Going Green, at What Cost?

"Green" is in. Even the general public is aware of it. Al Gore is pushing it. You can buy compact fluorescent bulbs to replace your energy wasting incandescent bulbs. You can buy a nice little hybrid car to save on the consumption of gas and cut down on the emissions. You can buy a new energy-efficient refrigerator to save on the electricity that old energy-wasting one is consuming. Yes, these are all noble ideas. And yes, using these items will produce less pollution than their typical alternatives; either by directly producing less pollution, or by using less electricity, which in turn pollutes less. But of course, like most things in our world, there are downsides to using these. Let's start with the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). If you ask anyone what they can do in their own home to save electricity and "save the world", one of the first things you will hear is replace you regular light bulbs with CFLs. They do use much less energy, plus they do not give off as much heat as regular bulbs. (Most of the energy that goes into regular bulbs are wasted in heat). Well, here is the catch. These CFLs contain mercury - a neurotoxin. Mercury leaking into the ground and then into our water is bad. Breathing the vapors from a broken bulb containing mercury is bad. And, what do you do with that CFL when it eventually goes bad? You throw it in the trash, right? And where does the trash go? To a landfill. From here, the broken bulb can leak the mercury into the ground. Sure, there is only a small amount of mercury in each bulb. But, as more and more people become "green", there will be more and more mercury going into the ground and water. Wait, what about recycling these CFLs to keep that bad mercury out of our water? Well, yes you can - if you can find a place that takes them for recycling. You cannot simply but these in your curbside recycling. You must find a place that takes them. You may be fortunate enough to have such a place in your town. For others, the nearest place could be many, many miles away. Are most people going to take the effort to take these to a recycling center? Nope. They just chuck them in the trash. The bulbs eventually get broken, either in the trash can, the trash truck, or in the landfill. Let's not forget that our trash collectors and landfill operators are probably breathing in the toxic mercury vapors every day.
Hybrid cars are good, they produce much less pollutants into the air, and are more fuel efficient. What could be wrong with that? Part of the problem with this, as well as with buying new energy-efficient appliances , is that there is more to pollution and energy consumption than just the operation of the item. Sure, your hybrid car produces less pollution while you are driving it, but what about the pollution created in making the car, and in destroying the car once it is discarded? The operating life cycle of a car only produces about 1/3 of the pollution. The making and disposing of the car produces the other 2/3. So, if you have a good working but less efficient car, then trade it for a hybrid, how much of the world have you really saved? Not only does your old car need to eventually be disposed, but now you have another car that will need disposing. With hybrids we also have to deal with disposing of the batteries, too. If your current car is beyond its usefulness, and you need to replace it anyway, getting a hybrid may be a good option then. But, just replacing your good working car for a hybrid really is not all that "green" overall. Maybe the better option is the sell or trade the old car and get another "less-used" car. You are cutting out the 1/3 production part of the cycle of pollution and energy consumption, since someone else has already paid for that part. If more people purchased used cars, we could actually reduce quite a bit of pollution and save a lot of raw materials.
A similar philosophy applies to things like appliances. If your old refrigerator is worn out and not worth repair, then buying a new energy-efficient one makes sense. To dispose of an older, but still good working one, just to get a new one, doesn't. First of all, it will probably take you a few years before the new one pays for itself in reduced energy bills. And, there is the whole making and disposing part of the pollution equation.
All this does not mean that we should just give up on these types of things. We just need to think of the bigger picture than just the actual operating savings or pollution. We should think of what we do with things in our lives this way, and in this order: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.