Wouldn’t it be easy if a products carbon footprint started
at your threshold? Ah, here it is my new green product! I am so sustainable. It
might not be that easy…………
I have
about 20 FLC incandescent bulbs in my house. They range from 60 to 100 watt.
They all work. The word on the street is to replace them with compact
fluorescent bulbs and be as green as the greenest on my block. Oh, wait! To be
green I am going to throw away 20 perfectly usable bulbs? I feel a heart
palpitation. Well, OK, maybe I don’t see the big picture.
Being
conscious of green building practices I always want to know the source of products
I buy. So I went online and did a Google search for “manufacturers CFL bulbs”.
Global Sources.com popped right up. This should give a good representation.
Ummmmmmm, 197 manufacturers from mainland China and 16 from Hong Kong. I check
the pull down menu, no other countries are found. Wait a minute, let’s check
another site. No luck, I only found a bunch of distributors in the US.
OK, I’m
going to be green so I throw away 20 working light bulbs and have replacements
shipped from China. Will they be delivered in a Prius? Nah, the water it too
deep. So a steam ship or an airplane is going to bring them to the US and they
will be trucked to my local outlet. Haven’t I heard about China using a lot of
dirty fossil fuel in their manufacturing plants?
I need to
think about this.
I did
notice a slight draft from the edge of the window by my desk. I’m going to get
an old newspaper and fold it over enough to fill that crack. Then I am going to
sit here just a little longer and think about how I can reduce my carbon
footprint.
Bernie
No comments:
Post a Comment