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When green choices aren't healthy

Ano Lobb | Tuesday 3rd November 2009

One of the great things about Justmeans is how it fuses so many interrelated ideas. Whether its climate change, sustainable food, ethical consumption, or social enterprise, it all plays a major role in the health of individuals and populations. But good work can be corrupted, for example eco-labeling occasionally attempts to "green wash" products into seaming more earth and people friendly than they are. And sometimes seemingly responsible choices turn out to be unhealthy ones. A few examples:

Solar panels are one ethical solution to growing global demand for electricity. However, an essential silicon compound created during manufacturing leaves a toxic byproduct, silicon tetrachloride.Extremely damaging to human tissue, it can cause burns, kidney failure, and lesions in the liver and heart. Ethical manufacturing practices call for energy-intensive remediation of this toxin, but unfortunately several documented cases in China, currently the world leader in solar panel production, have found where this toxin was dumped in fields, contaminating nearby communities.

CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs are popular for their long life and meager electricity consumption. What is rarely mentioned is that they contain mercury. Each CFL contains about a tenth of the amount of mercury found in an old thermometer. That wouldn't be much if you only had one light bulb. But the average house has 20 to 30, meaning a significant amount of mercury. Not only is it likely to up in a landfill, but whenever a bulb breaks, you are exposing yourself and family to a potent neurotoxin.

Clean coal technology is attempting to put a green face on coal powered electrical plants. Most commonly this involves spraying water in smoke stacks to remove toxic pollutants from coal smoke. The upside is that you won't breathe these toxins. The downside is that you might end up drinking them. The toxins don't disappear, they remain in the water, and are corralled into huge, highly toxic sludge ponds where they can leach into ground water supplies, or in extreme cases burst their boundaries and contaminate whole communities.

Methane contributes more to global warming than CO2, and an underappreciated source of this gas is our hunger and thirst for healthy protein in the form of beef and milk. Cows produce tremendous amounts of methane, and they are a growing contributor to global warming.

Eating food grown locally, or within a relatively few miles, ensures that the raw materials for your meals didn't produce CO2 traveling long distances to your plate. There are lots of sensible reasons to want to eat locally produced food, but some question just how eco-friendly it is. Large commercial farms are generally far more efficient than smaller ventures, and the tomatoes in your London salad may have a far larger carbon footprint if grown in a nearby heated Dutch hot-house instead of being shipped in from a more distant Kenyan farm field.

Ethical consuming is a healthy goal, and perhaps we're best advised to consume mindfully, less, or not at all.

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