It’s not hard to remember the green chants. “Go Green.” “Recycle ““ it’s good for the bottle, it’s good for the can.” Etcetera. Now that everyone has finally agreed we need to take better care of the environment, it’s time to leap off the cheerful slogans and into that pool of eco-friendliness.
A lot has been done, but more is needed. As the United States cannonballs into the green movement, it is impossible not to notice the strange by-products of our fervor. Tree hugging hasn’t influenced individuals to take a new look at the Kyoto Protocol, or to take steps toward banning the multitude of nonrecyclable plastic bags that choke our oceans and rivers. Nope, we’ve taken the environmental bull by its horns in our own way, and it has produced both great and bizarre results.
For example, take the new and oddly booming market of shiny water bottles. Legendary corporations such as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch are gasping for air in this economy, but newcomers shilling reusable water bottles have cash raining down on them. Seychelle Environmental Technologies just signed a million-dollar contract with a company called Ecousable with regard to personal filters in reusable water bottles. Other corporations such as Klean Kanteen are focusing on manufacturing sleek, attractive stainless steel bottles in the name of the environment.
And consumers are drinking it up. A 27-ounce “orange sunset” Klean Kanteen bottle will set you back $17.95. With that amount, the ad campaign lets you think you’ve also bought an eco-hug from the planet, thanking you for your kindness.
Plastic takes 700 years to decompose, so I agree that buying reusable bottles is a great way to promote sustainability and take a step toward arresting our addiction to wasting water.
However, we can’t stop there. We can’t just smugly walk away from our overheated planet with water bottles. California especially is a great place for solar panels. Let’s make that sunshine that we’re known for start working for us.
But solar panels aren’t immune from odd consequences. The New York Times reported that a California resident named Glenda Hoffman sleeps with a shotgun next to her bed and a .22 under her pillow. She is ready at a moment’s notice to protect her solar panels. Hoffman, who lives in Desert Hot Springs, has had 16 solar panels snatched from her roof in three separate burglaries.
It comes as no surprise that California is the largest consumer of solar-panel technology in the nation. However, the fact that solar-panel theft is getting to be just as common as their consumption has caught our state officials completely off guard.
Those darlings of the green movement have been increasingly favored by homes and businesses, and stealing them has apparently become a lucrative side business. Stolen panels turn up on Web sites like eBay, where kleptomaniacs-at-large can sell them for as much as $1,500 apiece. Law-enforcement agencies are advocating various strategies to protect the protectors of the environment, such as stamping a license plate number on them and painting them with bright colors. Bright bottles and bright roofs in the land of the brave.
Our crash landing into environmental awareness doesn’t exactly mimic our European brothers. After all, Denmark deals with pollution by charging luxury taxes on cars. Spain and the Netherlands invented asphalt and paving stones (respectively) that turn harmful nitrogen oxide into a nitrate that’s better for the environment.
But we are getting there. After all, we have a history of improving on other countries’ inventions. France invented the movie, but we built Hollywood. Italy gave the world coffee, but we blessed it with the passion-fruit, soy, no-foam, chai latte.
The United States just hasn’t taken the large steps to raise our newfound eco-enthusiasm to the next level, but with time and initiative from educated and dedicated individuals, who knows? We could be the first country that finally heals the hole in the ozone layer. Here’s to hoping.
E-mail Joshi at rjoshi@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.