A new tradition..

I have decided to start a new event on my blogspace, Wednesday Rants. I will bottle it up all week and rapidly remove the cork from the rant jar and see just what bubbles out, do check back Wednesday evenings to see what has gotten me all riled up in the past week.

I start my ranting with 'Green' people. No not vegetarians, ill people or the Jolly Green Giant, but people who have the short circuited mental capacity and myopic intelligence that is required to think that we all need to run around treating the environment with kid gloves. The earth is a renewable and a consumable resource at the same time. I am not saying we need to disregard the environment by any means, but it is not as fragile as an egg shell either. So much gets overlooked when these "let everything be green" people make their decisions and in reality they are actually increasing areas of pollution and waste.

Let me begin with the paper coffee cups are far more energy efficient than ceramic coffee mug crowd. 'They' claim that 1600 paper coffee cups can be made with the same amount of energy that it requires to make one ceramic coffee cup. Ok, I will give them the research that it takes considerable energy to bake a ceramic mug in a kiln. But lets do a little math, lets assume that I am a moderate coffee drinker and have exactly one cup of coffee every day of the week. 1600 divided by 365 days means I would have to use my ceramic coffee cup for 4 years 20 weeks. Now I look at my ceramic coffee mug with its rich coffee colored interior and ponder the three years we have spent together. Oh yes, and we have a question from the richly dressed CA person, "What about the cost of cleaning the mug?" Good question, since we are 'ignoring' the cost of disposal/recycling of the paper cups I thought I could ignore the cleaning of my coffee mug. I am almost embarrassed to admit that my coffee mug has not been washed in a dishwasher for two years. (Pause for a dramatic sip from the coffee mug) A real cowboy (since I am from Montana everyone assumes I am a cowboy anyways) knows coffee cups and pots are to never be cleaned as it ruins the flavor. Oh look another question from the city slicker in New York, "What about the breaking of the ceramic mug?" Hum, well they are still usable with a minor crack and make great pen and pencil cups. Now if they were completely shattered than maybe that should be added in. Ok, no more questions people, this is my rant; I love math so lets do a little more. My office mug gets five cups of coffee a day, five days a week, 51 weeks a year...25 times 51...carry the two...is only 1275 cups a year. I have had my coffee mug for two years nine months now, so that would be about 3506 cups of coffee. WOW, I think I should rush out an buy a new coffee mug, I have worn this one out even though it looks as good as new, except maybe a little dirty on the inside. Still think paper coffee cups are more environmentally friendly and energy efficient?

SIT BACK DOWN, I am not done. I only get to rant once a week so I am going to use my time today. I now move on to the 'Carbon footprint' people. I am sure you all have heard about the sites that allow you to calculate your carbon footprint, if you have not there are sites on the internet that allow a user to estimate how my CO2 emissions they are responsible for on a yearly basis. Now most sites assume that the highest CO2 emissions we are personally responsible for are the ones that we blow out our tail pipe. What about all that electricity that we use that is generated by carbon belching coal fired power plants? What about the CO2 that we expel during daily tasks (Both rigorous and sedentary)? What about the CO2 that we release every time we pop the top on a carbonated beverage? What about the CO2 that is released by our pets? What about the CO2 that is released by the coal fired power plant that provides the energy to manufacture the disposable goods that we consume on a daily basis? Have I made my point clear enough? Stop pointing your Carbon Footprinting finger at automobiles as the only evil CO2 pollution machine.

The real problem, as I see it, is we live in a disposable society, and I am not just talking about paper cups. It is cheaper to replace a product than it is to repair the old product. It is easier to walk away from a marriage than it is to fix the one we have. We crave instant gratification, we crave new products, we crave cheaper products, we crave our luxuries but we don't want to count the true costs behind our cravings. I don't think we can even comprehend the true significance and impact of our own individual actions let alone the actions of our society. Now if using that paper coffee cup helps you sleep better at night because you were more energy efficient today than by all means get a good night sleep. If you calculate a reduction in 'your' carbon footprint because you drive an electrical car, have electric heat, electric everything and it makes you all warm and fuzzy inside, more power to you. But ask yourself this when weighing the 'green' propaganda "Says who with what proof and authority?"

Now I must get back to drinking more coffee as I am well behind schedule today.

No paper coffee cups were injured in the research and writing of this rant. Environmentalists are people too. Coal fired power plants provide jobs to the labor force. All products have embodied energy that is wasted when they reach the end of their useful life. Ceramic mugs need love too. The views expressed by the author are purely for argumentative mind opening purposes and have no scientific supported evidence to prove the hypothesis. The scientific method is not fool proof to the significantly talented fool.