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| Sustainability | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 7 2008, 09:36 AM (324 Views) | |
| Bill | Nov 7 2008, 09:36 AM Post #1 |
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One of the great things about the environmental awareness that has belatedly become fashionably recently is that people are looking into just how environmentally friendly certain practises are. Such research is challenging a few assumptions. For instance, you might think it's better to get your coffee in a ceramic mug than a disposable paper cup, right? Well, it turns out that when you audit all the resources that go into making a ceramic mug, plus the resources it takes to maintain the mug (hot water, detergents, the making and disposal thereof), it's actually no better than drinking out of single-use cups. Another example is nappies (diapers). For years we've been told that cloth nappies are best for the environment. Not so. Not unless you keep using them for years because the resources it takes to clean them to an acceptable standard is actually more than it take to make and dispose of disposable nappies. This isn't to say that people who have been doing anything wrong, but it's very interesting to see what happens when people do a full life cycle audit of a product. Does anyone know of any other such studies comparing the full environmental impacts of modern vs traditional methods? |
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| Pip | Nov 7 2008, 01:25 PM Post #2 |
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I've not heard of any studies but it sounds all very interesting that I'd like to know more so I hope someone posts some links. I recently saw a news report about plastic milk containers and how they are digging them up from land fill sites to grind them back to little plastic pellets that they can use to make new plastic containers and other items. |
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I go by many names...... some call me badger boy, some call me wimpypimpy, others call me totally silk, some have been known to call me Pip, some call me Cillit Bang... | |
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| BeatleBarb | Nov 7 2008, 02:46 PM Post #3 |
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It is something I think about. I'm somewhat of a napkin abuser and resorted to cloth napkins that I could reuse, but as Bill pointed out about diapers, the resources involved in their upkeep for reuse seemed to outweigh the good intentions. I now just make a conscious effort to use less and get out the cloth ones for special ocassions. While recycling is great, it really comes down to consuming less in the first place. As for the coffee cup, I still have to believe that over time, it's better to use the ceramic mug if you take it easy on water and soap, etc. Besides, they don't make Beatles dixie cups....yet! Edited by BeatleBarb, Nov 7 2008, 02:49 PM.
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| Deleted User | Nov 7 2008, 03:53 PM Post #4 |
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what about biofuel sustainability? There are many studies about it. |
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| JeffLynnesBeard | Nov 7 2008, 05:40 PM Post #5 |
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Administrator & Moderator
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Perhaps we're at this stage because of wholescale adoption of recycling. Certainly in the bad old days of the 1980s when everything was disposable and landfill was the answer to waste, ceramic mugs were a lot better than single use cups. However, if those single use cups are now recycled, that ups the ante. Still, over time, if you had your ceramic mug for a long time and it was washed in with all your other plates, etc. (i.e. having a near-zero individual cost in terms of cleaning it), I'm sure that, over time, it would beat the amount of single use cups you'd have used over the years in terms of energy and resource efficiency. As for other examples, although I'm still sure they're a very good thing, energy-efficient light bulbs have been under scruitiny for being a lot more difficult to dispose of responsibly than conventional bulbs. |
| ...and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. | |
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| Bag O' Nails | Nov 7 2008, 11:14 PM Post #6 |
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MaccaMomma
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Awwwwww...."nappies"... how cute! I've never heard that term before! And all I can say is THANK GOD for 'em!
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![]() One sweet dream came true....London & Liverpool '08 | |
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| Bill | Nov 8 2008, 12:13 AM Post #7 |
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Excellent point! Obviously with bio-fuels, we're still burning things - although the carbon being emitted would have been pulled out f the atmosphere a lot more recently. But bio-fuels have been linked to rising food prices are farmers grow crops to burn and not eat. I heard another environmentalist suggest that wood-burning heaters are carbon neutral because they only emit what the tree had taken out of the air. I'm not sure I follow that logic. You could claim that burning oil is only emitting what came out of the air too, it's just that it came out of the air many millions of years ago. |
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I've never heard that term before!

2:10 PM Jul 11