Is the United States going "green" for the environment or for our own benefit?
Answer:
For most people its a win win - you typically save money and feel good about doing it. Why wouldn't you go green for the enviroment. After all - we live here!
I AM GOING GREEN FOR MYSELF. I just took a course in environmental science; boy did it change my perspective. However, most businesses are going green for their own profits.
It's really one in the same. What benefits the environment benefits us. Although what benefits us does not always benefit the environment.
I mostly do environmentally friendly things for the benefit of the environment, as an environmentalist. For example, rather than replace my old car with another used car, I plunked down the money for a Prius. I bike to work primarily to minimize my greenhouse gas emissions, secondarily because it's free, and finally because it's good exercise. I make my home as energy efficient as possible again primarily to reduce my greenhouse gas emissions and secondarily to save money on my electric bill.
So I do it for both reasons, but the primary reason is for the benefit of the environment.
Primarily to get off foriegn oil for now. If the theories prove to be correct, then I'm heading in the right direction anyway.
I think most people are going to do what they can.to help. It will benefit all of us if we go along with it.
I'm going green for both reasons. Nothing wrong with that. We might as well benefit as much as we can.
By using the new light bulbs we can save quite a bit on our electric bill. I can see a good difference on mine. I replaced all of bulbs.
We all might as well do whatever we can to protect our world.
i don't think we've even Begun to go Green, sad, we should be the first #1 on the list
I was going green before i new about going green to save money . I don't see anybody going green where i live or even have any idea how to or even afford it because of the high price tag that's put on it . I guess food for there kids come first . If it was all that important to go green then why is the price so high ? That's kind of like saying if you want to live then pay top dollar for it . Its all frigging ignorant or greed is more important then life. If we all burn up it was from mans greed
As A nation=by the reaction here in answers i very much doubt it ,the majority of the people dont give a damn ,some even say they like it warmer.irrespective of 150.000 people dying in other places ,related to G:W
As a government =even worse,http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;... this is anything to go by
A lot of Americans are more interested in nuking the rest of the world and taking it over.
The Environment is not very high on the list
I'm split on this. I tend to feel that most folks really don't give a damn about anything beyond their own personal interests and self-gratification. But everytime I turn around I see a new method of reducing emissions, or a new way to reduce, reuse & recycle, and these new options were made available by someone who cared at least enough to make them available.
For myself, I do it for both reasons. I started out focused almost entirely on the environmental reasons - going green seemed to weigh on my bank account, so it certainly wasn't for economics. (I drive the car I drive now because it still works, it's paid for, and I don't have enough money to my name to even make a down payment on a new hybrid; and I've been hearing increasingly that the gas mileage on the hybrids don't really offset the higher cost of purchase by all that much; still, I want one because it'll help reduce emissions). I recycled anything that was paper, plastic or metal, had a resin code on it, or had a recycling redemption value, and collected recyclables from others; I replaced all the lightbulbs in my parents' house with energy-efficient ones (the house I'm in now already had them); I bought and maintain composters for my parents' house and for the house I'm living in now; I set up and maintain a recycling system at both my parents' house and the house I'm living in now; I make a point of turning the water off when I shower, or at least running it very, very low, turning the water off when I brush my teeth, wash my hands, or do the dishes; I wash and reuse my ziplock bags; I use the reusable grocery bags for my shopping; I don't get receipts at the ATM or the pump anymore (these transactions show up online anyway); I try to limit my driving, planning my routes out in advance and planning my activities to work with the shortest route; I open the windows to cool off, rather than use the AC; I reuse wrapping paper for gifts if it's still in good condition; I do all my transactions online, or have automatic payments set up, to cut down on postal weight and shipping; I even go through my parents' garbage (with my mom's permission) and sort out the recyclables from the compostables and the actual trash - I'm able to take 3 full trash bags and reduce the actual outgoing volume to about 1/3 of one bag. I get a good feeling knowing that I'm taking responsibility for my impact on the environment. (And somehow, after all that, I still feel like I'm not doing enough.)
That was all strictly for the environmental green.
Recently, I discovered a very tangible monetary green motivation. With the money I've been getting on the recyclables I've been bringing in to the recycling center, I've been able to start buying my groceries at the local farmer's market, instead of the grocery store. The produce is much fresher (I bought a bunch of carrots on Saturday that had been pulled that very morning) and thus still has most of it's nutrients, it tends to run cheaper than the store (depending on what you're buying), it supports local farmers and the local economy, and it cuts down on emissions from shipping produce to the store. So now I find I'm snatching up even more recyclables, because for me it's money to by local produce and support local farmers.
I would say it could be an even split as to the U.S.'s motivation to go green. We've definitely been lagging behind other nations, and we're not moving forward as fast as I think we could; but I think there are enough environmentally friendly folks out there who are really focused on change and are making that change a reality.
I do it for both, like some people have said It saves us money sometimes and also helps the earth and since 3% of people die from air polluation why shouldn't we help!!
Check out these sites.
www.ecoproducts.com
www.biobagusa.com
www.2thegreenway.com -Subscribe to the newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/live_green... -Join the group
If you subscribe to the newsletter at www.2thegreenway.com and join the Yahoo! group we together can talk about eco things and try to help each other and other people!!
Thanks!
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