What Americans Misunderstand About Environmental Shopping

kbutler — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Americans tend to go green in primarily one way – they shop green. This is a recent trend – and I for one am not complaining. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been green since I was a teen….ager. (Sorry, just couldn’t be cute. I just couldn’t.) I grew up in South Jersey which means two things – the first, yes, I have heard that joke about New Jersey. In fact, the entire state has heard that joke. The second is that I grew up in farm country. My childhood home had a dairy barn with a cool calf skeleton in the back and huge rat skull I would poke with a stick. I’ve grown up with flocks of Canadian geese landing in our yard, and I’ve been chased across pastures by annoyed bulls. But since childhood, I’ve also watched South Jersey's beautiful farmlands get built up and built up and built up…. So at an early age, I went eco-warrior.

In any case, I’ve been watching green trends for most of my life. In the 90s, this meant buying (and working for) Ben & Jerry’s. Now with cars to cleaners to organic meatballs, Madison Avenue is pushing the environment on everyone. But a recent poll shows that many Americans don’t really understand what it means to buy green. According to a recent survey, 39% of Americans buy product that they think are “environmentally friendly.” But 48% believe that these products have a positive impact on the environment, while only 22% get that these words actually mean that the impact is “less negative.” (And yes, it took me some hard thinking to absorb that too.)

So how can you be sure that you’re actually shopping green and not, as they call it, falling victim to “greenwashing?” (When companies spin it to look like they are green, when in fact they still make a huge carbon footprint. Yes, there is a term for this.) The EPA actually has an identifying system. If something is labeled DfE, it’s “designed for the environment.” If something has the Energy Star label, it’s good on energy. Also, hit the web – there are several green shopping guides out there, like this one. And this one. Keep buying green, America! We’ve got options to keeping up the good, green fight.

Getting the Goods on Green Medicine

kbutler — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Did you ever know a kid who counted seasons by super-awesome holidays? In other words, Easter baskets (Spring!); fireworks (Summer!); candy (Fall!); presents (Winter!). Yeah, well, that was so not me. I was incessant hay fever (Spring!); blistering sunburns (Summer!); dangerous ragweed season (Fall!)….you get the picture. I was your basic varietal allergen magnet running around in dungarees (yes, dungarees) and ribbon barrettes.

Basically, being a sneezy kid made me, shall we say, a tad thoughtful when it comes to medicine. And I’ve recently begun to wonder – is it possible to incorporate a green philosophy when choosing a doctor? What is green medicine, exactly? Doctors and hospitals use tons of energy and disinfectant chemicals (BAD). But since these practices also save lives, (GOOD), what is the happy medium? Can we really be eco-friendly when picking our treatments?

After my head exploded, I decided to look for answers by consulting acupuncturist Michael Yang, L.Ac., founder of the Los Angeles-based Pacific Medical Group. (And to all Angelinos who have questions about alternative medicine – this is the guy who will give you the answers.) Mike quickly informed me that there are two approaches to green medicine. One is that facilities themselves must take the initiative to be as green as possible – recycle, reuse, and keep waste to a minimum. But Mike took it a step farther by pointing out that the cornerstones of health are nutrition, exercise and mental health. These concepts, when properly practiced, are green by definition. “Healthy nutrition is organic, seasonal and local - that's green. Exercise is best outdoors and people need to be physically active beyond exercise hour. No need to buy fancy equipment and build more (carbon-foot printing) gyms. When patients are encouraged to think globally, that promotes a healthy feeling of community which in turn generates green activities.” And that, my friends, is green medicine.

But how does western medicine green up? Luckily, it seems that the idea of eco-friendly hospitals is catching on. Duke Medicine recently upped their commitment to becoming as green as possible. As their web site promotes, “In recent years, Duke has taken steps to green its operations, in everything from large-scale construction projects to everyday housekeeping services, bucking the conventional wisdom that being green means sacrificing quality or cost-efficiency.”

It seems like green medicine is on the road to evolving into a real force. Naturally! After all, Ralph Waldo Emerson says “Nature suffers nothing to remain in her kingdoms that cannot help itself.” Oops, sorry, my head just exploded again.

reducing carbon footprint

What Americans Misunderstand About Environmental Shopping

Getting the Goods on Green Medicine