Green Chaos

The Green Chaos is a term coined by Scott Bennett to describe the confusion people feel when trying to understand how to go green. Why is going green so difficult to understand?

First of all, it's an invisible problem. Climate change is the key driver for the world in going green and it's something that isn't physical in the sense that you can see it and fix it. It's not like having a dozen old rusty oil drums on your front yard that you have to clean up. It's a problem created by greenhouse gas emissions produced mainly from burning oil and gas. Have you seen how much gas goes into your vehicle? You know there's gas going into your vehicle at the gas pump, but it's difficult to get a concept of how much it is and what it looks like. It's difficult to understand the impacts that transportation have on our environment.

Another aspect is, we can't see how much pollution comes from our electricity usage. We rarely, if ever see how much fuel we use for heating our homes, let alone the heat loss from insufficiently insulated and sealed buildings. The food we purchase doesn’t have labels showing how much energy went into producing the food, making the product, the packaging, and the shipping, so we don’t understand how this contributes to the problem of climate change. And lastly, the products and services we purchase don’t tell us much, if anything about the impact they have on climate change and the environment.

Technically, we can understand part of this using the information we receive from utility suppliers. By measuring the fuel and electricity used in our home, the greenhouse gas emissions can be calculated. While this is useful for an individual, it is different for every household. Even two identical homes, with two identical size families can have very different amounts of pollution. For anyone who has done these calculations, they may be frustrated with how to compare their results with others – are they doing well or poorly? While measuring pollution is becoming more valuable in the business world, it often adds confusion on a personal level because of the specific knowledge required to understand and calculate a carbon footprint.

The key to making the green chaos easier to understand is providing guide rails – similar to bowling without the gutters on either side. If you can imagine what it’s like for a child bowling for the first time, they’re likely shooting a lot of “gutter balls” – that is, balls that don’t make it to the end of the bowling alley to hit the pins, but instead end up in the gutter. By providing guide rails, the balls don’t go in the gutter anymore, and child starts knocking down pins. The guide rails in our website will give you the knowledge to start knocking down pins and make traction in going green. The Carbon Diet Priorities chart and going green tips are your two guard rails. They are the keys to understanding how to be most effective at going green. So if you’ve been stuck in the green chaos and asked “How do I go green?” - start with the green basics.