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most Americans consider themselves environmentalists, and American
consumers have so much
purchasing power, why isn't the environment in better shape? One
reason is that Americans are fed a steady diet of environmental
misinformation by people selling products with a pro-environment
label. Well-intentioned consumers make buying decisions that are
supposed to help the environment, but really don't. Here are some
of the myths to watch out for when making your own purchasing —
and political — decisions.
A "biodegradable" label on a product like a plastic trash bag makes
it seem nature friendly. And indeed it is — if you dump your
garbage bags in wilderness areas and other places where biodegradation
takes place. But most household garbage bags end up in a landfill
or an incinerator. Landfills are designed to allow no interaction
of water or light with the garbage, so biodegradation is impossible.
And because not much microbial activity takes place inside an incinerator,
the "biodegradable" trash bag is irrelevant to environmental health.
"Ozone friendly" is probably an accurate label on your deodorant
spray can, but it's also meaningless. Chlorofluorocarbons —
the chemicals that cause ozone destruction — have been banned
from almost all American consumer products since 1978. The "ozone
friendly" is simply the producers' attempt to make consumers realize
what the situation has been for over two decades.
One way that families inflict a great deal on unnecessary inconvenience
on themselves, in the mistaken belief that they're helping the environment,
is by using cloth diapers rather than disposables. An Oregon legislator
even introduced a bill several years ago to make possession of disposable
diapers a criminal offense. It's hardly clear, however, if the plastic,
disposable diaper is environmentally inferior to its cloth, reusable
counterpart. The disposable diaper, being disposable, does generate
far more solid waste. But cloth diapers create much heavier strains
on the local water system, since, when they are cleaned, the human
waste is usually treated and then disposed into water.
In places like Brooklyn, cloth diapers might be preferable, since
landfills are scarce and water is plentiful. But in the arid West,
disposable diapers could be environmentally superior.
| “Well-intentioned
consumers make buying decisions that are supposed to help
the environment, but really don't.” |
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Disposables, being much more absorbent, are also better at preventing
diaper rash at night, when the baby sleeps for many hours (ideally)
without being changed. Disposables are also less prone to leaking,
and therefore much more sanitary for use in group situations like
day care centers. Consumer Reports magazine explained that
while studies on the environmental impact of disposable vs. cloth
are mixed, "one thing is clear: Consumers won't make a big contribution
to the environment by choosing one type of diaper over another."
Just as cotton diapers are wrongly claimed to be always better than
plastic/paper disposable diapers, paper grocery bags are asserted
to be better than plastic ones. Actually, the plastic bags require
less energy to produce, cause less pollution when being produced,
and create far less solid waste than do paper bags. The fact that
the paper bag is "natural" has little to do with its environmental
impact. In deciding between paper and plastic, the practical environmental
should choose the bag that his family is more likely to reuse. Reusable
cloth grocery bags are a good choice too — if one makes sure
to wash them once in a while to kill bacteria.
The notion that paper is always better than plastic is reflected
in other misdirected environmental efforts. Although several cities
have banned polystyrene food containers and coffee cups, these items
are actually environmentally superior to the most common alternative:
coated paperboard. While the polystyrene containers do create more
solid waste (because of their bulk), they require less energy and
chemical inputs to manufacture, and cause less water and air pollution
while being manufactured. Moreover, polystyrene can be readily recycled,
if the food vendor encourages customers to put polystyrene trash
in a separate disposal can.
So a person who thinks that he is a good environmentalist because
he drinks from coated paper cups instead of polystyrene is missing
the boat. As with shopping bags, the best solution has nothing to
do with the false "paper good, plastic bad" dichotomy. The most
environmentally-friendly coffee cups are washable ceramic mugs,
just as the best grocery bags are reusable cloth bags.
Closely related to the mistaken idea that paper is environmentally
superior to plastic is the notion that heavily packaged products
are environmentally bad. In a study written for the Dallas-based
National Center for Policy Analysis, Lynn Scarlet points out that
in many situations, packaged products may create less solid
waste.
For example, in Mexico — where packaging and refrigeration
are rarer than in the U.S. — the average household throws away
40% more total refuse than the average U.S. household. It's not
that the Mexican household has a higher standard of living; it's
just that high-tech packaging and other advances make U.S. consumption
more efficient. In Mexico City, households that drink orange juice
usually buy fresh oranges, squeeze them, and throw away the peels
— about ten and a half ounces of peels per week. Most American
households make their orange juice from frozen concentrate, which
comes in a package. The American household, making the same amount
of orange juice, throws out a two-ounce cardboard or aluminum container.
Thus, the American household creates more than 80% less solid waste.
In the packing-oriented American system, orange juice factories
save the peels and sell them for animal feed and other products.
Because the orange-juice factory centralizes the orange-peel removal
process, the factory can use economies of scale to collect large
numbers of orange peels for re-use. In contrast, the Mexico City
household can't afford the time to cart 10 ounces of orange peels
off to a farm someplace. So, thanks to packaging, the American peels
get re-used, and the Mexico City peels end up in a garbage dump.
In addition, the Mexico City household must use 25% more oranges
to produce the same amount of orange juice found in the packaged
American concentrate. That means the fresh, non-packaged Mexico
City method needs 25% more agricultural input, such as fertilizer
and water, to make the oranges for the juice. The orange juice example
isn't unusual. Thanks to America's heavy reliance on packaging,
our nation wastes less food than any other part of the world. (Except
for Africa, where malnourished people may find that rotten food
is the only food that can be obtained.)
The root of much environmental misinformation is a sort of neo-Rousseauian
principle that the more natural and the less man-made an item is,
the better for the environment it must be. But quite frequently,
just the opposite is true. Buy "natural" or pseudo-natural if it
satisfies your aesthetic, but don't confuse an aesthetic preference
with environmentalism.
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