The Lance J. Technoweb

I believe in soap.  I believe in glue.  And I believe in the chemists and chemical engineers that design them and make them. There are a lot of cleaning products on the market that purport to be "green" and "all natural", but all their claims mean nothing if they can't prove that they work and that they're actually better than the real deal. In short, I'm going to trust a "Tide" or "Cascade" long before I trust a "Ellen's Hypoallergenic Natural Suds".  Because Ellen is certainly trying to sell me a line, and Ellen's is sold by someone that knows nothing about what natural, hypoallergenic, or cleaning means. Sure, some (all?) chemical companies have had major problems. But a no-name brand that almost certainly buy all their ingredients from the same chemical companies has an awful lot to prove.  They'll have to show the science, engineering, and double-blind studies to convince me that they can do what they claim....

Everything we buy gets thrown away.  99.9% of what your grandparents bought is gone, as is 99% of what your parents have purchased.  Most of it went into a landfill, or was burned, or recycled, or whatever. I'd say roughly 99% of what I bought before 2005 is gone. Sure, some of it is still around.  Most of it is gone, including the vast majority of consumer electronics.  All those CRT TVs, radios,  and early generation "flat panel" TVs are gone, with few exceptions. But here I want to predict and/or review how long stuff lasts.   Necessary Widgets  Let's assume for a moment that anything we buy is a necessity.  I know that's not true, but this is more of a practical thought experiment than an attempt to model a so-called "ideal". Obviously, a necessary widget that has a useful life of 10 years is going to produce half as much waste as a necessary widget that lasts 5 years.  Here I'm just going to list some things that I own (or have owne...

I'm sorry to say that driving a Prius or making your own biofuel doesn't make you "green". These things might make you feel good, and they might reduce the world's energy consumption by a few BTUs. But you can be very "green" by spending NO money at all. I'm not anti-Prius, and I'm not against biofuel. In fact, I think they're both cool. And I'm certainly not an environmental wacko. I'm just a pragmatist. In the end, reducing your purchases, investing money wisely (say, in a new fridge or in CFL bulbs), and recouping money on your prior expenditures is, in the end, a very green strategy that can help minimize your negative impact on the environment. And now, the six most important environmental tips you've been waiting for!... Buy less new stuff. The stuff you buy requires substantial energy and materials to produce, package, and ship. The less crap you buy, the better for the environment. Remember that factories require a ...