I care about the environment, but I care a lot less than some people. I will gladly switch to environmentally friendly products and habits if it saves me time or money. I don’t believe in making large sacrifices in my quality of life, or the quality of a product. Being highly inconvenienced by having to remember to bring you reusable grocery bags to the store every time is not worth it to me. I actually recycle my plastic bags by using them a second time.
Green Products and Ideas that work:
High efficiency light bulbs, cost more, but you never have to change them
Energy Star washer, it will pay for itself in a few years after purchase
Adjusting the heat or AC to a more reasonable temperature
Saver Switches
Tesla Roadster an electric car that goes 200 miles on a single charge. Oh and did I mention that it goes 0-60 in about 4 seconds?
Green Products I won’t use:
Prius $6,000 more then a Corolla (which I would argue is a better car) with only 8 MPG increase?
Solar Panels that cost $20,000 cash up front, please….
“Organic” foods
Jury is still out on:
Heat exchange heating and cooling system
Chevy Volt
Horrible “Green” Ideas
Corn and Coal based fuels. Just because the government pays you to use it does not make it work. I would figure out a way to make fuel out of jelly doughnuts if someone would give me enough money for it.
As a slightly more environmentally friendly citizen, although certainly not an activist, I must comment on two things…
1. Reusable grocery bags….100% worth remembering to bring to the grocery and not for any environmentally friendly reasons (although that is a nice perk). Why, you ask? Everything fits into fewer bags which makes less trips from the car to the house, and the bags are easier to carry, maneuver, and your food actually stays in them and doesn’t roll around in the trunk. My roommate got me using them and I’ll never go back.
2. “Organic” foods…ok, again, even if not for the environment, what about your health? I would prefer not to ingest the hormones pumped into the cows and chickens, whose milk, eggs, and meat I consume regularly (sorry, I haven’t made the leap to vegetarian yet), not to mention the pesticides sprayed on our fruits and vegetables.