Going Green-ish

Since the conception of Earth Day; April 22, 1970; "going green" has become the biggest pop culture attraction out there, since sliced bread. What does "going green" really mean? Well, simply put, it is environmentalism at it's best and worst. Going green, as it's called now, is a philosophy and social movement that for some people becomes almost a 'religion' surrounding the concern for the continual conservation and improvement of the state of the natural world around us. For whatever reason, over the years, this social 'religion' has equated itself with the color green.

You may be asking yourself, why I mention "going green" is environmentalism at its best and its worst. Well, let me explain a little. Like I said a moment ago, the green movement has become somewhat of a social religion. You can imagine what I mean here, by contemplating the fact that some people easily believe the rhetoric of global change (warming and cooling) and some people just don't buy the idea that we are creating CFC's that harm the earth in any way that it can't self-heal. In essence, the more you delve into the ideals behind the 'green' movement, you can see a separation much like that of people who do and don't believe in God. Because of this, there will always be skeptics that will act outwardly against the movement, thus wreaking havoc on the concept itself.

Another way going green, isn't all it's cracked up to be is that with all the ideas to conserve and reduce the use of plastics and non-biodegradable products, we always overlook the major "green killers". Let me put forth two such green killers here for you to think about the next time you are looking for ways to go green: disposable diapers and toilet paper. Let's take a look at disposable diapers first.

"It is estimated that roughly 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills annually. It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and over 200,000 trees a year to manufacture the disposable diapers for American babies alone. Although some disposables are said to be biodegradable; in order for these diapers to decompose, they must be exposed to air (oxygen) and sun. Since this is highly unlikely, it can take several hundred years for the decomposition of disposables to take place, with some of the plastic material never decomposing." http://www.thenewparentsguide.com/diapers.htm

Now, what about the heavenly toilet paper? Did you know that the USA utilizes more toilet tissue than any other country on the globe? 424,000 trees would be spared by replacing a 500-sheet roll of virgin fiber toilet paper and considering Americans use an average of 23.6 rolls per person per year that could easily equal 10 million trees per year per person just in toilet paper alone!

I am not against the environmental movement by any means; I myself am by nature a conservative in all aspects. However, I criticize the packaging that has been colored green, the mass production of shopping bags and green products, when there are two very real aspects of our society that are out of control and completely ignored by the current "green gurus". As a single mom, I completely understand why people choose to use disposable diapers. I just don't understand how in this day and age, diapers aren't getting more environmentally friendly, but we are making thinner plastic bottles and using compact fluorescent light bulbs.