The "Green" Thing...

So, I'm sure by now everybody has at least heard of, if not already participating in, the "Going Green" movement.  I myself have tried to do as much possible to lower my carbon footprint and I know family and friends that are doing the same.  It goes so much farther than that however, and my sister and I had a great discussion about this last week.  For her and her family, they try to do as much as they can, as long as it is also saving them money.  One thing I don't think they realize though, is how much more money they could actually save by doing a little bit of research.  For instance, she loves to use paper plates often because it saves her time, as well as not having to run the dishwasher.  My argument to this comes from things I have noticed since I've been living here with them.  1)  Ultimately, and especially because they have an energy efficient dishwasher, the cost of running the dishwasher is less than continuing to buy paper plates and throwing them away.  2)  When the family uses paper plates, they don't conserve them.  Instead of using the same plate for dessert, they will grab a new one.  3)  When the dishwasher is run, it is not full!  This just means that you are wasting the water and energy that it does take to run the dishwasher.  And you are running the dishwasher twice as much!  4)  HEATED DRY!  This is my biggest aggrivation.  I recommended that it would save energy to not use the heated dry and just open the door to let the dishes air dry.  Well, supposively my suggestion was going to be taken until my oldest niece wound up having MRSA (she is an athlete and probably got it from the gym).  Now they are going to use the heated dry because it will "kill more bacteria".  I have done research on this, and the idea that using more "heat" will kill more bacteria is nonsense.  In fact, this is also true for clothes washing machines.  Using hot water on whites will not kill any more bacteria or germs than cold water.  It is the detergent that does the killing of these germs.  Do you know how much money could be saved if everyone realized this concept and used cold water for washing clothes and turned off the heated dry on their dishwasher???  It's uncanny to think about!  Well, in an effort to extend this discussion over a period of time, I'm going to wait to introduce my next argument until my next post.  Feel free to comment, I would love to hear someone else's opinion on this topic.  Check out the links to some "Green" websites that I found. (There are also some other links in the "Check It Out" and "Did You Know" sections in the margin.)

The Daily Green

The Green Guide