Sustainability efforts are not always seen as drastic changes. The little things make a big difference. Many grocery stores have moved to cloth bagging or biodegradable paper bags. A family that uses and reuse sustainable cloth bags for shopping or groceries rather than plastic bags can save up to 150 plastic bags from the landfill a year. Sure, those plastic bags can probably be squished into a good size ball, but imagine 300 million people using cloth too. To force people to stop using plastic, Ireland has placed a $.33 tax on every plastic bag used at checkout. This is the first nation to put a tax on plastic bags, maybe others will follow. Plus if you do have plastic bags from a store do not throw them away when you could recycle them. Recycle by using them again or using them as trash bags in small trashcans in your home. Cloth is a sustainable resource made from cotton and other materials. Cloth bags last a long time and can endure a lot of use.
Another sustainable solution is "greener" building materials for houses and buildings. Instead of using wood many new house especially on the beach are using a more durable manufactured product that looks and feels just like wood siding. This product does not nearly deteriorate as fast as wood and is made from recycled materials. The longer it last, the less rebuilding and destruction will have to be done. Wood is a good renewable resource but for places like the beach or mountain tops that get intense weather could look to this other product without making an exotic change to their house. Europe is actually looking at newer ways to construct their houses so their roofs collect water instead of flooding the streets. Hopefully, the USA will come up with solutions or ideas to conserve resources. The hardest part is change. People do not always want something different especially if it looks different.
However, the newer, greener construction is one of those long term solutions, the small everyday personal decisions help numerously.
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I think you are on to something with you idea that individuals can make a difference! What do you think of the plastic bag tax--would you want to see it here? An interesting idea.
ReplyDeleteThe green building movement is also fascinating. We usually have a speaker from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and their headquarters in Annapolis is built to LEED (green) certification--Really cool stuff!!
i did note that your article on green construction was from 2005. I perfer nothing older than 5 years as the field of ES is changing so rapidly. I think you could have found more current sources.
Nice job. 10/10