Earth Day questions
- Is it better for the environment to use paper towels or to use wash cloths and towels that you clean in a washing machine with hot water and detergent and dry in a dryer? (One answer: "Help Save the Planet, Use Paper Towels." More thoughts at "Light green stairs" blog.)
- What about paper cups versus glass cups you clean in a dish washer? Or styrofoam plates versus plates you wash and re-use? Here's a blog entry comparing paper, styrofoam and plastic and glass/steel/ceramic.
- If we throw glass, plastic and metals into the trash and they won't biodegrade, why can't we mine our landfills for them in the future? Won't our landfills become a valuable resource like, say, an oilfield or a gold mine?
- You know how everyone laughs at mentally ill hoarders who save every, say, yogurt carton and lid and have rooms full of them? If the world runs out of oil or it becomes expensive enough, what are we going to put our leftovers in or keep rodents out of our vegetable seeds? Won't all those used yogurt cartons make hoarders (or their heirs) rich at some point?
- Why is it "bad for the environment" to buy a Christmas tree that was planted, grown and harvested to be used as a Christmas tree? Since trees are good for the atmosphere, aren't Christmas tree farms good for the atmosphere?
- Why does our government promote and subsidize ethanol production when it is causing food shortages and inflation? And when "corn production depends on huge amounts of fossil fuel—not just the diesel needed to plow fields and transport crops, but also the vast quantities of natural gas used to produce fertilizers"? And what about this? "[W]hen corn ethanol is burned in vehicles, it is as dirty as conventional gasoline and does little to solve global warming: E85 reduces carbon dioxide emissions by a modest fifteen percent at best, while fueling the destruction of tropical forests" (Rolling Stone).
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