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Millennials Love Going Green But Don't Actually Recycle, Study Says

Renae said:
You're on a computer, that uses electricity, you are using the internet, that requires huge amounts of energy to RUN the internet https://climatecare.org/infographic-the-carbon-footprint-of-the-internet/ so just being on line you are contributing to a huge source of GHG.

I bet none of you knew that, or if you did you rationalize that you make a difference by switching to LED lightbulbs or something.
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I also drive a car and don't intend to switch to horse and buggy. No rationalizations required.
 
The problem with most of the "green" movement, is that they have not identified the real problem.
The real problem is energy, the modern world has gotten where we are by using stored energy we found in the ground.
We simply do not have enough of that stored energy to allow all the people on earth to achieve a 1st world lifestyle.
The answer is not to reduce the lifestyle of the 1st world, but to find a way to allow everyone in the world
who wants a first world lifestyle, to actually achieve it.
Solar energy provide enough energy, but it is low density, and not available when needed.
Nature has evolved a way to store energy, hydrocarbons, Humans can store/accumulate solar energy
as carbon neutral hydrocarbon fuels. We can do this in a sustainable way to allow Humanity to move forward.
Something better will likely come along, but for now we have a viable path.
The economics are such, that it is still more profitable for refineries to make fuel from oil,
but the cost curves are already in motion, and at some point (fairly soon) the refineries
will see a greater profit from buying surplus solar electricity, and making fuel from atmospheric CO2 and water.
 
Taylor said:
More "do as I say, not as I do" -


Millennials Love Going Green But Don’t Actually Recycle, Study Says

They're not even embarrassed by it, most of them. They just figure it's someone else's job. Of course, this is the generation that doesn't eat cereal because it's just too much work to clean the bowl. Better to just blame corporations and pat yourself on the back for doing your part to save the planet.
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Or perhaps they are smart enough to understand that recycling has no positive effect on the environment.
 
ecofarm said:
We had to take our recyclables to the collection point in a parking lot, in snow, up hill, both ways.
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A lot of people from Miami have that experience.
 
nota bene said:
I also drive a car and don't intend to switch to horse and buggy. No rationalizations required.
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China is moving towards banning the internal combustion engine. Electric cars will be the norm, probably within a couple of decades.
 
Taylor said:
More "do as I say, not as I do" -


Millennials Love Going Green But Don’t Actually Recycle, Study Says

They're not even embarrassed by it, most of them. They just figure it's someone else's job. Of course, this is the generation that doesn't eat cereal because it's just too much work to clean the bowl. Better to just blame corporations and pat yourself on the back for doing your part to save the planet.
Click to expand...

No, it's because we recognize the reality that one individual's choice cant fix this problem. Climate change isn't caused by what I set my thermostat at. It's caused by the fact we're burning coal to generate the electricity when we should be moving towards solar, wind, and hydro electricity. Millenials understand we need a world where you can drive the car you want, without it spewing carbon dioxide out the back of it. The only way we get there is if corporations make a push to get it done.
 
Ahlevah said:
China is moving towards banning the internal combustion engine. Electric cars will be the norm, probably within a couple of decades.
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I can easily see the wheels of future cars being driven by electric motors,
but I think the energy carrying container will be hydrocarbon fuels for quite a while.
The fuels may not be from oil, but simply as a device for carrying high density energy.
 
spud_meister said:
Every millennial in the world could recycle every scrap of rubbish, and it wouldn't have an impact on climate change. Perhaps millennial's are simply better informed about the realities of climate change.
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Climate change isnt the only serious environmental issue.
 
MrWonka said:
No, it's because we recognize the reality that one individual's choice cant fix this problem. Climate change isn't caused by what I set my thermostat at. It's caused by the fact we're burning coal to generate the electricity when we should be moving towards solar, wind, and hydro electricity. Millenials understand we need a world where you can drive the car you want, without it spewing carbon dioxide out the back of it. The only way we get there is if corporations make a push to get it done.
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Right....

An individual can't fix the problem therefore millions of individuals working in concert can't fix the problem...

I'll say this...millenials sure do love their government mandated programs and absolutely hate personal responsibility.
 
Lursa said:
Climate change isnt the only serious environmental issue.
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But its a hot topic that will get you SJW cred if you talk about (but not if you actually do anything).
 
a.k.a

Millennials are not free of hypocrisy and they're imperfect people.

Thanks for the update on the nature of the human race.

The environment is still going to be better off when millennials take power.
 
nota bene said:
That's not really entirely fair. Each one of us can make the decision every single day to conserve energy and to respect the environment and otherwise be a "faithful steward of God's bounty."
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Exactly.

It is at the individual level where the most accomplishment can be attained.

Plus it can be done without raising taxes or expecting government to do it for you. Plus somebody else doesn't have to pay for it.

Industry is real simple raise the price of throwing everything in the land fill. My boss throws everything in the dumpster and could care less about recycling because it is cheaper to not recycle. However if that dumpster cost him $650.00 instead of $65.00 to empty he would be recycling everything. Cost is the bottom line. Of course he would expect the workers to do it as well as what we are already doing.
 
nota bene said:
That's not really entirely fair. Each one of us can make the decision every single day to conserve energy and to respect the environment and otherwise be a "faithful steward of God's bounty."
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Before going green was a phrase, my Mom and Dad taught me to turn off unnecessary lights and use water sparingly. We wash and reuse our plastic bags whenever possible, and second use whatever we can. We plan our route before going anywhere and don't shop for just one or two items at a time.
 
Taylor said:
More "do as I say, not as I do" -


Millennials Love Going Green But Don’t Actually Recycle, Study Says

They're not even embarrassed by it, most of them. They just figure it's someone else's job. Of course, this is the generation that doesn't eat cereal because it's just too much work to clean the bowl. Better to just blame corporations and pat yourself on the back for doing your part to save the planet.
Click to expand...

Um... Most Millenials are renters, and apartment complexes frequently don't offer recycling, or have thermostatic temperature control. Most of mine had neither.

So, yeah, obviously. Why would we be embarrassed of our friends finding out we're living with the exact same housing issues they probably are?

And who's to blame for the screwed up housing market preventing most of us from having more control over that stuff, exactly?
 
The neighborhood millennials recycle plastic bottles and aluminum cans by throwing them into my yard.

It's a start.
 
Old people raggin’ on young people. The more things change the more they stay the same.
 
JMaximus said:
Except that everyone with a clue knows that "going green" just means paying a bunch of brown people in some far off country to go without the carbon-intensive niceties of modern life and does nothing to improve or even preserve the quality of the environment.
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Here in santa fe we gave up on bottle recycling because it was too expensive. But aluminum, paper and plastic is still a go. And it's rather easy now that they consolidated into one recycle bin. It was annoying seperating recycling but... one can for all recyclables. Easy enough for me. Took it to the curb this morning in fact.

Aluminum is sent to China for recycling, paper and plastics are recycled an hour south in Albuquerque. The expense in recycling glass is it isn't profitable to send all the way to Phoenix where the nearest glass recycling is. It will become profitable when it gets shipped closer. Meanwhile glass is basically sand so, I'm not crying about it going into a landfill at this point.
 
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Renae said:
You're on a computer, that uses electricity, you are using the internet, that requires huge amounts of energy to RUN the internet https://climatecare.org/infographic-the-carbon-footprint-of-the-internet/ so just being on line you are contributing to a huge source of GHG.
Click to expand...

Google to be powered 100% by renewable energy from 2017

Amazon’s biggest renewable energy project: a 253-megawatt Texas wind farm opening in 2017

Microsoft commits to running data centers off 50% renewable energy by 2018

Bet you didn't know that. And that's just a few.


Renae said:
I bet none of you knew that, or if you did you rationalize that you make a difference by switching to LED lightbulbs or something.
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It's made a difference to my electric bill regardless. So I'm being rewarded for being green.
 
HenryChinaski said:
Old people get crabby when they’re not getting enough fiber in their diets.
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It's just all so stupid to bitch about hating "greeness". How hard is it to realize that not filling up landfills with stuff that can be reused is a good thing?
 
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poweRob said:
Google to be powered 100% by renewable energy from 2017

Amazon’s biggest renewable energy project: a 253-megawatt Texas wind farm opening in 2017

Microsoft commits to running data centers off 50% renewable energy by 2018

Bet you didn't know that. And that's just a few.




It's made a difference to my electric bill regardless. So I'm being rewarded for being green.
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Renewables, the power system that requires huge amounts of ready on stand by power generation for when the wind and sun don't behave...
 
poweRob said:
Here in santa fe we gave up on bottle recycling because it was too expensive. But aluminum, paper and plastic is still a go. And it's rather easy now that they consolidated into one recycle bin. It was annoying seperating recycling but... one can for all recyclables. Easy enough for me. Took it to the curb this morning in fact.

Aluminum is sent to China for recycling, paper and plastics are recycled an hour south in Albuquerque. The expense in recycling glass is it isn't profitable to send all the way to Phoenix where the nearest glass recycling is. It will become profitable when it gets shipped closer. Meanwhile glass is basically sand so, I'm not crying about it going into a landfill at this point.
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A couple of weeks ago I read an article about black market sand in India and Indonesia. There are also places in California where harvesting/mining beach sand is being outlawed. Apparently we are using sand at an exponential rate for glass and concrete to the point that is has become valuable enough to have a black market. One other thing. Sand is one material that once it has been turned into something else, it can never be sand again. Concrete and glass can be recycled, but not into sand.
 
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