Is being "bio-friendly" doing more harm then good?

Question

Forests are being clear-cut to make room for farming corn and palm oil.

Compact flourescent light bulbs are filled with very dangerous chemicals such as mercury, contain a lot of plastic (made from oil), and use more energy to make.

Ethenol emissions from vehicles have been found to be very bad for your health. There are simular concerns about biodiesel, but those studies are still ongoing.

The batteries in hybrid cars are filled with dangerous chemicals that we cant fingure out what to do with.

Our intentions are good... but it seams like we are doing more harm then good with our current environmental movement.

Should we go back to good, clean unleaded gasoline and incadescent lightbulbs?

Answer 1

Good question. As the first answerer said it's complicated. You need to look at the whole picture from creation to disposal. E.g. with the CFL bulb how much energy and resources does it take to produce one, how much energy  does it use during it's lifetime, what does it take to dispose it. Considering that the CFL bulb lasts about 5 times as long (so you would need 5 incandescents) as the incandescent and uses only 20% energy, the CFL is clearly a better choice.

To produce Ethanol and biodiesel requires large amounts of fossil fuels to produce (in farming equipment, fertilizer, pesticides, transport, processing), which makes the net energy gain very small.

As for the hybrids they require more energy to produce than a regular car. So if you don't drive a lot a hybrid doesn't do much good, but if you drive a lot it does.

So to answer your question I would say no, however instead of just looking at the "bio-friendly" products that are marketed to us, we should look further for alternatives, not just products but also our own behaviour.

E.g. instead of CFLs look at (power)LED lights, and look at turning of the lights that you're not using, at the same time look at other ways to conserve energy in your house; instead of a hybrid look at a motorcycle (gets about the same mileage) or better yet move to a place where you don't need a car, but can walk or bike.

Answer 2

Everything is a trade off. It is complicated. Oil will run out some day, so we need to work to find alternatives. Plastic is made from oil, but not much is used for that purpose compared to how much we burn as fuel. I get so tired of simple minded people calling me a stupid, arrogant jerk for not doing X or Y thing that they say is THE solution to all our problems. Just plant trees and save the world! How stupid can people be? They don't have a clue what trees really do and don't do. All life and activity in the world is not so simple as to be perfect if we just plant trees or make solar cells or whatever. It is COMPLICATED.

Answer 3

Let's start a dialogue discussing the integrity of the Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Autombile marketplace in the U.S.A. In particular, I am interested in hearing stories from others who might share a similar sentiment with me with regard to AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR COMPANY's fraudulent marketing practices of the company's CIVIC HYBRID CVT and other Electric and Alternative Fuel Vehicles.

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/HOND...

http://www.HONDAFRAUD.org

Answer 4

Absolutely not.

First, compact fluorescents actually REDUCE mercury pollution:

Fossil fuels contain mercury.  Using incandescent bulbs causes more mercury to be emitted from power plants.  More than is in a CFL.

It's better if you dispose of old CFLs properly so that even the tiny amount of mercury is not released.  But, no matter how they're disposed of, CFLs reduce mercury pollution.

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/sustainab...

You have some points about the production of ethanol.  We need to start producing it from other things.  Such as saw grass, which grows where other things won't, with little fertilizer and water.  The emissions from ethanol burning are no worse than those from fossil fuels.

We can easily dispose of the batteries from hybrids without hazard, in properly designed landfills.  But they almost certainly can be recycled, which of course is even better.

So, no, we shouldn't use incandescents and fossil fuels.  Global warming from those will be hugely destructive.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNe...

It's not a close call.