----- Original Message -----
From: "Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 5:48 AM
Subject: Times have changed, 'green' sells products
> Dan's remarks about how come that ecological sane solutions didn't
> catch on until now (especially if you take into account that they have
> been around for some thirty odd years) has been bogging me for a while
> now.
>
> I think I have one of the more simple answers to this question: It
> wasn't fashionable until now. As far as I got it, the sentiment until
> just a few years ago was that ecologically sound techniques and green
> products were seen as something exclusively for eco nerds.
Sorry. I remember it being very fashionable 25 years ago in Madison WI.
Indeed, there was a big push for wind power. I'll give an almost tragically
ironic story about that.
There was a concert, with a rock (electric) band promoting Green. There
were windmills and the promoters said "and all the energy for this concert
comes from these windmills" which were turning mightily.
That seemed rather odd to me. The band was using a good deal of juice and
it wasn't that windy. I looked closer and the windmills were turning at a
constant rate, no even when the wind died down to near zero.
It turned out that not only was the band plugged in, but so were the
windmills. The generators were being used as motors, and city power was
turning the windmills.
Its not as thought the higher environmental consciousness has produced
nothing over the last 30 years. The per capita energy use is the same in
the US as it was 30 years ago: even with real prices falling through the
floor. Even in a conservative community, like the Woodlands, a family is
only allowed one garbage can full of garbage and trash per week. There can
be as many recycling bins (for paper, plastic, cans) as desired. There is
a 3rd garbage truck that comes through for things like leaves or branches,
which go to a separate "land fill" which naturally biodegrades. IIRC, this
is then recycled back as compost.
So, its not as though nothing has happened. But, except for nuclear, green
power sources are just not practical, so all we get for those is advertising
and high price pilot projects that are "the wave of the future" every few
years.
Dan M.
