Earth Day, a different way of thinking

Tomorrow is Earth Day and many of us will be confronted with a tidal wave of information on how to live in more environmentally friendly ways. Take a careful look at this information and put a lot of thought into what you are seeing, reading, and hearing. Sometimes, when it comes to the environment, what seems obvious might not be completely true.

If you walk into your back yard or into a park or any other fairly "natural" area and mark of an area one acre in size. Research indicates in that acre that you could find around 425 million insects and other arthropods living in the soil and leaf litter in that one acre. 425 million! That doesn't even count the number of insects flying around in that acre. It also leaves out things like worms and single celled organisms or plants. It doesn't count any vertebrates that might be present like lizards or birds or mice. Counting only the arthropods living in the soil and on the soil we would come up with a number, in one acre, that would probably exceed the total population of humans in the United States. Think about that one acre of land and now think about the fact that the US is about 2.3 billion acres in size in total. I don't want to do that math.

The thing to take from this is that our environment is very complex. We are surrounded by living things and all of those living things affect all of the other living things around them. If you choose to live in an environmentally responsible way you have to realize that everything you do from the day you are born to the day you die will have an environmental impact and those impacts may surprise you.

So lets say you decide to start a new environmentally friendly lifestyle today. Where should you live? A rural area where you aren't surrounded by buildings but instead by mountains and trees or a large city where you might go days without seeing a tree? Some have suggested that living in a city, where you can make use of public transportation, where heating costs can be reduced since there are fewer single family dwellings and more multi-family structures, is the more environmentally sound choice. Others have found little evidence that urban dwellers create less impact. No matter which side you agree with you have to also understand that your carbon footprint isn't the only thing that has to be considered. I have done a considerable amount of hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Along the vast majority of the trail you can camp anywhere that you like but it is always recommended that you camp in established camping areas. Why? Because the damage has already been done in these areas and it makes more sense to confine the damage to these areas instead of spreading it out. City living may or may not reduce your carbon footprint but it might help prevent further environmental damage in other areas. That dirty, crowded, city might be the most environmentally friendly place on Earth.

So maybe you won't change where you live, but maybe you should look at how you get around? If you bicycle or walk or take public transportation then good for you. But if like many of us you use an automobile to get around you might be thinking you can do better. Should you trade in the old mini-van on a fancy new hybrid? Probably not. Studies have shown that 12-25% of a conventional car's environmental impact occurs before the car ever makes it to the dealership where it is sold. Things like the mining of metals, the manufacturing process and the transportation of the car to the dealership are not easy on the environment. If you start looking at hybrids the numbers get even worse as you have to factor in the manufacturing of the high efficiency batteries these cars use. Your old mini-van dealt with these pre-sale environmental costs long ago and so, as long as it is in good mechanical condition, it is probably more environmentally friendly to stick with it even though it guzzles a bit of gas.

But the hybrid car commercials make it sound like they will save the Earth! Here is a newsflash for you, marketing is not science. If you go to an Earth Day celebration tomorrow pay close attention to who is sponsoring it. A respected university? Probably not. If you care about the environment look past the marketing.

There are a lot of other things that have to be considered that might seem obvious at first. Organic produce might not always be more environmentally friendly than traditionally grown fruit and vegetables, especially if it is shipped in from China or Chile. A local grower who uses an inorganic fertilizer might be the better choice. What are the environmental costs of the manufacture of solar panels? They might make sense in an area with coal powered electric plants but if your energy comes from hydroelectric production they might be the wrong choice for the environment. Everything that you buy to make things better involves something being made and in that process it can make things worse.

The best thing you can do for the environment might be to do less. Spend less, live with less, consume less. There is a huge environmental industry that wants you to think you can make things better by consuming more, for me this simply doesn't add up. The best way to reduce your carbon footprint is to reduce your overall footprint. If you want to save the environment then save in general. I support research and the development of new products that will help keep the Earth healthier, but we have to make sure when we buy them we are actually helping the environment and not just our egos.