Life Cycles of Consumable Goods: Lower-Impact Shades of Green

Understanding the "life-cycle" of any consumable good offers a fairly accurate sense of how "green" it really is -- basically, where things come from and what happens to them when we are done with them.
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Somewhere in the current of the past few years, being "green" has tipped into the mainstream. Amidst the changing landscape of a flourishing eco-centric marketplace, a question that pervades the good will of Americans and jockeys through spin-doctor marketing to compete for our hard-earned dollars is: what truly is "green"? True, "green" is a hue in the spectrum of visible light, but "green" has also become an attribute of products throughout the spectrum of consumable goods. The lowest common denominator of both is a relative scale of depth of shades and authenticity. So, how do we figure out how authentically "green" a product really is?

No Impact week, hosted by the Huffington Post, is a noble catalyst to get down to brass tax of greener living and a lower-impact lifestyle, even if for just one week of consumption. To do this, it's essential to comprehend how our stuff and habits impact the planet. One universal variable that present in sifting, distilling, and evaluating our sectors of consumption is the "life cycle" of goods and practices. That is, a good sense of a thing's impact before, during, and after utilization, and where in the green spectrum it falls. It's simpler than it sounds.

Life-cycle comprehension 101

Understanding the "life-cycle" of any consumable good offers a fairly accurate sense of how "green" it really is -- basically, where things come from and what happens to them when we are done with them. There are 5 questions that you can ask about any product to check its pulse of "greenness" and what kind of impact or footprint it has and leaves behind - basically, how things are sourced, produced, used, and disposed of.

1. What is it made of (renewable or nonrenewable materials)?
2. How is it made (the impact of manufacturing on people and the planet)?
3. How is it transported (how far and by what means)?
4. What is the impact and effect of use (how safe or harmful to humans and the ecosystem)?
5. What happens to it when we're done with it (reusable or not, recyclable or not, biodegradable or not)?

These 5 questions will help you make greener, lower-impact choices for your home and lifestyle, whether for food, fuel, cleaning products, personal care products, clothing, paper or plastic, energy, mattresses, furniture, shower curtains, or dog toys.

While you might not have a definitive answer to each question for every single product you purchase or habit you pursue, with a spirit of adventure and curiosity, you can get a pretty good sense of where it falls on the green scale of an eco-sound life-cycle. One qualifying element to consider that applies to questions 4 and 5 (what is the impact of use? And what happens when we're done with it?) is: How well is it made? That is, determining how long the product will last and/or how well it works. This qualifier is a key piece to overall sensible consumerism: quality over quantity, buy less stuff that's made better and will last longer.

The greenest products are (1) made with renewable materials (natural materials that regenerate), (2) are produced with minimal impact (to the planet and people and with minimal energy and/or renewable energy), (3) are efficiently transported over minimal distances (produced as respectively close to home as possible -- locally, regionally or domestically), (4) are nontoxic to humans and the immediate environment to use, and (5) can be reused, recycled, or will biodegrade with little to no environmental contamination.

The least green products are (1) made from nonrenewable materials, (2) are highly polluting and energy-intensive to produce, (3) are shipped from other coasts, countries, or continents, (4) are toxic to use, and (5) persistently pollute the environment or end up in the landfill.

As with most things, this is not a back-and-white exercise and it gets easier with practice. You will not be quizzed at the end of this reading because there's a learning curve to weigh and balance the pros and cons of a product and it takes a little practice to get the hang of it. If you were being graded, I'll give you a hint: On the bell curve, most products fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum relative to other products of the same design. It's a sliding scale with shades of green and a forest of possibility.

Visit Renée Loux at www.reneeloux.comhttp://www.reneeloux.com.

P.S. If you want an ultimate cheat-sheet to find truly green products with the lowest-impact life cycles, The Whole Green Catalog is cliff-notes browser-book covering a generous spread of the best and brightest goods and services. We've done the homework and editing so you don't have to.

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