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The Downside of Going Green
You’ve probably heard people talk about going green as of late. It has become quite the fashionable phrase to throw out during newscasts, parties, and presidential campaign speeches. If you want to appear progressive, trendy, or world-wise, you talk a lot about going green. Companies who want to shed the typical capitalistic, earth-pillaging corporate image are jumping on the green bandwagon.
For the uninitiated, ‘going green’ refers to reducing or eliminating your use of non-eco-friendly materials. That means petroleum-based products, especially plastics and harmful chemicals, are out. Recycled or organic products are in. Fueled by rising fears of global warming, going green represents an important shift in thinking toward being more responsible in the way we use our resources.
Going green, however, also means that things will change. Some of the comforts we are used to may fall by the wayside. Even at the workplace, employees will be feeling a dramatic difference. If your company is going green, here are some of the disadvantages to look forward to (and just remember: it’s worth it!):
1. Recycled toilet paper – One word: ouch! Recycled paper will never be as refined and soft as regular paper. Unfortunately, this goes for toilet paper, too. Employees at green companies are in for a rough ride when they visit the restroom.
2. Organic cafeteria – For those who like their steaks thick, juicy, and as enhanced as possible, the company cafeteria is about to become a bit less appealing. Use of growth hormones and other food-enhancing chemicals is becoming an endangered practice, viewed as bad for people and bad for the environment. Start bringing your lunch or get used to tofu.
3. Rain-water cooler – The blue bottle/central gathering place may soon be replaced by a faucet from a tank that collects rainwater. The rainwater is filtered, of course, but that familiar sterilized taste will likely be gone. The thought of drinking rainwater may be unsettling to some, especially if you live in an area known for air pollution. Just gulp down the bugs and the taste of exhaust with a smile, knowing you are doing your part to save the planet.
4. Bamboo office chairs – Most of today’s well-supported, well-cushioned office chairs are composed of plastics and other synthetic materials. Look for companies to ditch those for more plant-based materials. Bamboo is popular but not very friendly to backsides. You might have grounds to get your boss to provide an on-site chiropractor.
5. Biodegradable food containers – Plastics tend to overstay their welcome in the environment, hanging around for several millennia. To remedy this, companies are providing food containers made from sugar cane waste in their cafeterias and break rooms. The problem: these containers break down (within 90 days) considerably faster than their plastic counterparts. The result: don’t be surprised if your leftovers from the company Christmas party suddenly collapse into a pile of mush.
Which green changes are you dreading? Which ones are you looking forward to? Tell us about it below…
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8 Comments
Well i’m not too sure what to say to this person that found all this info. First i am going to mention the rain water drinking. Do you honestly think it will not be filtered? Take a look at what your drinking already, do you honestly think that water has not gone to a water treatment plant and then sent back to your faucet? I think you have honestly out done your self. Your arguments are hearsay, you have offered up no studies by a reputable source. Just your opinion which means little to nothing in the academic community.
I advise any one reading this rubbish to find your information elsewhere
I’m part of the backlash to all this “going green” crap. I’m as brown as I can lawfully be and will continue to be so until such time as governments fail under the weight of their rediculous policies pandering to those of the species who are incapable of comprehending the laws of nature.
1) Humans eat MEAT
2) Trees are RENEWABLE resources
3) Global warming is a fallacy that has no scientific consensus, no factual basis, and zero credibility after the revelations of last year about playing with the data.
4) Mans contribution to “greenhouse gases” is estimated, by those at the front of the global warming bandwagon to be a whopping 3% of the total (the other 97% being produced by nature).
4) a) A 100% reduction in mans “greenhouse gas” production would result in a ZERO effect on the environment.
4) b) Oh yeah, back in the 1970′s it was “global cooling” because of mans activities. Then it started to warm up again (in the natural cycle) and it transitioned to “El Nino” (again a man caused disaster) and now “global warming”.
5) Since we’re on the global warming thing….Old growth forest produces more carbon dioxide than it consumes (i.e. it is a net polluter) so we should cut down old growth forests and replace them with healthy young trees that are net consumers of carbon dioxide. (hey, you can’t have it both ways boys and girls).
6) Cancer happens, it is NOT necessarilly caused by any and every substance on the face of the earth. Posting “cute” little stickers on bundles of firewood warning that they “contain substances known to the state of California to cause cancer” is absolute lunacy…IT’S FRICKIN WOOD!!!!
7) When the governments of the world fail because of their idiotic polices, those of us who know how to cut down trees (for firewood), smelt lead over an open fire (for bullets), and kill cute little creatures (whether they are the last one on earth or not), will survive.
Personally, I could go for some global warming so I don’t have to work so hard cutting down trees with my 2 stroke chain saw in order to stay warm in the winter!!!!
Amen to that Bruce!
Man has good data on the climate paterns for the last few thousand years and the earth has been around for Billions of years. That is like reading the first sentence in a book and thinking you don’t need to read the rest. The arogance of the scientific comunity astounds me.
When the largest and loudest voices in the scientific community are being funded by the largest and most powerful of the corporate world, who also fund the campaigns of the largest and loudest politicians, it’s no wonder that we get skewed results. Global warming is only one simple example of many. Science provides the results that get scientists more grant money, just like campaign speeches produce promises that get more votes and corporate donor money. It’s the same game and the same people at the top always winning. Until we see that and make it stop it will always be the same.
Hmmm, sounds like they got their information from the “Renewable is a Scam” website. Well, it’s on the internet, so it must be true…
Jeff, what you find in this piece came from our sense of humor here at ClassesAndCareers.net. We are proud to say that it is 100-percent our own work. If someone out there has plagiarized this material (like these “Renewable is a Scam” villains), well, what can we say? This is the internet after all, imitation comes with the territory, and we’ve heard that imitation is the highest form of flattery. So we’ll chalk this up as a win:) You should know that our diverse staff falls on both sides of this issue, and sometimes we just enjoy poking fun at our divergent viewpoints.
Jon, I want you to take a deep breath and relax. First of all, this rubbish came from this thing we share here at ClassesandCareers.net called a sense of humor. Surely, such a thing is still allowed in civil conversation. Second, let’s just, for the sake of conversation, get into the rainwater filter thing. How exactly would you filter that rainwater in a non-environment-impacting way? Earth-friendly UV radiation? Chlorine? A system of pebbles in your office building’s pipes? A team of chimps picking the bugs out of it? Honestly, I’m just curious. Third, I don’t recall there being any real arguments in this piece. It wasn’t submitted to the Harvard Science Journal as an academic treatise on the evils of the green movement. So, in short, you are absolutely right: our opinion is complete idiocy to the scientific community. Such was our intention. So, in closing, may we advise you when reading stuff on the internet: if it looks and sounds like a joke, it probably is meant to be one. Take it as such and save yourself from the ill health effects that come from stressing over things that need not be stressed about. Namaste!