'Green' actions that have the opposite effect...?

Organic produce shipped from South America.

Harmful chemicals put into recycled plastic containers.

Recycled plastic disposable plates.

There are many things that are counter productive in my view. However, we need to start with awareness, when people are more receptive then we have the opportunity to help them relearn a better way. People have to want to change before they can learn how to change. I've seen a lot of negative things on Yahoo answers about being a hypocrite. Considering our impact is completely the opposite of how most of us have lived our life. There are still a lot of people who think it is just a Hippie phase we are going through. There is no right or wrong way to go green, but there are better choices and opportunities for those of us with the knowledge or experience to help guide others toward better choices.

There are many different aspects to going green and many of us focus on what is important to us. For me it is more important to reduce the chemicals I'm exposed to and reduce my garbage, so I care if my favorite cleaner was shipped from europe, or if my reusable outdoor plates will take more water and energy to wash. For others transportation or energy conservation are a higher priorities.

I look for solutions, I think yahoo answers is a great teaching and learning tool. I've seen questions about wasting water by rinsing recycling, I personally use the dish water that is left after handwashing my pots or pans. It doesn't take too much more energy to cut and paste an email into a word document and change a font if need be to get it to fit onto a single page.

Fair comments. Not to mention the waste of precious water in cleaning one bottle top. But if the person thought about it and washed a collection of things at the same time as their dishes it would help. Personally, I don't bother washing stuff for recycling. I figure if it really needs washing then they can do it themselves all in a big bunch which logically should be more efficient.

I'll bet there are heaps of examples of this kind of counterproductive action but I'm too lazy and tired to be bothered to think of any right now.

It's a careful balance between taking green action and the energy required to be green. No one is going to calculate the amount of energy each of their actions consumes but we generally know when we are wasting energy unnecessarily. I would suggest that there are actually very few green actions that have an opposite effect. I also doubt the figures you've quoted are they are based on any actual research? I think they must have come of the top of your head. If on the whole being green saves more energy than not being green then this is undoubtedly the way to go.

The classic example is vegetarians and in particular vegans.

Cows are more efficient at turning plant matter into protein than humans. Removing that link from the food chain means more land is needed to support that personal choice, more transport is needed to transport that bulkier product and more space is needed to store it prior to use.

Also in terms of global warming and unpredictable weather patterns, attaching too much value to a harvest results in disproportionate price rises because loses are not spread across the farming spectrum.

It's interesting that most active green campaigners are vegetarian by choice :o)

Very true...there are big lists of such things, BUT please also considerating that

- all children were going first on four legs....

- so the likes they do not apply perfect today will learn to do so tomorow, and there is where you come in .... to appreciate the induviduals who like to do something for the green age and to motivate to improve instaed to demotivate.........

Fritz already changing from the green to the grey hairstile....but still green in the heart.........try me!

Actually, nearly all of the ethanol used for energy is counterproductive, if food sources are used to manufacture the ethanol.

Recycling , when it can not make a profit. With the cost of fuel that might be difficult.

Are you another one of those wrench throwers. Looks like it.