subject: Achieving sustainability: going green at home [print this page] Achieving sustainability: going green at home
Sustainability entails protecting both the environment and the economy by using of natural resources and technology prudently. It does not mean the government has to impose socially disruptive regulations. While reasonable governmental initiatives can certainly facilitate sustainability, how likely will that happen in the current partisan atmosphere? Some politicians want the government to do more for the environment. Others demand that it do less. We, the public, don't need to wait for the federal government. We can all begin (or continue) to go green at home.
For just one example among many, think of the products we use to keep our homes clean. Within living memory, people cleaned with common products such as vinegar and baking soda. Then businesses began promoting specialized cleaners: some for windows, some for wooden furniture, some for countertops, some for dishes, and so on. They advertised that these newer cleaners worked better and were more pleasant to use. So everybody started using them.
Now, magazines and web sites are starting to carry articles by people who advocate returning to the older, more versatile products. Among the reasons they give: these products cost less; each one can clean a variety of things; they use considerably less cabinet space; they get things just as clean with little or no more effort.
These articles may or may not express environmental concerns. Every product we can buy produces some pollution in both manufacturing and shipping. If there are any hazardous chemicals in cleaning products, they get into the water supply, despite the best efforts of sewage treatment plants. All products come in some kind of packaging that we must somehow get rid of. Meanwhile, our landfills are filling up and it is very difficult to agree where to put new ones. Using simpler cleaning products and less packaging leads to simpler environmental consequences.
All of us make many choices every day that have some kind of environmental consequences. They can be environmentally responsible, or not; taken singly they may not seem important, but millions of people making the same kinds of decisions consistently over time has major consequences. What's beneficial for the environment is often beneficial in other ways, too. If enough of us think of the environment at home, maybe governments will follow our lead and do their part.
