pulp mills), energy to ship and are a single use item. But, they decompose. Cloth napkins require washing and laundry detergent using resources that can be scares (like here in the desert where I live). Did you know that the average washing machine is 35-45 gallons of water per load? A four-person household using a napkin at each meal will do one load of napkin laundry once to twice a week (depending on how soiled the napkins are). That is 35-70 gallons of water and of course electricity. Green advocates will say that when you have to buy something, then you aren’t being green. You want to reuse as much as possible and spread out the manufacturing costs on an item over time. So does that mean that someone who lives in the desert uses cloth or paper or the sleeve of your shirt?
The questions and answers for how to deal with a large problem are always more complicated than one first thinks.
2 comments:
Very interesting debate...guess it's like everything else...you pick and choose what works best for you at that point in time :) Bean
Shouldn't someone who is using cloth napkins for environmental reasons also be using an efficient washing machine? Our front loading machine uses 15-20 gallons per load, not 35. Newer washers (ours is 10 years old) are even better.
There is a similar debate at Microsoft where facilities claims it uses less energy for compostable/disposable dishes to be manufactured than for reusable ones to be washed. Since the compostable dishes are being manufactured in China out of corn that is probably being grown first in the US I don't believe them. That plate that I used at lunch is probably better travelled than I am!
The hard part is finding real numbers for the manufacturing costs on this stuff. I wish manufacturers had to publish them.
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