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102,387,581 Americans Don't Know How to Go Green

nature.org — According to a Harris survey, more than 90% of Americans are recycling, but over 1/3rd of the entire U.S. population hasn't changed their lifestyle because they "did not know what to do" in order to be more green.

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  • alapoet, on 06/19/2008, -4/+27I think many of them would be willing, especially if they know there are lots of helpful things they could do which aren't that difficult.
    • Sentiax, on 06/20/2008, -13/+1I know what to do, that's why I do the exact opposite.
    • linagee, on 06/20/2008, -4/+4you could start by inhaling your farts.
    • bradysdaman, on 06/20/2008, -4/+3Yea good idea...I'm sure they would be willing, too bad Al Gore made his house "Green" and used 10% more energy this past year....so what exactly is the point of going green
      • nick111, on 06/20/2008, -2/+4
        So what - you're refusing to get your ***** together because you read somewhere that Al Gore hasn't got his ***** together.
        • bradysdaman, on 06/24/2008, -0/+1I'm refusing to get my ***** together because man made global warming is a farse
    • ChappyChaps11, on 06/20/2008, -6/+5Global Warming is just another way to scare people. The earth naturally heats up and cools down. Anyone ever wonder how the Earth recovered from re-occuring ice ages? Hmm, that implies for sure that the Earth heated up. I don't remember there being heavy industry back that far.

      Maybe it has something to do with the shifting of the poles, and the movements of the jetstreams toward the poles. Honestly >300 years of heavy industry vs a few million years of natural cooling and warming of the Earth.

      Maybe I'm the crazy one.
      • nick111, on 06/20/2008, -5/+4Well, no, you're not crazy, you're just completely ***** wrong.

        Fortunately you're in the minority. Unfortunately your minority is the worst polluter on the planet - and the rest of us are affected.
        • ChappyChaps11, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1That's funny, how else do you explain the Earth coming out of ice ages? Or the bands on on trees that indicate temperature? And for all you know I drive an electric car.

          Hmm.
        • ChappyChaps11, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Oh and also, Al Gore is a huge polluter, coincidentally he also is one of the biggest advocates. This must explain something.
      • blizzardice, on 06/20/2008, -2/+3The most holy Gore says you are wrong. Your punishment will be to to be set ablaze over Styrofoam and plastic containers.
    • blizzardice, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2I'd rather spray an aeorsoll can.
    • mike17032, on 06/20/2008, -4/+2More like most people just dont give a *****.

      I dont. And most recycling is ***** that wastes more energy than it saves.
      • EmperorAnton, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Well Mike, start caring about something other than yourself. If you don't recycle then start reducing...drive less, consume less, buy in larger quantities and save on packaging etc.
        • subliminalurge, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2Who the ***** are you to tell him how to live his life?
        • Ravatar, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1subliminalurge: Who the ***** are you to ask such a question?
  • thegreengunner, on 06/19/2008, -0/+10also, i think for many people who are indifferent, you have to put the alternatives practically in their hands for them to take action.
    • subliminalurge, on 06/20/2008, -2/+1***** practicality. I have a green recycling bin from the city that I could use if I had the slightest inclination. It's being used as a storage box in my basement.

      You could try paying me.
  • Michiko280, on 06/19/2008, -1/+33I'm actually shocked to hear a statistic like 90% of americans are recycling. Maybe have recycled at some point in their life... but regularly? I don't believe it. I hope i'm wrong!
    • bigbenorr, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2maybe people are lying to the survey person, I can't imagine why a person would care what some stranger thinks about them but what do I know?
    • legoalert33, on 06/20/2008, -0/+6If you don't care to recycle, why answer a survey?
    • indiancompanion, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3in my county, you get a tax deduction for recycling, therefore everyone in my neighborhood puts out those bins every wenesday. I guess it is a good incentive to do it, as if saving the earth isn't good enough
    • Contajeerus, on 06/20/2008, -4/+2The elephant in the room is OVERPOPULATION! Two-thirds of you should not exist.
      GrowthBusters.org says the earth can only sustain 1.5 to 2 billion people. We are now at 6 to 6.5 billion people.

      “One child born in the United States adds more to consumption and pollution over his or her lifetime than do thirty to fifty children in developing countries.”
      Source: Too Much For Our Own Good, The
      Consumeritis Epidemic and Good Movies by
      Harrison Sheppard and Alex Aris © 2006.

      Those in denial of these statistics are merely interested in winning the proverbial high school popularity contest.
      • IllBeBack, on 06/20/2008, -2/+3So please kill yourself now to begin solving the overpopulation problem.
        • Contajeerus, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1I've stood in front of numerous large groups including a broadcast news town hall meeting and have told them that 2/3 of them should not exist.

          First, someone quickly responds with the same answer you've given. My response is that it's important to understand the nature of evolution. I agree with Ray Kurzweil on this point. Unless you're directly on indirectly working on a cutting edge technology that will manage the closed system we live in or offer an exist strategy like Stephen Hawkings is now proposing then you are useless or evolutionarily regressive.

          Second I always have a few people come to me afterwards saying how much they loved my comment. So I think it's important that I continue until a consensus is built.
          The majority of people are living in complete ignorance of the big picture. Just like the ant-smoking campaign succeeded I think that population can be managed in a free society. When people become educated they will make more sensible choices.
      • masamunecyrus, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3The earth can only sustain 1.5 to 2 billion people? If the US didn't waste food, it could feed the entire world -- the current world. And that's just one country. So explain to me how the world can only sustain 30% of its current population?

        More importantly, however... How does this discussion have anything to do with going green?
        • Contajeerus, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1I agree that over-consumption is also a big problem. But I have come to think that having kids is the biggest act of over-consumption.

          Utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer in his September 1999 New York Times essay; The Singer Solution to World Poverty calculates, if we are getting and spending more than 30k per household we are basically guilty of murder.
      • jamesmon01, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Im with Illbeback. Here's a mirror, check it out.
    • masamunecyrus, on 06/20/2008, -0/+490% of Americans aren't even capable of recycling -- the recycle truck doesn't come to every neighborhood. Also, 90% of Americans aren't willing to pay to have the recycling truck come, especially when the trash man is cheaper.

      That said, American trash companies such as Waste Management are increasingly putting money in the development of trash sorting machines, so when your trash shows up at the dump, it's automatically sorted by machines and then recycled from there, instead of the everyday person having to throw things away in properly marked bins.
  • jmkiii, on 06/19/2008, -4/+11Your numbers don't quite add up.
    • burkinaboy, on 06/19/2008, -2/+4Population of the United States: 301,139,947 (July 2007 est. in the CIA World Factbook)
      x 0.34 (to represent the 34% of those surveyed who said they hadn’t changed their lifestyle because they “did not know what to do.”)
      = 102,387,581 Americans.
      • jmkiii, on 06/19/2008, -4/+5"102,387,581 Americans Don't Know How to Go Green"
        "90% of Americans are recycling"
        • septicmadman, on 06/20/2008, -2/+4The argument is that recycling isn't necessarily under the same categorization as "going green." It isn't a double implication.
      • DonKarnage25, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2Title is still inaccurate.
    • humperdeath, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3I want to know how they counted this so precisely. 102,387,581.
      • feliks2, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3Anything beyond the precision of 102,000,000 is *****.
      • subliminalurge, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2It's now 102,387,580. The guy across the street from me changed his mind.
    • feoren, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1They didn't, it's misinformation to specify the number like that. It implies that they're virtually certain that between 102,387,580 and 102,387,590 Americans don't know how to go green, when they're actually just full of *****. Assuming 2,605 poll respondents exactly represent 300 million is completely asinine. One pollster would represent 115,000 people, so that's the lowest possible resolution they could achieve. There's no way their polling method was unbiased either. The best possible precision they could get would be 102,400,000, and even that is stretching it more than Rosie O'Donnel in tights.
  • davidconnell, on 06/19/2008, -1/+2449 percent are trying to buy locally-produced food and/or goods.
    47 percent are buying green household products
    39 percent are bringing their own reusable bags to stores instead of using paper or plastic

    These are all higher than I would expect. Maybe there's hope?
    • slvrbullet87, on 06/20/2008, -0/+10I think those statistics are *****.

      Go to a grocery store, are almost half of the people using reusable bags... not where i live
      • dood, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1I dunno. Where I typically shop for groceries, it seems to be about 50/50. But at Safeway or Fred Meyer (Kroger department store), it's closer to 0-5%.
        • feliks2, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Well, if you shop at Whole Foods or the like, yeah. But otherwise, total bs.
      • bphicke, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1I see a lot of people here in Austin that bring in reusable bags.
        Also, green or not, I have always been a fan of local produce.
      • subliminalurge, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1In the couple years the reusable bags have been available around here, Ive seen exactly ONE person using them.
    • Kourgin, on 06/20/2008, -1/+5most def complete bs.
      probably around 1/50 people (2%) use reusable bags.
      • masamunecyrus, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2I live in Indiana, and I'd like to note that I've never seen any one bring a reusable bag to a grocery store in my entire life. Maybe this survey was performed somewhere in California?
        • Ravatar, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2Tons of this in NY too. Mainly because home isn't necessarily a car ride way and the extra durability and higher capacity of the reusable bags helps with that.
    • Zaneris, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2Unless things have changed from when I used to work in a grocery store, those numbers are WAY off.

      What does "trying" mean? 47% THINK they've bought green items perhaps? And that last one couldn't be any more of a lie...
    • Rikkochet, on 06/20/2008, -0/+4People think driving to the Walmart down the street is buying "local" - don't put too much stock into survey responses.
      The data is only as accurate as the respondent, and there are a lot of morons answering different questions from the ones they're asked.
  • CalgaryFreedom, on 06/19/2008, -0/+5The information available (online and off) for going green grows by the minute, so hopefully this will change soon.
    • FreeTalkLIve, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1We need an alien invasion.

      Aliens are green for a reason.
      • Nereus90, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3Am I the only one who hates the term "going green?" It just sounds ridiculously stupid when I hear people say they went green (did they get sick?). Actually, green should stop being used for anything involving environmentalism except colors.
    • mike17032, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2To bad all the green ***** tends to suck balls.

      Compact hybrid cars? Give me a ***** break, my Huffy is faster. And more spacious. I have driven a Prius, and the thing is just dog slow and to damn small. Its also ugly as ***** sin.

      The "green" light bulbs are all 3x as expensive and put off ***** light.

      Keep the AC at 85 degrees? ***** off smelly sweaty hippie.

      Low flow shower heads? Sorry, I like the feel of a real shower. You can all take turns pissing on each other (it has more flow than a low flow shower head anyway) to save water if you want, but water isnt going anywhere.

      The list goes on, but for the most part the word "green" is just another way of saying "sucky and more expensive".
  • wonderchemist, on 06/19/2008, -6/+25The things 102,387,581 Americans don't know could fill a vast collection of books.
    • Malevolant, on 06/20/2008, -3/+4The small population of digg knows even less than the 102,387, 581 from above, yet seem to think they know more than anyone. Ironic isn't it?
    • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -1/+4I'd say that 102,387, 581 Americans don't know how to use a damn stop light let alone how to be green, hell just look at the average Digg user and their comments and you'll see people that while smart don't know how to use common sense and reason. Still I hold some hope that people will lift of the blinders and get a clue.
    • blizzardice, on 06/20/2008, -6/+1Your mom fills a vast collection of books.
  • northwestchimp, on 06/19/2008, -0/+135 percent are driving less by combining errands, walking more, etc.

    I'm assuming this poll was taken before $4 gas.
    • Rikkochet, on 06/20/2008, -0/+11Combining errands? The survey could have been done any time since the dark ages once time became precious. Who honestly ***** around and does an errand, then drives back home before going out to do another one?
    • pensel, on 06/20/2008, -0/+0I do :|
  • gavinhudson, on 06/20/2008, -0/+7On the bright side, that means that 2/3 do.
    • bipolarruledout, on 06/20/2008, -0/+0You seem to have misunderestimated.
  • salomejones, on 06/20/2008, -3/+11In other news, the other two thirds of America actually believe the marketing hype from environmentally unfriendly megaconglomerates as to what "Green" actually means.
  • ryanhayn, on 06/20/2008, -8/+3Going green won't make much of a difference. Watch and learn: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
    • Tralobyte, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1I stopped watching when she said she opened a computer and found out people chuck out and buy a new computer every year or two to upgrade one small part in a corner. (She made it sounds like a minor, easily upgradeable, part, but I'm guessing she meant the cpu).

      1. People (at least the people I know) are keeping computers much longer than two years.

      2. People also shop for a bigger hard drive, more ram, a better graphics card, better portability, tablet functionality, or whatever else fits their needs.
      • ryanhayn, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Her point was that people buy and throw away and buy and throw away etc. Going green won't make a difference because the buy/throw away cycle is too deeply embedded into our way of life.
  • vacax, on 06/20/2008, -11/+23Am I the only one who doesn't want to read all these stupid articles about going green. Ugh. Quick, Angelina Jolie is using green tampons, amazing!
    • smoothmann, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2and curdled with her blood...........the color's.................OUT OF THIS WORLD
  • smoothmann, on 06/20/2008, -14/+18Paint me the opposite of green.......cuz I dont give a *****
    • greenlight2001, on 06/20/2008, -7/+11So, you want to be painted *****?
      • mike17032, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3Who gives a ***** what eco-nazis think? Those ***** bags are to busy sniffing their own farts to matter anyway.
  • HotDogBun, on 06/20/2008, -17/+17I am making absolutely no effort to go green.

    I love plastic shopping bags.
    I drive to places that are 4 blocks away.
    I have 2 computers and 2 televisions running 24 hours a day, 2 lighted and filtered aquariums, plus an incandescent light we leave on for the cat. Sometimes we run the dishwasher with barely enough stuff in it for 2 people to eat dinner.
    Soda cans go directly into the garbage.
    We do oil changes in the driveway, and dump the old oil into the storm drain.
    I flush 2 or 3 times per bowel movement.
    • Jeffler, on 06/20/2008, -2/+12YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG
    • smoothmann, on 06/20/2008, -7/+6HAHA ***** score dude. I love it. ***** ALL THIS GREEN *****. This planet could rot from the inside out and I wouldnt give a *****.
    • Rikkochet, on 06/20/2008, -0/+5You know what this thread needs?
      Emo poetry. We're so close.
      • feliks2, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1My girlfriend left me
        blah blah blah
        I shal go cut my wrists blah blah
        im the saddest soul there is
        if i could trade places with the bum on the corner
        sob sob sob
        i totally would cause he has it better than me
        blah blah blah
    • luvs2spooge, on 06/20/2008, -3/+1Successful troll is successful.
    • Rethcir, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1I'm with ya buddy
  • redslash, on 06/20/2008, -2/+3Please let me pose a serious question, guys: whose fault is this? Energy companies? The government? The individuals? The media?
    • dagnome1984, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3The people who buy *****.
    • tinygibbles, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1peak oil
    • bipolarruledout, on 06/20/2008, -0/+0On one hand "lifestyle" marketing should be banned. On the otherhand we have rich history of business bilking people out of their money and a pretty good economy as a result... some call this capitalism. One thing is for certain, many need to reevaluate their priorities but they just don't know it yet.
  • 15thPD, on 06/20/2008, -10/+17In other news, 99.9% of Americans don't give a *****.
    • 1033, on 06/20/2008, -4/+5plus me
    • smoothmann, on 06/20/2008, -4/+6OOH...right here.........I wanna be in that statistic category.
    • HAMM3R, on 06/20/2008, -2/+5Thanks, I was starting to feel left out with all these statistics.
    • subliminalurge, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2You can count me in that category.

  • gfxlonghorn, on 06/20/2008, -1/+3There is no recycling pick up what-so-ever, so it makes it a pain in the ass to recycle here. However, back at school, there are recycling cans everywhere, so I do recycle when I can. Not every state( especially Texas) has made it an issue to go green.
    • TheMachine1, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1My town in Texas does but since I walk a lot I can observe that curve side recycle is extremely low here less than 1 percent.
    • bphicke, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1What do other states besides California do that Texas doesn't?
  • kanvas, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1http://www.wireandtwine.com/green/50/
  • sugarazor, on 06/20/2008, -7/+41Ugh, I hate buzzwords. Americans don't know how to "go green" - yeah, because that doesn't mean anything, it's just a trendy marketing spin on the old "recycle, reduce, reuse." And people who say ***** like "yeah, I'm totally living green" are smug assholes, the exact same people from the hybrid car episode of South Park.

    Look, if you want to carpool to save money, that's great, but it's not going to solve the problem of $4 gas. A couple reusable grocery bags aren't going to stop the icecaps from melting - the problems we face with climate change is not going to be something that individuals can make a significant difference with. I can guarantee whatever difference you make by not using a plastic bag for a year is insignificant compared to the amount of pollution produced in a week from just about any factory.
    • phil128, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2thank you
    • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -4/+5Yes your right, but let's add in each and every person doing this and then what happens? It starts to collectively add up. It's the same reason why sales tax is like 7.5 cents on the dollar not much right? that couldn't possibly do much for your local government let alone pay for anything right? and yet my city has a budget of $300 million and a large portion of that is generated by those small cents in sales tax. Ever hear of compound interest? It's the same theory. Do something is always going to be better than sitting on your ass doing nothing then making wise cracks. I do agree though using the term green doesn't change anything hell you could use the term green and probably will but given your attitude I would expect anything productive to come from your or you like minded brethren. Still I will hold out hope that one day you'll wake up and see...
      • sugarazor, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2I Dugg you up for disagreeing and presenting a reasonable argument, but you seem to have ignored my second paragraph. I'm all for people trying to reduce consumption of resources, I even try to do as much as I can. I don't drive unless I have to, I recycle aluminum, I use the reusable grocery bags and I try to buy local produce as much as possible. But what I'm saying is even if everyone does these things, it's still not going to solve the problem.

        I hate to say it, but saving the environment is really a task for world governments. I don't like the government getting involved in much, but this really just seems like one of those things that is too big for minor changes from average people.

        The thing about the Green Movement that bugs me is it does remind me of the recycling craze of the 90s... people doing things that don't really make a huge difference, but they do it because it makes them feel good. Hybrid cars are great, trying to force big farms to end animal cruelty and filling cattle with growth hormone is awesome - I support these causes. I just don't support trendy buzzwords and marketing, which is exactly what this movement is. We need real environmental protection laws worldwide.
      • subliminalurge, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1"but let's add in each and every person doing this and then what happens?"

        That must be an amazing little fantasy world you live in, huh?
    • MiddleOfNowhere, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2You're right: "going green" = "recycle, reduce, reuse".
      And it could be as simple as that, especially if you put emphasis on "reduce".
      But then you go on saying: "A couple reusable grocery bags aren't going to stop the icecaps from melting"
      No. But going green is not only about reducing your carbon footprint. There are a lot of other aspects, like e.g. not treating the whole planet like a ***** garbage dump, with tons of plastics re-entering our food chain (you might want to read that story, dugg a week ago).
      1 plastic bag = no big deal.
      (300 million Americans + 500 million EU citizens) * 365 plastic bags a year = big difference.
      And this is why your logic about "pollution produced in a week from just about any factory" doesn't hold up.
      The factory produces stuff people buy. If people don't buy tons of *****, there's less production, less waste, less energy consumption, less destruction and a smaller carbon footprint. It's all related, so the plastic bag makes a difference.
      • bipolarruledout, on 06/20/2008, -0/+0Lasting change only starts by taking small steps rather than attempting to "shock" the system. I don't preach. My carbon footprint may be slightly lower than others but it's still pretty damn high.
  • ousthouse, on 06/20/2008, -6/+10Save the trees, use plastic!
  • jrm71588, on 06/20/2008, -6/+1I simply choose not to. I like using my truck, plastic bags, and that burning oil well in my back yard...
  • AMACTASTIC, on 06/20/2008, -4/+3I don't remember taking that survey, but I'm all for it representing the entire population?
  • buddypriefert, on 06/20/2008, -9/+10Yawwwnnnn. Next America bashing article please.
    • fakekevinrose, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2Well our next one is "%97 of americans don't know the Yangtze River dolphin is extinct"

      Stay tuned!
    • bipolarruledout, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1You know if you love this country then why stop at "enough?" We may not always be better than others but we have the nearly unlimited capacity to be. The patriot doesn't believe in too much freedom or too much greatness.
      • buddypriefert, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1I'm not sure that my position was understood correctly. Let me clarify - I'm tired of all the America bashing, whining articles.
  • TheMachine1, on 06/20/2008, -4/+8Its simple according to Al Gore and other rich Greens. Use all the energy and resources you want buy an indulgence from the Church of Green(CO2 credits) and you can still goto all the limousine liberal parties and hold your smug head up.

    Practical advice if you care is to build a house with the absolute smallest square footage per person you can stand and use public transportation.
    • nick111, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1Well I've seen that movie, and that's not actually what he says.

      If you can't make a point without lying, why are you trying to make the point?
      • TheMachine1, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3No I'm basing my observation on Gore using 12 times the energy of the average person in his area. The excuse is its his home office. Typical office use per person use of electric power is less than typical household use. One your not open but perhaps 1/3 of the hours in a year.

        The guy undoubtedly has a heated indoor swimming pool in a room thats has its ambient temperature being kept cooling than the water.
    • bipolarruledout, on 06/20/2008, -1/+0Why can't we have it both ways? It's that kind of thinking that got us into this mess. "Going green" may mean giving up some of your lifestyle in the short term but it doesn't have to always be this way. Technology has done great things and innovation will continue but people have recognise and accept that we have issues to deal with before we can have real change. How many carbon credits have you purchased? It admit that they are not perfect but at least it represents some innovative and out of the box thinking which we could all use more of.
      • subliminalurge, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Guess what douchebag. I'm not even slightly interested in changing my lifestyle one little bit, even in the short term. An by "short term", I mean not even for one ***** week.

        It's because of all the enviro-whacko idiots like the ones posting on this page that I get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I drive my big SUV two blocks to the convenience store, and throw plastic wrappers out the window on the way.

        For every little bit of "difference" that you idiots work so hard to make, there are people like me that are getting so tired of hearing your ***** that we go out of our way to make sure we negate everything you do twofold.
  • IG64, on 06/20/2008, -6/+3Americans will be forced to go green after the incandescent light ban comes into effect.

    Great thinking there, congress.
  • destron, on 06/20/2008, -5/+4I know HOW to "go green", I just think some people go wayyyy to far - flourescent lightbulbs (or whatever they are), hybrid cars, ethanol --- don't get me wrong, I think we should do some things differently (i.e. recycle more and conserve more) but I don't agree with a lot of the things the "greenies" are pushing, for different reasons.
    • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1Going green is not that hard and really it's not about the hype that's out there right now, it's really simple. Buy more locally it will help your local economy and keep your money in the area, who knows it might even make it's way back into your pockets a little.
      Recycle, hey it's trash anyways but sending it along the right path uses less energy and makes the process quicker, now if only we could keep these resources more local. Travel less, if you travel a lot try to find more economical ways to do it, carpool use mass transit or better yet use a bike, it's better for you. And yes use fluorescent bulbs. I've do many of these things and manage to work from home to cut down on fuel, my pg&e is $29 a month and it hasn't impacted my life at all, all it's done is get me into better shape, and saved me money but hey if that's not your thing than fine by me...
  • sfacets, on 06/20/2008, -4/+6***** 90%?
  • Nlewis4, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2good thing I live in a town that sorts and recycles without me having to do a damn thing
  • XternalHD, on 06/20/2008, -2/+5I'm # 102,382,344....
  • InnerBlueAbyss, on 06/20/2008, -8/+23The Enviroment

    I share George's thoughts on this too

    "George Carlin's "The Planet Is Fine"

    We're so self-important. So self-important. Everybody's going to save something now. "Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails." And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. What? Are these f***ing people kidding me? Save the planet, we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven't learned how to care for one another, we're gonna save the f***ing planet?

    I'm getting tired of that s***. Tired of that s***. I'm tired of f***ing Earth Day, I'm tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren't enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don't give a s*** about the planet. They don't care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don't. Not in the abstract they don't. You know what they're interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They're worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn't impress me.

    Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are f***ed. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that's just a-floatin' around the sun?

    The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet...the planet...the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE!

    We're going away. Pack your s***, folks. We're going away. And we won't leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet'll be here and we'll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.

    You wanna know how the planet's doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash, how the planet's doing. You wanna know if the planet's all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilowaia, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.

    The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does. It's a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, "Why are we here?" Plastic...a******.

    So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that's begun. Don't you think that's already started? I think, to be fair, the planet sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And the planet can defend itself in an organized, collective way, the way a beehive or an ant colony can. A collective defense mechanism. The planet will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet? How would you defend yourself against this troublesome, pesky species? Let's see... Viruses. Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh...viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps, this first virus could be one that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction.

    Well, that's a poetic note. And it's a start. And I can dream, can't I? See I don't worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we're part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron...whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn't punish, it doesn't reward, it doesn't judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while."
    • trollhunter, on 06/20/2008, -6/+1yawn
    • Malevolant, on 06/20/2008, -1/+3That was beyond beautiful!
    • sparrowkc, on 06/20/2008, -1/+3I dugg your comment. Your comment.
    • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -8/+2Wow you can quote George Carlin, good for you. Hey here's a quote you might be interested in:

      *****: a stupid, incompetent, or detestable person
      Stupid: Slow to learn or understand; obtuse, Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes,Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless
      Incompetent: Devoid of those qualities requisite for effective conduct or action.

      See I can be funny too, but at then end of the day your still proving my point...
      • vickers500, on 06/20/2008, -3/+3Stupid ***** = You
        • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Ahhh I see your using the kindergarden argument of I'm rubber your glue... It's to bad you lack the intelligence to both read my comment, then take the definition and apply it to this situation and innerblueabyss's comment. Clearly if you had you'd see that my reply was both spot on and correct. That you choose to react with a reflex reply without merit of thought only shows your to be without obtuse and slow to understand. I'll trust that even you might figure out what that makes you. Oh and I'll take it as a badge of honor to be called a stupid ***** as a reaction from someone when defending a larger issue like global warming, and the environment. If it even causes one person to stop and use that intelligence that makes us uniquely human than it's served it's purpose. Sadly I doubt it will do that for you
        • vickers500, on 06/21/2008, -0/+1It's not that I don't agree with you, its that you come off as incredibly smug, yet you are calling him a stupid *****. Hypocritical.
  • trshtehdsh, on 06/20/2008, -1/+4and the rest plain ol' just don't give a *****.
  • Rikkochet, on 06/20/2008, -2/+3"Yet if every American home switched out just one incandescent light bulb for a compact fluorescent one, the United States would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for an entire year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy."

    Bonehead idea here: impose a [import/manufacturer-level] tax on incandescent light bulbs and use the revenues to subsidize CFLs. Small economic pressure will make CFL more attractive.

    Or is that what commies do? I can't keep track anymore.
    • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Communist's in the true meaning of the word would be "a socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of the means of production.[1] It is usually considered to be a branch of socialism, a broad group of social and political ideologies, which draws on the various political and intellectual movements with origins in the work of theorists of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution[2], although socialist historians say they are older. Communism attempts to offer an alternative to the problems believed to be inherent with capitalist economies and the legacy of imperialism and nationalism. Communism states that the only way to solve these problems would be for the working class, or proletariat, to replace the wealthy bourgeoisie, which is currently the ruling class, in order to establish a peaceful, free society, without classes, or government" of course this has proven not to work as the people in charge will invariably become corrupt as it has been noted that absolute power corrupts absolutely. But the ideology of a working class working together to overcome common problems in place of bigger government is not something new either in fact it's what drove our forefather to secede from England and create the United States so while you jeer at these noble notions and make your snide remarks I'll take comfort in the knowledge that some people living today still see those traits that so many have dies to protect and pass along and have chosen to take a better path for others.
  • sonicularulus, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2i guess they ain't irish :)
  • wilhoitm, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2Sesame Street - Kermit The Frog - Singing "Its Not Easy Being Green"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpiIWMWWVco
  • wiachy, on 06/20/2008, -5/+5dont really want to know. this whole "green" fad is ridiculous.
  • FreeTalkLIve, on 06/20/2008, -7/+2We will learn, or else. We are being forced to go green. When energy prices go ballistic, it won't be pretty.

    90% of the population don't realize they are slaves.

    Get used to walking, and riding mopeds.

    /You ain't seen nothin yet.

    /GREEN-RAPED!

  • urbandistrict, on 06/20/2008, -4/+7Synopsis: 34% of Americans make up BS excuses for their apathy.

    By now, every educated adult (and informed child) should be able to think critically enough to figure out a way to be less wasteful. These are not the dark ages...
    • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1I'd say that of those 34% of americans about 98% of those people are on Digg.
    • bipolarruledout, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1To many people wish is WAS the dark ages and are fighting to bring them back.
  • AlphaNeonic, on 06/20/2008, -3/+8Okay, how many people did they ACTUALLY survey? 2,605.
    People in the U.S. right now? 304,386,593.
    Percentage of U.S. surveyed? Less than 1%.
    Survey? *****.
    • Malevolant, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1We have a winner!
    • kevman459, on 06/20/2008, -2/+2Apparently you've never taken a statistics class. There's an entire field of mathematics that help you determine how many people you need to survey in order to accurately represent the entire population.
      • covertbadger, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2People make this mistake every time a survey comes up. "But they didn't ask MEEEEEEEE!!1!eleven!!" The lack of basic math knowledge in most people today is staggering.
  • VodkanLemons, on 06/20/2008, -1/+3Half of the world's population is below average
    • digdug2020, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2You fail at statistics: F . Half the world's population is below the median. Which in some cases might be the average, sometimes not. It depends on the distribution. You should also specify what they are below the average in. Being green? Being intelligent? Smartass Proclivity?
  • Barackalypse, on 06/20/2008, -1/+11I have to change my lifestyle? Because you said so? Land of the free hippie, I'm not changing to suit your whims, I've got the AC cranked to 72 degrees, the charcoal grill all fired up cooking some tasty animal for dinner, and I'm enjoying watching 3:10 to Yuma on an HDTV made in Japan and shipped halfway around the world.
    • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -4/+1Hey there I changed my lifestyle a bit and you know what it cost me? I work from home more now so I can sleep in now. I pay $29 a month for energy and I use 2 50 in. plasma's and a multi screen display unit for computing. I've lost 18 pounds from riding my mountain bike instead of using the car and we shop locally passing our money onto the local economy to help out our neighbors in our area. I too use a.c. but at night I turn it off and let the cool air run thru the house then close the place up in the morning to lock in the cool air for the day. I too eat animals, love em, after all we are carnivores are we not? And while I enjoyed 3:10 to yuma I enjoyed it more at the theater spending a little bit of that money I've been saving going "green" or whatever other buzz word for acting responsible you might want to use with derision. But hey don't change on my account, I'm not going to ask you to do anything different, you wouldn't listen to me and my reason any more than I would really listen to you and your excuses or chest thumping, rather I'll just show you what is possible and hope that one day you'll do a little research and try it out on your own...
  • nsimmering, on 06/20/2008, -5/+7I'm going to bed now and leaving a light on all night just to piss off the people that buy into this green crap. Just remember, I can offset 10 of you greenies in my sleep, so stop trying to cram it down our throats.
    • braeden0613, on 06/20/2008, -2/+5nice...im gonna go drive around in circles burning rubber to offset the greenies you didnt get
      • covertbadger, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2Ha ha. For every bottle you recycle I'm going to burn a tyre.
        • subliminalurge, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2And for every reusable grocery bag they use, I'm going to turn my hot tub up one more degree.
  • candyman420, on 06/20/2008, -1/+9the amount of this "green" ***** I see on this site is staggering, enough already.
    I'll say it again.. not a goddamn thing you or I do will matter as long as China keeps burning 130 million tons of coal per year. I don't know how much India burns, but it's also an insane amount.

    Changing out your light bulbs, driving your car less, all this is ***** to make yourself feel better, it doesn't mean anything. You want to be an environmentalist? Don't buy anything.. logistics uses fuel. Go live in a cabin in the woods, farm all of your food, make your own clothes.

    If in 20 years, there is some new form of "green" energy that actually makes sense, and MILLIONS of people are using it, then of course I'll adopt it. In the meantime this is all hysteria nonsense. Scale matters.. get a clue people.
    • anubis2night, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2Yes scale does matter and yet you can't see that by using that scale for good we can make a change? What if we made a huge move to be more practical, we could start producing goods in US rather than import that would drive our economy and where would we get the resources? Why we could use the very same ones we send overseas and then offset that by using renewable resources like hemp, bamboo and other fast growing products. What would China do then? I'd say they would either have to sustain their own economy or join in then effort to use cleaner energies. Think about it this way, if we do nothing China will still put more pollution out and we will do nothing to combat it so we will only increase it as well, but even if we just offset the rise from china and other places we would still be in a better place than without doing anything. You people are like the ones who sit resigned to die on a sinking ship rather than look in the galley or other places for ways to save yourselves. That's just pathetic, because even rats and mice know how to save their own skin...
      • candyman420, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1You're an idealist, I'm a realist. So, let's say in your hypothetical scenario the US now produces most of its own goods. We'll just burn the extra coal over here then.. it changes nothing. What about India? This is about growing, emerging economies and not necessarily about how many factories they have.

        Just stop with the alarmist nonsense already. There is no "crisis," the world isn't going to explode in 20 years because of global warming (which I'm not convinced humans are fully responsible for). And in 20 years, there may be new, cleaner power technology that is more practical.. and by practical, I mean more efficient than coal/gas and at a reasonable cost.. that's what it will take to adopt on a large scale.. and only on a large scale will the "green" crap actually mean something.
  • KaJuN4, on 06/20/2008, -0/+6As the great Farnsworth put it: "It's none of our concern!"
  • dood, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Yeah, I guess this place is probably closer to Whole Foods than Safeway. It feels way less "snooty" though.

    I wonder why the difference in bag usage between expensive and cheap grocery stores. It's not as though the reusable bags are expensive. Fred Meyer's are a dollar each, they have a flat base, and they're huge.
    • dood, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Wow, no idea how this comment got here. It was in response to something else where I clicked "Thread" to post a Reply.
  • FreeTalkLIve, on 06/20/2008, -3/+3I smoke green bud.

    /just doing my part...
  • zosoIV, on 06/20/2008, -9/+10This means 102,387,581 Americans aren't caught up in *****.
  • ptheroux, on 06/20/2008, -7/+1With gas at $4+ they'll learn how to conserve gas pretty quickly.
  • digg10001, on 06/20/2008, -5/+0Everyone will go green, if only they know how. Here's a great guide for easy, practical ways to learn how:

    http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides.html?topic=/ ...
  • tdawson2012, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3The other 200,000,000 think they do, and still don't.
  • Codeblew, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2What I find funny about the whole "Green" movement is that most of the people that preach it to the extreme have 2 to 3 kids. Now lets find out how "Green" they are after a few generations.

    Current - 2 decendants have 2 kids of their own
    25 years - 4 decendants have 2 of their own
    50 years - 8 decendants have 2 of their own
    75 years -16 decendants have 2 of their own
    100 years - 32 decendants have 2 of their own

    So not having kids means if I use an average amount of energy, then I use 1/64 as much as the breeder if you look forward 100 years. Hell, I can drive a Hummer and not even feel guilty.

    The breeders are the biggest problem facing the planet. We need to stop the population growth. It is going to stop one way or another. Either through people not feeling like they need to reproduce or through massive famine.

    Edit: Adoption is the "Green" thing to do. You get to have kids without contributing to over-population.
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