From prefabricated, worm-colony composters to organic hemp shower curtains, the green movement is introducing Americans to environmentally friendly alternatives for everyday use. However, some feel that reducing consumption is the only way to achieve environmental sustainability. City Weekly asked Save Our Canyons executive director Lisa Schmidt what the eco-minded citizen should do: replace products or reduce use?
We should absolutely look to reduce, because no matter how creative we are with alternatives, they will always have environmental costs. Commuting is the perfect example. We can drive hybrid cars, but we still have production and energy costs. If we take a moment to plan, we can live nearer to our work, walk or take bikes and eliminate our impact on the planet.
More by Dan Fletcher
-
Back to School 2008 | Green & Mean: Using fewer natural resources can often save your own green.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave lately—hunting your food, clothing yourself in shrubbery and drinking rain water (in which case you’ve already got this nailed)—you’ve probably been hounded about “going green.”...
- Aug 14, 2008
-
Back to School 2008 | Don’t Be “That Guyâ€: Take your music-appreciation IQ to new heights by following these simple rules.
College life swarms with regrets: Bacardi-induced gutter naps, beer-goggled hookups and the ill-effects from altered-state procrastination, to name just a few. But the greatest threat to one’s moral fiber comes from following the lemmings to the...
- Aug 13, 2008
-
Back to School 2008 | Party On!: The keepin’ it cheap, where to go and what to do guide to kickin’ it off campus.
You’ve printed your schedule and campus map, packed them next to those brand new books in the trusty old Jansport, and you’re set to launch into higher education. Campus is your kingdom, and ye shall rule! But what about that first big date?...
- Aug 13, 2008
- More »
Latest in The Way It Is
