Ramblings on being 'GREEN'...

First of all I am just not buying the whole "Man is causing climate change" debate. I do believe that the Earth warms and cools through NATURAL cycles that have nothing to do with if man drives an SUV or not.

I do believe in the conservation of resources and to be wasteful is counterproductive, however I do not feel that ANYONE should force their beliefs on ANYONE else. Pollution of our water and air IS a bad thing, but not every time a cow farts in Argentina or a deer takes a whiz in a stream is that bad.

There are a ton of environmentalists/green movements that would love to go back to living like a bunch of vegetarians in the Stone Age... and they want YOU to do the same... You know the old adage, "Misery Loves Company" ???

I am FOR alternative energy, lessening our dependence on other nations' resources, but also for USING what we have. You really think the Chinese, if given the chance, would really give a crap about pumping crude just off of our shores. I still want my gas guzzler truck for big chores but I also want my compact car for commuting to work. I want an electric car that goes 120 miles between charges that has a reasonable price to change out the battery packs, but I don't want that to be my only choice! Why, because I want to save the sea urchins or New York from flooding??? NO because I want to save MY MONEY!!!

I am also for those ugly little compact fluorescent bulbs as they save a BUNCH of POWER but I prefer incandescent for certain lighting. I also like turning off lights when not in use, but not because it saves the polar bears (as Jack Spirko often says), but because I want to save on my power bill!

I want to install solar panels on my home, maybe a windmill too... but I don't want to sell it to the power company, I want to use it ALL for myself!!!

I conserve water not because I am trying to save the salamanders, but because I am on a well. If I use too much water during a drought, I have to pay to dig a NEW well ($3-5K in my area) so I don't waste water! I don't waste my water on keeping a green lawn, but I do water my garden to provide my family with food that is not imported from 3,000 miles away.

I recycle aluminum cans not because it makes me feel good, but because the guy at the scrap yard pays me by the pound. Someone is making some money off recycling why not YOU???

Does it make me an environmentalist or not that I chose to save money instead of supposedly saving the humpback whales?

You feel good saving the California Condor, I feel good saving money by making my own natural pesticides... Are you superior to me or not?

I chose to do these things because they make sense to me in an economic sense... If they really do save the spotted owl then great, but like Jerry Maguire says, "Show me the money!"

I really think if the environmental folks spoke of the great benefits to ones wallet instead of forcing everyone to comply with what they claim 'Mother Earth' told them to say, more people would be green...

For the record, ZA is green, green with saved money!

Thanks for reading!

later,
ZA