It's not easy being Green...

Confession time. i'm an enironmentalist. It's hard for me not to be one. i grew up with parents and grandparents who recycled even when they had to drive across town to do it. i was a Boy Scout. The idea of preserving the beauty and health of the outdoors was hammered into me at every opportunity. And most importantly, i am a Christian. i own a "green Bible," printed on recyled paper with soy ink and all the verses about creation are in green letters. It also has good Bible studies and lessons. It's a good reminder that much of the story told in Scripture is the story of God's people in an amazing creation, given in trust to his people to care for and protect.

i occasionally catch the Colbert Report. i caught an old one the other day. Colbert had a great guest in the middle of the show. This guy who writes for the Green Lantern (click on the link to see an article comparing the envrionmental benefits of soy v. milk). His column discusses choices people make every day to try and be more "green." He discussed an important issue, looking deeper than surface level questions on how to be envrionmentally friendly.

Paper or plastic? Well, on the surface, paper, right? Plastic never bio-degrades, strangles sea turtles, etc. Well, yes and no. First off, while paper can be recycled, it often isn't and depletes our forests. It also takes more energy in production to make a paper bag than a plastic one and more energy and fuel are expelled in transporting paper bags (which weigh more) to stores.
Now, he didn't discuss your own reusable bags like the one Ashley made and our canvas sacks, but he had about 3 minutes on the show.

He also gave a good rule of thumb that i need to pass on to my misguided eco-cousin, Katie. i've told Ashley before that for gas mileage in the summer, she should put the windows down around town, but it improves it on the highway to put them up and use the A/C. This seems common sense to Ashley and i. The wind resistance on the highway is too high to leave the windows down and lower gas mileage means bad for the environment. The rule of thumb is 45mph. Anything over that and you save by rolling up the windows and turning on that A/C. Anything under and you might as well go for the windows.

He wrapped up by talking about CFL's, the cute little energy efficient bulbs my dad was hating on for so long. Everyone is screaming about mercury. He said your only real concern is if you break one and then lick it. But Steven put him in his place and said, "well it's hard not to want to! They look like soft-serve ice cream!"

i compiled a list of articles that may pique your interest...

All of these have lots of links and charts if you question how they arrive at particular conclusions
Rolling down the Windows v. Using the A/C in the car
Hand washing v. Using the Dishwasher
Being green on st. Patty's: Cans v. Bottles
Obama v. Clinton v. McCain on Environmental plans (least biased article i've read on all the candidates)
CFL's v. Incandescent Bulbs (by far the best article i've read on the green bulbs, read THIS one if no other article)

If any of these spark you or you have your own question, ask the Green Lantern:
ask.the.lantern@gmail.com