As a student, I am particularly interested with all things renewable and green. These to me seem like logical incentives for sustainable consumer lifestyle and producer practices. The thing that I don’t understand is the three R’s which have been forced down my throat since high school and after. I should clarify, I only have an issue with one R: Reduce (the others being Reuse and Recycle if you didn’t happen to pick up on that). I disagree with the idea that the consumer should be targeted as the one responsible for reducing consumption of energy intense products or services that media require us to purchase, and the government by limiting choice of green alternatives.
Consumers are presented with many facts and figures, ads and counter-ads every day than one can process. The fact that I chose to use the word consumer over citizen or Haligonians indicates the trend of consumer irrationality, and the fact that people do not make informed decisions and make them for the wrong reasons. As a student with a 75 minute commute by public transport – which is subsidized by tax dollars – I am heavily reliant on the infrastructure of Halifax. When I see things like the traffic jams near the bridges, it appears that Halifax is heading the way of Vancouver and other dense cities, in that they are designed for heavy vehicle traffic. While the question of a rotary in the intersection of Quinpool and Robie roils, I believe it is clear that there is no intention to reduce the use of anything.
Which brings me to my final point. Halifax is set to embrace the green tomorrow, and this obvious. It extends beyond just installing electric power pumps for hybrids and the new 1 meter rule for cyclists; it requires green alternatives for which there are no alternatives. If given the choice, consumers will choose the cheaper, quicker option, and this applies to companies operating in Nova Scotia as well. This is where strong policy and politics come into play. It is only by forcing demand of (genuinely) green products on the market and not just markedly green, either. So what if your favorite shampoo has a bunch of leaf on it anyway? This bitch has become a rant, it’s time for me to leave. —Which Side to Take?
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2011.
Another victim of the Green Scam.
Sometimes I wonder if students come here to test out answers to essay questions. Long ramble-y answers.
Way to not make a point, OP.
“As a student….”
Uh huh, because students are the only ones conscious about the “green movement”…. and obv all students are conscious about this! HAHAHA yeah, sure. I work at a university and… that is a wholly FALSE assumption. Majority of students I’ve come across have had to had this whole sustainability crap shoved down their throats in order for them to even put their waste in the right bin on campus, and even then it’s a 50/50 split as to whether or not they’re literate enough to figure it out when it comes right down to it. You know who *I* find buys into this and practices what the university preaches the most? STAFF. Not faculty and certainly not students, but STAFF.
What a patronizing fucking bitch.
“the others being Reuse and Recycle if you didn’t happen to pick up on that”
Oh go fuck yourself, OP.
” I disagree with the idea that the consumer should be targeted as the one responsible for reducing consumption of energy intense products or services that media require us to purchase, and the government by limiting choice of green alternatives.”
The media requires the ‘consumer’ to purchase things? Oh dear lord. If you buy into that, well then their (the ‘media’) marketing strategies are working. I suppose you really do NEED that iphone/blackberry, now, do you, OP? Because you’d OMG DIE without it!
And here we go blaming the government again.
I’mmmm guessing OP’s just finished their frosh year (second year at MOST) and thinks they know how the world works.
LOLLERCOASTER.
Fucking millennial. You just WAIT until you hit the real world… AHAHAHAHA.
I’m confused, are you suggesting a more agressive nanny state?
renewable and green, could be re-occuring mold, or plastic charges. fuck it all, we won’t be here next year anyway. remember what yahoo said, and me, i still say may 24 2012, at 12:24 -p.m., atlantic time. the speghetti monster in the sky tolded me that.
LOL – They’re so cute after they’ve read their first Naomi Klein.
Didn’t you know Hugo, it’s only fascism when the state tries to force YOU to do something you don’t want to. (like a draft, or not destroying property whilst civil disobedienceing.) Forceing other people to do something that THEY don’t want to, that’s called being progressive.
you’re against ‘reduce’ ?
it SHOULD be put on us… or what’s the alternative?
government imposed restrictions?
is that what you want?
you want to have to pay for power but them tell you how much you’re allowed to use?
oh, you can only have the restricted 2 litres of water per day… stop wanking and make that shower time count.
yeah, sounds right peachy….
I’m lost.
I think what you are suggesting is that citizens, in their role as consumers, have only a limited role to play in transforming our society into one that is sustainable going forward.
I agree with you somewhat. In acting as consumers, we can only choose among options that the marketplace makes available. In addition, a significant portion of the marketplace is NOT driven by consumer demand, contrary to what laissez faire economists like to claim. There are many examples of this, but the most well-known in recent history is the removal of popular electric vehicles from the California marketplace by their manufacturers, in the face of strong demand among consumers. The manufacturers were also able to influence state regulators to backtrack somewhat through heavy lobbying. In many ways it is large manufacturers who rule the marketplace, not “sovereign consumers”. So it would seem to me that effective action on environmental matters requires government action, backed up with a clear mandate from citizens.
Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with being concerned about sustainability and the future of our civilization. I find it more admirable than, say, showing one’s concern for the future freedoms of Libyan civilians by dropping bombs on them.
Frankly, I think the sacrifices made by Canadian troops in Afghanistan, are insignificant in comparison to the sacrifices our children will be forced to make to adjust to the environmental hell we are bequeathing to them.
I couldnt even read this, my eyes glazed over after the first sentence.
Listen OP, it’s great to want to do green things. I try to do my best by taking the bus and walking to work.
But sometimes, you have to weigh the pros and cons, and because the city is designed the way it is – sprawling – it is really difficult to choose the greenest solution.
For example, when my office moves to Burnside in the fall, I will have to decide if I a. want to quit my job and find something closer b. if I want to move to Dartmouth c. if I want to take 3 buses to and from work with a long commute or d. get a car and drive there.
Unfortunately, it looks to me like my best option is getting a car to drive there. I would like to continue taking the bus, I don’t have a need for the car, but I definitely need the job and it would appear that I would be more effective in my job with a car. So, while public transit can be great for a lot of people, it doesn’t work for a lot of people. And for a non-profit, I’m sure it’s cheaper to rent space in Burnside rather than downtown, which is why organizations move there in the first place.
Good points, hollah!
When I go to work it means a drive to the airport and usually three or four days later a drive back into town. I currently make about half of these trips on a hotel shuttle bus. Anyone who has taken the shuttle into Halifax knows the one I’m talking about. This doesn’t always work well for me because some days I have to arrive at the airport very early in the morning and I don’t relish the idea of getting up at 3:30 am in order to have time to catch the shuttle. Many of my neighbours (in Dartmouth) work in downtown Halifax and bike to work for much of the year but I don’t have that option.
I used to drive a vehicle to the airport and leave it parked in employee parking for the days I was away, but I hated paying for the insurance, gas, safety inspections and upkeep on a vehicle that spent its days either parked in my driveway or parked at the airport.
After surveying potential transit users at airport businesses (including airlines) the government allocated money to extend transit bus lines to the airport, but these plans were shelved when money became tight in the last few years. That’s unfortunate, because Halifax International is almost the only busy Canadian airport which has NO public transit options. If you travel much,either domestically or overseas, you realize how unusual this is.
I think your points amplify part of what the OP was trying to say: that government should be investing more heavily in public transit options, both improving current services and building new ones.
Heap on more taxes please! Please don’t give the NDP and Caviar Dexter any more ideas…
I’m waiting for Nissan to come out with this new first mass produced all electric car in Canada this autumn.
While It won’t help with the fact I drive a 3/4 ton truck.
I also own a small car & I put over $3000.00 in gas in it last year (you have to track the fuel you use in both you vehicles when you own a company) So there will be a real savings, seeing they say a fill up will be around $2 dollars, at peak electric prices, where to get similar mileage in my car would cost around 30 dollars…then there’s no oil changes, no idling when stopped at lights etc. etc. etc.
boo hoo…. *sniff*. .. we’re not being green enough….
http://www.wildsound-filmmaking-feedback-e…
What is sad is that people think they actually need this stuff. I feel like Captain Benjamin L. Willard in Apocalypse now. The Horror…
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll45/ca…
You know what I frigging hate?
Those stupid CFL bulbs.
Those fucking things are all hype and pains in the ass. And their stupid orange glow gives me a goddamned headache!
Low flush toilets. The kind designed to save water that you have to flush 5 freakin’ times to make sure your Lizzie Mays make it to the harbour.
Ditto on the “low flush” toilets. Complete waste of water. You end up using considerably more water. Obviously designed by, um Smurfs? They could handle a Smurf turd, maybe.
I loved that they did this on “King of The Hill” recently. It was hilarious. Peggy had to flush six times! It is about time that this issue is protested publicly. It is a matter of simple human dignity.
Wanna get gross? I bet I can explain how it happened – I bet in testing the model turds used were probably not at all adhesive. I can imagine the designers would have tested sinkers and floaters, but I can almost guarantee they did not consider adhesion. (i.e. they would have used nice clean plastic turds that won’t stick to the porcelain)
I know, right? Or the fools who are all “if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.”
Yeah, fuck you, you fucking bunch of tree hugers! And then you’ve got people like Cheryl Crowe who are all “ONLY USE ONE SQUARE OF TOILET PAPER!”
They probably expect the ladies to drip-dry too!
Screw that.
a) I will always flush;
b) I will always wipe; and
c) I will always use more than one frigging square. And I ain’t using one ply, either.
haha, reminds of that king of the hill episode http://sharetv.org/images/guide/260566.jpg
And have you ever tried the “mercy flush” on one of those things? Insane amount of aerosol created compared to the old ones. Your ass gets soaked. You get to choose: wet ass or share your stink. Great.
The “if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.” motto relates to people on septic. It has more to do with keeping the cess off the lawns than tree hugging. Guys will pee outside, mark the perimeter of the garden to help keep the deer out of it. No need to put more load on the septic system when there is a perfectly good use for it. (different story in winter of course…)
Oh yes, the TP commercials, do they really think you can wipe your ass with four squares? Might as well just skip the toilet paper altogether and use your hand to wipe.
I’m an awful human being — you know those “don’t dump this” ads on tv? HA. Yeah, I flush baby wipes AND cleaning wipes.
TAKE THAT, FUCKERS.
I agree that low flow toilets are a complete waste of water and money. Dual flush is much more logical and effective….if it’s yellow, push the top/little button, if it’s brown bush the bottom/big button for full flushing force.
As for CFL bulbs, I’ve slowly started switching everything over to LED in my house. I have to do it in increments as they are still pretty expensive but a light bulb that uses 80% less power and lasts 10 to 15 times longer than standard bulbs…hell yeah! Fuck you NS POWER! The main reason I’m switching over though is after reading about how if you break a CFL bulb, it releases mercury into your home….(fucking beautiful) and because of this, if you replace a burnt out one, you can’t throw it out with your regular garbage. You have to dispose of it at a hazardous waste drop-off facility.
some publik toilets make pooping in the woods seem very attraktive. always remember to flush before you shit otherwise that kourtesy flush ould end up in your drawers…true story
Dual flush, forgot about those, they do make sense.
You must hate janitors regret kitty. If you live in the city you’re doing no environmental harm, if the items you flush do make it out of the toilet at all then they will be trapped at the treatment plant (fucking brilliant location by the way hrm. – sarcasm) If you live in the country you’re only messing up you’re own septic system.
It far more likely that you’ll simply plug up a toilet and make some poor sod’s job that much more miserable.
I’ve never flushed cleaning or baby wipes but if they flush well (don’t clog the toilet) then you’re doing no harm at all. Though I suspect the material those wipes are made of are much more likely to clog plumbing than plain old tp which usually disintegrates reasonably well with even a moderate flow of water.