Unintended Consequences

When you work in manufacturing, one of the things that you learn is that everything in your facility is interconnected - not unlike our economic systems, our social systems and our natural systems. In manufacturing, if you want to make a process change in one area, you have to spend some time looking upstream and downstream of the change you want to make. It doesn't do much good to speed up one process, only to find out that you can't actually go any faster because none of the machines around the change can go any faster. Fortunately, most of the connections are easy to see and it's easy to predict any potential problems due to a proposed change. But that's not always the case...

Separated by Time and Distance

Sometimes when we make a change, it puts things into motion that we cannot see. The effects may be good or bad, but either way it was something that we did not intend to happen, because we could not see it or predict it. Sometimes these effects take place far away - maybe at another factory that provides supplies, or uses what we make. Sometimes these effects pop up many months after the initial change was made. Either way, this separation makes it difficult to realize what happened, so that we can either repeat it, or make a correction.

Quick example - a while ago my Dad and I were pouring a concrete slab in my back yard for a new garden shed and shelter. After the truck finished its delivery, the driver asked if there was somewhere he could wash off the chutes. I told him to go ahead and wash off in a depression in the yard - I was going to have additional dirt brought in to level out the yard, so it would be covered. Fast forward a month or so later where, as I was digging a post hole for a new fence, I ran into some of that same concrete. While this slowed me down, it wasn't a critical error, but I wish I had been a little more careful.

In the Environment

The choices each of us make regarding our environmental footprint have consequences, and sometimes our actions directly affect us and those around us. Unfortunately, many of those same choices affect people far from us, separated either by time (our children, grandchildren, etc.) or distance (residents of developing nations) The more we learn about how our actions affect others, the more we can reduce our impact and the more good we can do for each other and the planet. Some impacts are more obvious than others....

A small group from the church I attend completed a mission trip to a small town in KY. They did some construction work on the home of a retired coal miner. This retiree is without the use of his legs - and while I don't know for sure that his occupation was the cause, it's certainly possible. Coal mining is a hazardous occupation - and people die or are injured in the mines because about half of the electricity in the US is produced from coal. Because I am using power at a rate much higher than people in other parts of the world, men must go into the ground and dig out coal that, when burned, emits heavy metals, hazardous air pollutants and greenhouse gases - all while generating millions of tons of ash contaminated with many of the same pollutants that is stored in huge ponds, which sometimes fail with catastrophic consequences.

• Because I don't talk to my power company and my government representatives and demand renewable energy....

• Because I think it's too expensive (or too ugly) to buy solar panels...


• Because I don't want to eliminate some of things I do that use electricity...

Our impacts aren't simply limited to the electricity we use. It's the gasoline we burn driving our cars around (air pollution, water pollution, national security and the deployment of US troops). It can also be the things we buy every day -

• Sweatshop labor to produce inexpensive clothes and shoes.....

• Murder and other human rights abuses committed against the laborers who mine diamonds for jewelry...


• The potential for increasing conflict over rights to rare earth metals used to make the electronics that we purchase and toss at an alarming rate...


• The water pollution and deforestation due to poor agricultural practices for the production of coffee and cocoa....

Love Your Neighbor

As a Christian, I am now faced with a dilemma. Do I continue to live my life as I currently do, in the way that is accepted by our culture but contributes to harms to the people and environment here and abroad? Or do I change the way I live, radically reducing the energy I use and paying more for the products I use to ensure that those people who provide them are paid a fair wage and are not put in undue danger?

In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus makes it clear that as Christians we are to love God and love our neighbors. And the concept of neighbor does not just extend to those who live next door or those who we like, but includes every human being on this planet.

Speaking for myself, I'm not doing so well - I continue to do things the way I have always done them; or I make one small change for good, and then make a large step in the opposite direction. Sometimes I just shut everything out because I just don't want to hear about it anymore - I am tired of feeling guilty (for not changing) or feeling like I don't make a difference (when I do make a change).

But as a Christian, I am commanded to turn towards Him and walk in His path. Which means that I need to do more to "love my neighbor": to reduce my energy use; to use less water; to reduce the amount of stuff that I buy; to engage others (including politicians) to make changes to the way we do business; to use my purchasing power to influence companies to do more good.

In the end, it is not about planting trees or saving whales or even global warming - it is about how we treat others. Will I follow God's command and love my neighbor? Or will I turn away and serve myself? It's that simple - and that hard...

What about pets?

A question sometimes posed - does reducing your impact on the planet mean that you can't have any pets? As with most of things, the answer probably is - you guessed it - it depends. But I think that there are some simple guidelines to follow:


No Exotics -


Purchasing exotic lizards, fish, birds and other animals fuels the (often illegal) exotic animal trade. In some cases, the people capturing and transporting these animals kill most of their catch before they can be sold. Exotics can also carry diseases to native animal populations and humans, causing damage to the local ecosystem. And if you happen to pick the wrong animal, you may end up with an endangered or threatened species, which can land you in a whole heap of trouble (i.e. jail time and/or fines). If you want to minimize your impact, stick with local, domestic animals.


Go For Preowned -


If you are looking for a dog or a cat, I would recommend starting with a trip to your local shelter or animal rescue. There are a lot of dogs and cats looking for homes right now, and those that don't find homes quickly end up being euthanized. Recently the Michigan Humane Society kicked off a fun campaign that you can see here. We have three dogs - one rescued straight off the street and another two from our county shelter. They are awesome pets and we couldn't be happier!


I know that puppies and kittens are cute - but having trained a puppy I know that they are a lot of work and can be a real pain. Especially if you are a first time pet owner, go for an older animal. They typically have some level of training and are usually easier to work with. If you really want one of the young ones, stick to your local shelter. While there are some breeders out there who really do take care of their animals, there are that many more "puppy mills" that exist to profit on the abuse and misfortune of the breeding animals.


Control Your Population -


Spay or neuter your pet - Bob Barker has been telling you this for years. There is no shortage of dogs/cats, so get your pet fixed. Keeping the population of domestic animals under control reduces their impact on the environment. Spay or neuter your pets!


This also applies to the number of animals that you have - take in only as many animals as you can properly care for and have sufficient room for. Each animal needs different amounts of space and each requires its own kind of care. Make sure that you have the appropriate food, water, and shelter for your pet and that you keep it up to date with its veterinary care.


Last point here - it is possible to overindulge your pet. Fluffy does not need 17 toys, 4 beds and her own bottled water. Keep your pet supplies to what your pet needs, not what you want to provide your pet. And, you need to be careful about what you buy. Make sure that any toys, leashes, collars or other items are designed for your type of pet. Check the ingredients of pet food and treats, and be on the lookout for recalls. And make sure you follow the feeding guidelines for your pet - pet obesity is a growing problem (pun intended) and like obesity in humans can lead to health problems. It also means that you are using up more resources than necessary to care for your pet.


Connection to Nature -


Finally, pets can provide us with a connection to the natural world that we may not otherwise have. By learning to respect and care for domestic animals, we may find ourselves with a greater respect for those animals that live around us. And that is important - whether we fully grasp it our not, we are connected to the living ecosystems around us and the animals that they contain. One cannot survive without the other - circle of life stuff. It may sound cheesy, but its true. Good luck - and be kind to animals!

No More Green!

Seems like an odd title for an environmental blog post, doesn't it? But that's where I find myself most of the time - wishing that everyone would stop using the word "green". It sees to me that it has finally reached the point of becoming noise, something that people just tag onto to any action they do to reduce their impact on the planet. It's not that people shouldn't celebrate their accomplishments - we should all find a little joy in taking steps to help the environment. But when over used or used out of context, it's just a useless little phrase that carries no meaning.

A lot of my angst comes from the continued abuse of this and other similar phrases by people selling things. Every time I turn around, there is a product that now has one (or more) of the following words on the label or in the product name:

• Green
• Eco-
• Earth Friendly
• All Natural

It's kind of like the use of a lowercase i at the beginning of a product name. That used to be associated with one product; and then it was used for those accessories that went with the main product, and that kind of made sense. And then, everybody decided that since products with a lower case i sold well, that it would be a great idea to put that in front of any product (including both a car and a kid's TV show), whether or not it had anything to do with the original product.

Now there are a bunch of products with "green" stuff on their labels and it no longer serves the same purpose - informing consumers of where they could improve their environmental impact by purchasing something that was (hopefully) less harmful than something else. But now it is nearly impossible to tell when a product has made an actual improvement, and when said product is merely misusing "green" - or greenwashing.

And this becomes a disservice to those companies that are working to reduce their impact. Producers of goods get caught up in a kind of Catch 22 - either be criticized for not making any effort to improve your products, or get criticized for making "superficial" improvements and wrapping it up with a "green" name.

What to do

As a consumer, your best bet is to do your homework. Never take anything listed on a product label for granted. Check out the company's web site for more information, and then do a quick web search and see if there are any comments by third party certification companies or other non profits that monitor actions of companies. If you see that a reputable non profit entity (like WWF or Sierra Club) is working with a company and is willing to make a public statement about them, then its a pretty good bet that the work being done is above board. If you can't find anything, then you should proceed with caution.

And sometimes it's just hard to determine if the product improvement is actually that - an improvement that reduces environmental impact. A while back, we purchased a "make your own" solar system model kit, and the label producly proclaimed that this version was "environmentally friendly". The big change? They included wooden dowels instead of plastic rods for separating the styrofoam planets. And while eliminating the use of any petroleum based product (like plastic) is a positive, there is no indication of where the wood came from (old growth? sustainably managed?).

So enough ranting - just remeber that today's consumer environment is "Buyer Beware". And at the end of the day the best way to reduce your environmental footprint is simply to buy and use less!