Is it Worth Going Green at Your Apartment?
This morning, we saw that Stanley Fish's column in the New York Times had evoked quite a backlash in its comments section. Professor Fish's article about the cumbersome nature of recycling, though it reads a bit like an Andy Rooney diatribe, does highlight some important points.
Our interest stems our own preoccupation with the subject of green apartment living and trying to find ways that apartments for rent can be more environmentally responsible.
The article basically asks whether or not pursuing an eco-friendly lifestyle is worth the trouble. Of course, by investigating ‘living green' Professor Fish is trying to get at what determines whether or not someone is actually living green, and how, if at all, can it be defined?
The specific quandary that appears to have been the impetus for the article is primarily the byzantine nature of determining whether your actions are actually eco-friendly. He uses the example of switching from Proctor and Gamble products to Kimberly-Clark because the former company tested on animals, only to find that the latter did not use pre-consumer recycled materials in their products.
He makes a similar case, though admittedly it is a bit trite, by questioning whether washing cloth napkins is better than using recycled paper napkins. One uses water, but ones creates waste, but which one is greener?
These are valid points. Though the comments on the article call Professor Fish lazy and selfish, all he is doing is trying to provide some questions to an ambiguous and new social mandate. With many company attempting to ‘greenwash‘ their products to appeal to the popularity of ‘going green' it is sometimes difficult to know the best way to reduce your carbon or ecological footprint.
This seems to get to the latent point in Professor Fish's article. He seems to be expressing that green products and services must offer some tangible benefit beyond their simply being classified as eco-friendly. Is a product that has an ‘eco-friendly' sticker worth more solely in virtue of its classification as such?
While this can be debated, it seems as though the time, as opposed to money, one spends trying to lessen their pollutants is indeed worth it. The amount of time that it takes to get into greener habits around your apartment is not that much of a sacrifice and can be easily incorporated into your normal routine.
One of the blogs we look to for tips on matters such as these, the Focus Organic Blog, provides ten great tips on how to go green in your apartment.
Let us know how you go green in your apartment as well as what features your apartment building employs to conserve energy or water.
Perhaps you can even help us better draw out the definition of going green. Let us know!
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