It's not easy being green

There's been a lot in the media about being green. This is a good thing as it raises everyone's consciousness. A few weeks ago, NBC-Universal had "Green is Universal" week. It did some good, because it caused me to go to a carbon footprint calculator to estimate my personal carbon footprint. It wasn't pretty. I fly ALOT for work. I'm over 26 tons for my own personal footprint. The average american is at 7.5 tons. There are some things that I am trying to do to help. I use compact fluorescent light bulbs in everything at home. It's a small step, but it makes a difference. I use environmentally friendly detergents (Seventh Generation). I recycle. I usually don't tell people these things. I just do it. 

I do have a problem with grandstanding by the media. I wish they would just do and not tout themselves so much. I was on a conference call where for over an hour, they were talking about banner placement to announce the fact they were using bio-diesel in generators at a major event. They had the banners printed (not on recycled paper) and shipped overnight. When the fuel truck got there to fuel up the generator, it had regular old Diesel. Apparently no one ever told the fuel company that they were supposed to deliver bio-diesel. When the decision had to be made to not provide power for a couple of more hours or to be environmentally friendly, well, we ended up on regular diesel fuel. There were also supposed to be recycling baskets on that show, and there was. One. In the middle of the compound. Do you think anyone actually walked to that place instead of using the can that was right next to them? We had made suggestions- submitting paperwork electronically instead of on paper. We could easily save a ream of paper a day. That didn't happen. Print things double sided. That didn't happen. Use recycled paper. That didn't happen.  We were all supposed to get hybrids as rental cars. Some people did, and then they realized the cost difference, and it was decided that 5 people (out of 100) getting hybrids was enough. Every little bit counts, yes, but the green of the dollar got in the way of being green. The only truly green thing that happened was that all of the disposables at catering were bio-degradable made from corn starch I believe. Everyone was more interested in saying how green we were being instead of taking the necessary actions to actually be green.