Be Green in the Real World, Professor Tells How

Bentley University Associate Professor, Eric (Rick) Oches, previously taught at the University of South Florida in the Geology Department before moving to Bentley University's Natural & Applied Sciences Department, coordinating their Earth, Environment, and Global Sustainability Liberal Studies Major.

Rick's interests and expertise include global climate change, resource consumption, environmental degradation, sustainability, and society's methods of either mitigating or adapting to these changes. Field research has taken Rick to locations all across Western, Central and Eastern Europe, Argentina, Alaska, mid-continent United States, and Yemen.

Today we talk to Rick about reducing our everyday carbon footprint in the real world.

What is the best way to reduce an individual's carbon footprint?

Rick Oches: Conservation is the number one thing. Although it's been a hot topic in the past, we really do not talk enough about conservation, such as setting our thermostats higher in the summer, lower in the winter, buying more fuel efficient vehicles, and generally buying less stuff.

I find it disturbing when we are encouraged to help the economy by going to the mall and spending. Ultimately those unnecessary purchases consume energy, create waste, and contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Using less, consuming less, and buying less stuff is something that we really need to pay attention to. This will require our entire economic structure to shift to one that is more service oriented and less dependent on the production and consumption of consumer goods.

I also find it disturbing that our local economies depend on a successful holiday shopping season each year. Beginning the week of Thanksgiving, we are bombarded with the holiday shopping economic forecasts and assessments. The message delivered so effectively is that we show our families and friends we care by buying things, whether they need it or not (most often, not). All those purchases start as raw materials, which have significant energy and environmental costs to process, manufacture, transport, market, package, and ultimately dispose of.

Consumer economics is a way of life, what are you suggesting?

RO: We need to go back to the good old days of repairing an appliance when it breaks, and designing products for longevity rather than planned obsolescence. We?re under endless marketing pressure to buy, buy, buy, which has real environmental and climate consequences. Reduce, reuse, recycle should be a real lifestyle that we all adopt, rather than simply a fashionable design on a t-shirt.

Along with that, we need to improve the efficiency of our various lifestyle activities and processes. We should support through purchasing decisions technological innovations that increase fuel efficiencies, whether it is the fuel efficiency of vehicles or the efficiency of light bulbs, so that we can achieve the same results, with less energy input.http://cm.howstuffworks.com/article-template.php?step2

We are seeing a lot of emphasis on personal choices. The simple option of getting rid of incandescent bulbs and replacing them with compact fluorescent lights have a significant carbon footprint impact, using a fraction of the energy to create the same amount of light. If you upgrade your television, computer, refrigerator, or other household appliances, choosing energy star certified models, which are recognized as being the most energy efficient available.

What about those who are not willing to make eco-friendly personal choices?

RO: One of the things that we really need to change in our culture is this idea of environmental sustainability built into personal decision making, household behavior, and certainly business behavior. A lot of times there is the perception that if you are concerned about the environment and its sustainability, then you are labeled a treehugger.

In fact, I've heard business leaders express concern that being labeled as too environmentally friendly could be discouraging to potential investors, as in they wouldn't be taken seriously as business innovators. The reality is that if individuals or companies incorporate sustainability planning and energy conservation into their practices, they are saving money, increasing profitability, and contributing to the well-being of the larger community.

It feels strange to say, but even if you do not care about the environment, the atmosphere and climate change, there are simple cost-savings reasons to make some of these responsible decisions. I think companies are coming around and very quickly starting to recognize the Triple Bottom Line value of sustainability planning.

This is not just feel-good marketing. If implemented effectively, a company's bottom line is impacted in positive ways, and in the process, offsets the impacts of global climate change. Innovative companies and forward-thinking individuals recognize the value in reducing their carbon and ecological footprints.

What form of alternative transportation do you find the most viable for today's consumer?

RO: I think this is an ideal time to begin implementing real changes in our transportation infrastructure. It has been interesting watching the debate about the Big Three auto manufacturers. Do we bail them out? Force then to change their approach and products they are developing? Hybrid vehicles have taken off in popularity. I don't think there is enough availability and diversity to reach consumer demand and interest.

Where hybrids are falling short, however, is when manufacturers like Cadillac introduce the Escalade Hybrid, which is still a giant fuel and natural resource hog that gets 20 mpg, instead of 13. That is not really helping to solve the problem; it's continuing to feed our addiction to giant, unnecessary SUVs in this country. Honda and Toyota are leaders, putting high gas-mileage hybrids on the market, and even the Ford Fusion and Escape are nice options that get reasonable gas mileage. The next generation of plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles are even more promising from both fuel efficiency and pollution reduction considerations.

We must promote behavioral changes so that we can begin to rely on people to make more responsible choices in their personal habits, personal consumption, and business decisions. With the increased information available, we're seeing people pay more attention to the fuel efficiency of the car they buy, the type of transportation they take to work, the way we build, power, light, and insulate their homes. All of these impact the amount of fossil fuels that are consumed and greenhouse gases emitted.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us Rick. Personal choice is a part of free will, and that is something that thankfully many of us still enjoy and prosper from today!