Comments on: In Sierra Club’s book Hey Mr. Green, the method is the message.

By: Diane MacEachern

Diane MacEachern — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:20:00 +0000

Thanks for the feedback on the recycled paper labeling for BGP. Actually, I had heard from the publisher that “printed on acid-free recycled paper made from 30% post-consumer waste” would be listed in the book, so was as surprised as you to see the more generic “acid-free recycled paper.” Just goes to show how important it is to double check in the “practice what you preach” column (but, perhaps, to also question one’s own assumptions when hunting for examples of blatant inconsistencies that turn out to be oversights). Diane MacEachern, author, Big Green Purse.

By: terrible person

terrible person — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:58:00 +0000

So there's a city south of Oakland called Fremont. It's the terminus of one of the BART lines; it's home to a large Afghan-American community; I worked there back in 1993; and the Oakland A's baseball team is supposed to move there in a few years. (Who wear green and yellow.) Two interesting developments there: they tried to pass a plastic bag ban there, and failed, and they've opened the first "green" parking lot. Will they have to rewrite the song about paving paradise? (BTW, the first article repeats the arguments about paper bags using more energy and creating more emissions than plastic bags; and I noticed something in a month-old issue of the SF Examiner today saying that since paper bags are heavier, they take more energy to transport. Like environmentally friendly plastic jars instead of glass ones!)

By: Allie

Allie — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:55:00 +0000

I’ve always hated the argument about paper bags using more energy. It doesn’t ever seem to add up to me. And if a paper bag comes into my life, I reuse it for wrapping paper or note paper or something I might have used “new” paper for.

I had an issue with Big Green Purse’s advice in a couple of places but all in all thought it was a great reference book for someone who’s getting started. Although, I can’t understand recommending petroleum based detergents just because they are in condensed form so the packaging is less.

By: arduous

arduous — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:26:00 +0000

You know, the publishing of “Cradle to Cradle” is actually interesting because the authors opted for paper made out of plastic that they said could be recycled. To me, this seems ludicrous (personally) because of all the things we discuss about plastic, plus I doubt most recycling centers are going to take a plastic book, but I haven’t yet read the book so I’d be interested to hear what they had to say about that choice.

By: terrible person

terrible person — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:07:00 +0000

Here is an article from the New York Times about biodegradable home products and furniture! It points out, though, that nothing biodegrades in landfills, which most people don't seem to understand (and marketers don't make much effort to point out.) It mentions two interesting-sounding books: “The Green Marketing Manifesto”, by John Grant, and “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things", by William McDonough.

By: organicneedle

organicneedle — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:56:00 +0000

Little things do matter for 2 big reasons, in my opinion. 1) Done in mass, little things add up to big things. If every family stopped using plastic bags alone the reduction of plastic would be huge.
2) Little things lead to more and bigger things. We gave up plastic shopping bags, then the produce bags seemed silly, then we noticed the product packaging, that lead to noticing the amount of garbage we produce, which lead to composting, etc, etc.

By: heather t

heather t — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:14:00 +0000

I agree with all your points on paper v. plastic; I’d use the paper bag, even if it’s made from virgin wood pulp. You can grow another tree. It takes a while, but you can do it. Heck, they even grow themselves if left alone. You can’t make more oil.

And the point about the SUVs – it seems like a bit of a cop-out to me to say “Well, at least I’m not doing THAT,” and not doing everything that you can control and reasonably handle. I can’t control whether my neighbor buys an SUV; I can control whether I buy one or whether I use paper or plastic when necessary.

By: arduous

arduous — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:19:00 +0000

To be fair, it probably wasn’t up to Diane MacEachern how the publisher decided to print her book. I think I remember reading Elizabeth Royte go through similar tribulations when she wrote “Garbage Land.” Unfortunately, the sad truth is that if you’re not Stephen King or if you aren’t publishing under the Sierra Club banner or something, you usually don’t have much choice in how your book is printed. Most “green writers” do not yet have enough clout to demand that their publishers use a certain amount of recycled paper. That they’re getting recycled paper at all is a good thing. So even though it can seem hypocritical, all these writers are really just striving to be perfectly imperfect like all the rest of us.

By: Robj98168

Robj98168 — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:57:00 +0000

I agree with you on the means, the medium, the method being the most important part of a message. Sounds like an interesting book- i would also choose the paper bag!