Comments on: Ecological Intelligence

By: JH Nash

JH Nash — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:27:14 +0000

Interesting read. Out of sheer curiousity, it may be fun to find out where glass fits into the equation, as – unless I am in a situation where it could break – it is my vessel of choice for carrying water.

By: SV Nagappa

SV Nagappa — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:03:56 +0000

Could some one give me the true LCA of woven cloth bags (woolworths) vs plastic bags Please? Thanks.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:18:08 +0000

It’s interesting to note the effects of even stainless steel cause ecological problems. But I think as a collective; plastic bottles are worse since they leach chemicals into food and water after prolonged exposure or washing; and even their manufacturing releases many synthetic chemicals and when they wind up in the ocean; UV rays will break the chemicals down and release more toxic chemicals into the sea. Personally I am more concerned about synthetic chemical pollution than Global Warming since it is ignored largely and much harder to correct than pulling carbon from the atmosphere with technology 10-25 years from now.

But you did bring up a good point about the dishwasher. I live in the Southwest, where water usage is often monitored and water sometimes even runs short. It takes a lot to wash a large reusable bottle, however I should note that the bigger offenders of water waste does not come from the households themselves but from lawns and golf courses!

Another thing is fair trade vs. local and sustainable vs recycled. Personally I support Fair Trade which fosters independence in impoverished communities rather than exploitation and does respect the local environment. Local on the other hand might be good when it comes to food(or not as you pointed out) and local artists, but not all local food is organic or ecologically minded in anyway. If I lived near a corporate run farm loaded with pesticides I’d still be eating local if I ate their products in a fast food burger. Not all recycled goods are safe either, I cringed when I saw purses and wallets made from recycled tires that are doused in all kinds of chemicals and VOCs, that though wouldn’t be noticeable in your car; it’s not a good idea to have them be touching your skin or indoors often. There are also clip board and card cases made from motherboards; which often contain pthalates and PCBs and other nasties. And then I’ve seen Vinyl records molded into bowls, and even photographed with dry food on them. I’m willing to wager a lead crystal bowl is more food safe than that.

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:04:24 +0000

Probably suffering from BPA ingestion.

By: pankaj

pankaj — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:31:28 +0000

Is there any psychological tool to asses ‘Ecological Inteligence’. If it is than please tell me the detail.

you can reply on my email too.
thanks

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:40:19 +0000

The logic of this article is inescapable, and as a stainless bottle user I of course agree with the premise. It seems a bit obsessive to count the number of uses, since the simple act of daily use guarantees hundreds of repeated uses of a steel bottle.
The battle (in my home) is about convenience: Cleaning and refilling vs. grab & go. Also, losing an expensive steel bottle creates a new cost for us that is mitigated by the low price of plastic disposables.
If only it was this simple, but it’s definitely good to know I’m countering the billions of bottles produced, one drink at a time.

By: Michael Dahlberg

Michael Dahlberg — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:32:25 +0000

Ecological Intelligence was an interesting read. You do need to correct the usage of “algorithm” on pages 105 and 106 where “logarithm” appears in 3 of 4 cases. Spell check software does not correct these mistakes. Where was the editor?
Aloha
Michael Dahlberg

By: Marci Lamb

Marci Lamb — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:42:38 +0000

I heard your excellent radio broadcast last night talking about non-natural chemicals and how they are manipulating our bodies’ functions. Speaking of manipulation…have you seen the Dow Chemicals commercial with healthy running kids and elephants?

http://news.dow.com/dow_news/ads/dowtv.htm

I was astounded by the aesthetic beauty of this commercial on Sunday morning (5/31/09) during “Meet the Press” until I realized that it was Dow Chemicals repackaging itself with a “feel-good” commercial. Even my 11 year old finds it ironic that kids are used in the commercial to manipulate our emotions. Note: she is not one of those happy kids dancing around in joy over Dow Chemical treatment of our water supply.

Our family was very inspired by a recent TV program on KQED about Orcas and Salmon farming presented by Jean Michel Cousteau in which the idea was put forward that chemicals (particularly fire retardant) still being dumped into our food chain are a critical problem.

Thanks for your excellent suggestions and practical ideas. As you say, consumers can have an effect on company decision making. So now I’m telling friends:
We are boycotting Meet the Press until they stop running those offending ads promoting the “greener” “elephant hugging” “looking left” “human element” at Dow Chemicals.

Sorry Dow, you just went too far…

By: Stewart McLeod

Stewart McLeod — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:50:11 +0000

Where does this leave me? I reuse plastic containers over and over again at least 15-20 times.