The Bottom Line of the Eco Balance Sheet

New York Times ^ | 11/14/2008 | David Pogue

[pjsbro]

It's not easy being green.

The first time that realization hit me was when I first heard someone answer the age-old eco-awareness question, "Paper or plastic?"

I'd always assumed that, naturally, paper shopping bags were better, because they biodegrade and plastic bags don't. But the calculus of green is a lot more complicated than that; what people tend to ignore is all the upstream cost of those end products.

[pjsbro]

NYT's resident techie obsesses over his environmental impact.

[She hits a grand slam tonight]

the same can be said for ethanol

if it takes as much energy to produce ethanol as it produces

seems ethanol then has a double enviro impact

people in Iowa will just love it when Obama shuts down ethanol production

& his voters in the rust belt will love when he shuts down the coal industry also

what fools they are

[an amused spectator]

Quietus is the only answer, Pogue.

[pjsbro]

I'm writing an e-mail to Pogue telling him that after reading his article, I've decided to take action on saving the environment by canceling my subscription to his newspaper.

After all, why waste the ink, fuel, and paper it takes to produce a physical copy of the NYT when we could read it online and therefore help save the planet?

[Right Wing Assault]

Paper or plastic?

I prefer to have my kids weave our own bags from long blades of grass. When they start coming apart, I feed them to the kids. Fairly efficient system.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

After all, why waste the ink, fuel, and paper it takes to produce a physical copy of the NYT when we could read it online and therefore help save the planet?

I switched over to the Times Reader (Yes, I read the NYT) - cost's 1/3 the price of home delivery for the paper edition, and... no paper to deal with!