I read an interesting article in today’s LA Times (Inconvenient Truths About Motorcycles and Smog) that illustrates the complexity of being green or environmentally friendly.
To some, it’s simple: a green car is a car with high MPG. Raise the MPG car over car (or through retrofit or innovation) and you are more green. With that logic, it makes sense that motorbikes are way greener than even a Prius. But you thought wrong. There are other issues, such as emissions — sometimes even worse than carbon dioxide for future (and present) generations.
Check out the article for details.
The takeaway? Going green will require continuous innovation and the willingness to ask hard questions about all of the effects, side effects and long term implications of what we choose to drive.
If you think that it’s hard to be green as a driver/consumer, try being a green business. In my next book I point out that buying local may not always be the green solution. Even though you reduce carbon emissions from transportation, the local producer may not have the most environmentally effective process – thus netting out to be a bad idea for future generations. (Note: I think that buying locally is very good, though, from an community development standpoint.)
While there is no easy fix or answer here, the upside is that there’s room for our innovations to make a difference as well try to tackle the art of living responsibly.
