[June Thread] It's Hard to be Green!

JLB said:

No, not something Kermit said!

I mean, it's hard for a person to do something about energy and resource conservation. . . you know, the Green Movement . . . you've heard of it?

I don't mean that it is hard to change your habits, cuz it's not. Instead of putting all your waste in a plastic bag to go to the landfill, you just sort it . . . cardboard, tin cans, aluminum, etc., and take it to Recycle.

What I mean is having to deal with the non-Green people.

Like at work, three of us have started recycling on our own, sorting the trash and taking the aluminum home every day. Actually, it's saving money for (the company) because it has cut down on the amount of trash, trash bags, etc. We still get all our work done so it's not costing (the company) any more for our efforts.

One, older, set-in-his ways guy just laughs at us, makes fun of us and insults us, with comments like, "if you need a coupla bucks, I can help you guys out." He makes a point of making fun of us at least once a day.

He's totally clueless to what's going on in the world.

So, the Green Movement has to expend their energy doing the things it takes to be Green, plus the extra energy to deal with the detractors, carrying their load, too, and having to deal with them.

Anyone else run into this?

PS: Yesterday, after insulting me early, he tossed his soda can in the can barrel later.

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I remember taking two of my friends deep sea fishing. Well the waves came up. As you know, they both were seasick and turned a nice shade of GREEN.

Besides, Keith, you have to consider how Internet forums work:

1. You post a gripe or pet peeve.
2. As the replies get posted you make your lists, Those Against Me and Those For me.
3. You then browbeat into submission those on the Those Against Me list, until the only one(s) left posting are Those For You or just yourself.
4. You put a Gold Star next to those who help you with the browbeating.
5. You post another gripe and start again.
6. Through this process you compile a list of really true friends, those who will come to your side in every little Internet forum brouhaha, and you try to hang with them as often as you can.

Ahem!

Back to the subject at hand... We are very disappointed that our complex does not support recycling, though the rest of the area seems to. I keep nagging, and hearing, "We're working on it."
I keep bags in the car to use at the grocery store, drug store, etc. My problem (getting better) is remembering to take them out of the car when I go to shop.
I've found a wonderful website for recycling bags. They have some I can keep in my purse! www.recyclablebags.com. Jean

Patri said:

...In another arena, I want to conserve on electricity and bought quite a few of the EXPENSIVE low energy light bulbs that should last for years. Three burned out in a couple months. Not worth it if that is going to be the norm.

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That's been our experience, too. One burned out as soon as it was screwed in the socket. A sales clerk told me that they are super sensitive to being jostled in shipping. Anyway, DH went out and bought a hoard of the regular bulbs so we are well-stocked for the next few years. And since we have dimmer switches on almost all the lights, we can't use the expensive, supposedly long-lasting (NOT) CFs anyway.

Rose Pink said:

That's been our experience, too. One burned out as soon as it was screwed in the socket.

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We've had a few burn out quickly too. Plus they seem to take a few seconds to "warm up" or something. But the biggest problem is what to do to dispose of them. We don't have anyone recycling these in our area yet.

Sorta reluctant to add gasoline to the smoldering flames, but another thing that aggravates the situation is when old guy gets called on insults he tosses in something like, "It's a shame that you have such a ----ing miserable life that you can't take a ----ing joke."

That is salt in the wound.

I don't mean to go religious, because of the restriction on it here, and I request that no one take it further down that deep-dark abyss, but it is so important in the case of this particular person, 'cuz he is extremely pious, wearing it on his shirtsleeve. So, when these hateful, insultive things come out of him, it is so very hypocritical, but not that he can see that.

Change/better/worse

We have green boxes emptied by the trash collectors for tin, aluminum, plastic bottles, newspapers. Used to take glass, but not enough demand. Now that there is a plastic scare, perhaps glass should be encouraged, including recycling. We also have yard waste collection. When I found out the city threw it in with the regular landfill stuff for several months, I was mad! One huge change [pun intended] is the use of disposible diapers. I feel that I kept lots of them out of the landfill by using cloth diapers and training pants. There were some neat fitted ones with snaps that were good. And the regular ones made the best dust cloths when their use as diapers was over. I have plenty of rags, old towels, etc., but still use paper towels. [I like the size choice kind--seem less wasteful.] Reuse the plastic and paper grocery bags--I know I should use cloth bags. The younger members of our family don't recycle--go figure.

Tell me you seriously didnt just personally insult a TUG Volunteer...not once...but twice in the same thread.

He's making all those comments because he's just a miserable old guy! As Kermit said "it's not easy being green". Kudos to you JLB for trying to do your part

We do not accept anyone insulting TUG volunteer staff under any circumstances.

These people give up their free time in a thankless position to make TUG what it is...and I certainly wont tolerate any sort of disrespect thrown their way.

tankless water heater problem?

Sorry - I didn't follow. My sister is considering one because of lack of space for a decent size tank. Why is this less efficient? Is the distance to the bathrooms more of a problem with these? Thanks for any advice. The other alternative may be two tanks in series.

On CFLs - I got several at least 15 years ago from my old the utility at a deep discount. Some went out early or arrived defective, all dimmed over time, but all in all it was a very positive experience. In the past 5 years, the results have been excellent. And periodic sales have made the cost per bulb very reasonable. (except that I made the mistake of stocking up - forgetting that they don't wear out often!)

I'm not sure anyone has come up with a safe way to dispose of them, yet. I'm still not convinced that the alleged savings of electricity would outweigh the eventual danger from the mercury they contain. Even though it's claimed the mercury content is infintesimal, multiply that by millions. The instructions for what to do if one should break are scary enough.

macko420 said:

We've had a few burn out quickly too. Plus they seem to take a few seconds to "warm up" or something. But the biggest problem is what to do to dispose of them. We don't have anyone recycling these in our area yet.

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I live in Southern Nevada, where there is never more than 4" of rain, so there is always a water shortage. The past few years it is worse. That is why tankless water heaters are no good for us...you waste water waiting for it to get hot. Its not so critical a problem if there is no drought where you live.

Fern

colovaca said:

Sorry - I didn't follow. My sister is considering one because of lack of space for a decent size tank. Why is this less efficient? Is the distance to the bathrooms more of a problem with these? Thanks for any advice. The other alternative may be two tanks in series.

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In Cape Girardeau, MO we had recycling day and on every Tuesday we could set our out recycleable and the city would pick them up. Also Trash pick up was one a week and you could only have two cans without pay extra. In Spring Hill, TN the only way to do recycle is to load them up in your car and take them to the recycle center, but trash pick up is unlimited number of cans. At $4.00 a gallon gas, how much of that do you think happens?

The tankless water heater provides hot water on demand, therefore saving energy. There are different sizes depending on the size of the household and their hot water needs. This is a helpful site which explains the tankless heater. http://www.tanklesswaterheaterguide.com/

[Message deleted. Per the Posting Rules, comments or questions about moderating or possible administrative actions "should be communicated to the bbs staff directly via email or personal message." In this case, you might want to contact Brian directly. Dave M, BBS Moderator]

Please don't stereotype folks by saying "old guy". What is "old" anyway, and why wouldn't older folks be as open to recycling and conservation as others? I know retirees who volunteer for recycling efforts, such as annual electronic equipment collection drives. Btw, most cities have annual collections of electronics to properly dissassemble and recycle parts, so as not to fill landfills with toxic waste. Please keep your eyes and ears open for such programs in your city or town.

Keitht said:

[Message deleted. Per the Posting Rules, comments or questions about moderating or possible administrative actions "should be communicated to the bbs staff directly via email or personal message." In this case, you might want to contact Brian directly. Dave M, BBS Moderator]

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No problem Dave. I didn't think at the time. Brian has responded via PM.

Thanks for the info about tankless water heaters.

You're welcome.

Back to the CFL Bulbs....

FYI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg

2014. Guess I have a few more years before I have to sit in the dark. Do you think anyone will invent an energy efficienct light bulb that can be used with my dimmer switches or must I replace all of those, too? Do you think the CFLs will be made to not burn out in a shorter time than the incandescents? I wouldn't mind paying the extra costs for them if they really did what they say and if they worked in all the fixtures, but they don't in my experience.

And the disposal part---I took one to the toxic recycling center when I disposed of some paint. They wouldn't take them. Said the public libraries had recycling bins for them. I drove around with that thing in my back seat for weeks until I finally just threw it in the trash. Didn't see anywhere that took them, including the library.

Saw advertised in the WalMart flyer today, they are now selling CFLs that can be used with dimmers. It surprises me that so many people say their CFLs are burning out, I've had the same CFLs in our lamps, some are on timers, some not, for at least 2 years now (maybe even more) and not one has burned out. Maybe I'm just lucky. I even have some of the first ones that came out, just straight ones not the twisted ones, so they must be more than 4 years old by now.

Take him up on it!

JLB said:

No, not something Kermit said!


One, older, set-in-his ways guy just laughs at us, makes fun of us and insults us, with comments like, "if you need a coupla bucks, I can help you out." He makes a point of making fun of us at least once a day.


Anyone else run into this?

PS: Yesterday, after insulting me early, he tossed his soda can in the can barrel later.

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TAKE THE COUPLE OF BUCKS HE OFFERS. That will shut him up pretty quickly and you get to 'joke' back with him. don't take offense. Some people just don't know any better. It's like my mother-in-law who refuses to wear a seatbelt because no one's going to tell her what to do.

I find it extremely amusing that many of us have been made fun of for things we do. My mother (now 86 years old) had all us kids composting, recycling, weeding the yard (so we didn't have to spray it with chemicals) and taking short showers and turning off the water when we weren't actually using it (i.e. not leaving it run to rinse the dishes - you waited until you had several dishes to rinse before you turned on the water). Our family was made fun of for our 'hick' ways (in a friendly sort of way). I've continued that composting/recycling/non-chemical lawn/water conservation thing with my own family and my kids were often 'kidded' about how 'odd' our family was (you do what with kitchen scraps?). And then several years ago the 'green thing' hit and all of a sudden all of us were asked to cut back on the garbage pile by composting, shut off the water, stop over-chemically treating the lawn and recycling things (to also cut down on the garbage pile). My kids were shocked that they had been doing this all along and being teased about it and now it was 'okay' to do - even encouraged! What a life lesson that was for them (i.e. Mom's not so dumb after all). And as they get older and see all those 'green shows' on TV they wonder what all the hullabaloo is about.

So next time the guy offers you a few bucks go ahead and take them. And say 'THANKS for the extra money - I'll recycle it at 'xxxxx' (coffee shop or whatever other place you will use it)'. Go ahead and play the game nicely and before you know it he may be switching sides just to be part of the fun.

I used to recycle, but stopped when the Green machine started attacking my rights, so I decided they could all get stuffed. The right they attacked was our right to travel. The governments of the UK and now the Netherlands have imposed extra $100+ air ticket taxes on trans-Atlantic tickets to discourage air travel in order to ''save the planet''. The UK now wants to raise that to $200. My response to that direct attack on my rights is to adopt a zero cooperation with Greens approach.

If you want some insight on the real agenda of the Greens, read ''Blue Planet in Green Shackles'' by Vaclav Klaus, currently President of the Czech Republic, or the best selling novel ''State of Fear'' by Michael Crichton (Juriassic Park, etc.)