nothing is simple, it seems
Take, for instance, compact fluorescent lightbulbs. They save lots and lots of energy, which is good because that's less coal, petroleum, nuclear waste being used/produced. However, they have plastic bases and currently contain mercury, relegating their disposal to Hazardous Household Waste instead of in the regular landfill. Granted, they don't have much mercury -- about 5 milligrams, compared to the 500 milligrams of an old mercury-based thermometer -- but it's still there and it's toxic.
The benefits of using them is far greater than of not using them, but they are not without issue. They are not entirely "clean". While the mercury can potentially be recaptured if the CFLs are properly disposed of and/or recycled (Ikea will recycle CFLs if they are broken or burnt out), there's still the issue of the plastic base, about which and to my knowledge, nothing can be done.
When disposing of your CFLs, please do it properly: take them to your local household hazardous waste facility OR take them someplace reputable to be recycled. And for that matter, do the same with your batteries. They do NOT belong in the landfill.
The thing that got me, this morning, though, was my wife talking about the April 2007 issue of the New Internationalist that focuses on cotton production around the world. Now, I'm not really all that articulate and I haven't read the articles -- Lynxie would do a much better job writing about all of this than me, but she's busy and I'm just sittin' around being pregnant, so here I am trying to make a point in the only way I know how.
Apparently, all that 'sweatshop-free' cotton being produced and sold by places like American Apparel and whatnot is REALLY fucking with the local economies of places in India, where cotton has been cultivated for thousands of years. These people may not make much money, but it's all they've got. And while the working conditions are typically less than ideal, again, it's all they've got. They do not live in the land of opportunity. They live in a world that has been encroached upon by forces like Monsanto and the American cotton-growing industry.
There are two issues primarily at stake here: the cotton growing industry and the textile industry (turning cotton into usable pieces of fabric).
Here is what seems to be the crux of the major problems plaguing traditional cotton growers in India:
Monsanto: here, grow this genetically modified cotton, which requires comparatively little usage of pesticides!
[pesticides have been a huge issue for cotton growers worldwide]
Traditional Cotton Grower 1&2: um.... o..k...
*traditional cotton growers then discover that the new cotton requires LOTS AND LOTS of water to keep it alive*
Traditional Cotton Grower1: damn, these take a lot of water. glad we have irrigation systems in place. but sheesh!
Traditional Cotton Grower2: um, we rely on rainfall to water our crops and it hasn't rained enough, so all our crops -- our ONLY livelihood -- have died and now we have no money to buy food.
TCG2 ends up committing suicide. I shit you not. People are literally killing themselves because they have no way to support their families. Areas in India have lost a lot of cotton farmers because of the above scenario. Why isn't there enough rain? Don't they know not to rely on unstable weather patterns? Yes, well, the weather patterns in these areas have been stable for thousands of years and they've traditionally gotten plenty of rain to grow all the cotton they've needed... and now these weather patterns been destabilized. Why? Global warming. Thank you, USA, for your exhorbitant CO2 emissions.
TCG1 goes to market to try to sell his cotton, only to find that there is no longer a market for it. Why? Because the USDA is heavily subsidizing the American cotton growers, meaning they can sell their cotton at unnaturally low prices, thereby underselling people who have grown cotton as their livelihood for generation upon generation.
And then there's the sweatshop conditions of the cotton-based textile industries. No one wants to support sweatshops, but what most people don't realize is that by boycotting the sweatshop industry, you're screwing up the lives of people who are completely and utterly dependent upon the few dollars a week or month that they get for their hard labour. This money is the only thing they have.
What's the answer to all of this? Well, it's certainly not a simple one. Lynx wants to buy more cotton from India to support their cotton industry. This works well for her, since she also happens to like Indian-style clothing. Another thing that could be done is avoiding American Apparel and all businesses that use their products and all Made In USA cotton products. You could also rally for fair trade cotton, though I have no idea how to even begin down that path. Or you could go the other route and say, "Fuck the brown people. They're not worth my time. I don't need to care about them. There are too many of them anyway, and thinking about how horrible their lives are because of how I live my life fucks with my happy, so I'm not gonna think about it. Nosiree, Imma be a good patriot and buy Merkin. And that's the end of that."
So no, this is not an easy-answer issue -- few things are, really. But I would much rather people be as aware as possible and be able to make their decisions consciously than live in ignorance, while they fuck the rest of us over.
The benefits of using them is far greater than of not using them, but they are not without issue. They are not entirely "clean". While the mercury can potentially be recaptured if the CFLs are properly disposed of and/or recycled (Ikea will recycle CFLs if they are broken or burnt out), there's still the issue of the plastic base, about which and to my knowledge, nothing can be done.
When disposing of your CFLs, please do it properly: take them to your local household hazardous waste facility OR take them someplace reputable to be recycled. And for that matter, do the same with your batteries. They do NOT belong in the landfill.
The thing that got me, this morning, though, was my wife talking about the April 2007 issue of the New Internationalist that focuses on cotton production around the world. Now, I'm not really all that articulate and I haven't read the articles -- Lynxie would do a much better job writing about all of this than me, but she's busy and I'm just sittin' around being pregnant, so here I am trying to make a point in the only way I know how.
Apparently, all that 'sweatshop-free' cotton being produced and sold by places like American Apparel and whatnot is REALLY fucking with the local economies of places in India, where cotton has been cultivated for thousands of years. These people may not make much money, but it's all they've got. And while the working conditions are typically less than ideal, again, it's all they've got. They do not live in the land of opportunity. They live in a world that has been encroached upon by forces like Monsanto and the American cotton-growing industry.
There are two issues primarily at stake here: the cotton growing industry and the textile industry (turning cotton into usable pieces of fabric).
Here is what seems to be the crux of the major problems plaguing traditional cotton growers in India:
Monsanto: here, grow this genetically modified cotton, which requires comparatively little usage of pesticides!
[pesticides have been a huge issue for cotton growers worldwide]
Traditional Cotton Grower 1&2: um.... o..k...
*traditional cotton growers then discover that the new cotton requires LOTS AND LOTS of water to keep it alive*
Traditional Cotton Grower1: damn, these take a lot of water. glad we have irrigation systems in place. but sheesh!
Traditional Cotton Grower2: um, we rely on rainfall to water our crops and it hasn't rained enough, so all our crops -- our ONLY livelihood -- have died and now we have no money to buy food.
TCG2 ends up committing suicide. I shit you not. People are literally killing themselves because they have no way to support their families. Areas in India have lost a lot of cotton farmers because of the above scenario. Why isn't there enough rain? Don't they know not to rely on unstable weather patterns? Yes, well, the weather patterns in these areas have been stable for thousands of years and they've traditionally gotten plenty of rain to grow all the cotton they've needed... and now these weather patterns been destabilized. Why? Global warming. Thank you, USA, for your exhorbitant CO2 emissions.
TCG1 goes to market to try to sell his cotton, only to find that there is no longer a market for it. Why? Because the USDA is heavily subsidizing the American cotton growers, meaning they can sell their cotton at unnaturally low prices, thereby underselling people who have grown cotton as their livelihood for generation upon generation.
And then there's the sweatshop conditions of the cotton-based textile industries. No one wants to support sweatshops, but what most people don't realize is that by boycotting the sweatshop industry, you're screwing up the lives of people who are completely and utterly dependent upon the few dollars a week or month that they get for their hard labour. This money is the only thing they have.
What's the answer to all of this? Well, it's certainly not a simple one. Lynx wants to buy more cotton from India to support their cotton industry. This works well for her, since she also happens to like Indian-style clothing. Another thing that could be done is avoiding American Apparel and all businesses that use their products and all Made In USA cotton products. You could also rally for fair trade cotton, though I have no idea how to even begin down that path. Or you could go the other route and say, "Fuck the brown people. They're not worth my time. I don't need to care about them. There are too many of them anyway, and thinking about how horrible their lives are because of how I live my life fucks with my happy, so I'm not gonna think about it. Nosiree, Imma be a good patriot and buy Merkin. And that's the end of that."
So no, this is not an easy-answer issue -- few things are, really. But I would much rather people be as aware as possible and be able to make their decisions consciously than live in ignorance, while they fuck the rest of us over.