What else is non eco-friendly?

Aaarrrgghh,
I hadn't seen the disposable brush, gag!
Maybe that was in response to receiving the first place in the 2004 silliest warning label competition:
label on toilet brush:
"Do not use for personal hygine"

 

To asnwer your question:
Non-eco-friendly products: I would list power that is supplied by electricity providers who do not use renewable resources as non-eco-friendly. Luckily here in TX we have choices, and I am glad I can use Green Mountain Energy as an electricity provider that uses renewable resources.

 

I'm not sure how the bills compare, since I've been with GME for almost 3 years now (since dereg).
They are still a little ligher than non-renewable, and I am honestly disappointed that they raised their prices when the oil burning providers did, and are still a bit higher, rather than use the high oil and gas prices to become more competitive. The bottom line is, they don't need to be more competitive, because even though they have a large wind farm in west TX, they have neough customers in TX to have to import wind-energy from CA and OR.

 

anything leather is eco unfriendly.

 

Most electronics today are now designed with all the electronics on a single circuit board. The result is something that is impractical to repair and so it gets tossed into the landfill.

Another thing is products in biodegradable boxes inside a "here forever" plastic container.

 

I get bothered by batteries. We use so many and recycling for them is so behind.

 

Anything that is single use such as plastic bags, batteries, plastic containers (so-called "recyclable"), cameras, etc. are nonecofriendly. Fast food containers and drive-throughs are nonecofriendly. Starbucks at least makes its used coffee grounds available for recycling in gardens.

How about the large amount of e-waste, electronic media with no place to go?!

 

Pure, unadulterated Coca-cola syrup is very eco-unfriendly.

 

The entire human race and all our economic activity is eco-unfriendly. All production other than hand-powered or animal-powered organic gardening and manual labor unassisted by machinery is eco-unfriendly. All packaging is eco-unfriendly. All burning of anything and all mineral extraction is eco-unfriendly. Population growth (okay, that's not a product) is eco-unfriendly. Nukes, both civilian and military are eco-unfriendly. All machinery is eco-unfriendly. The Prius is less eco-unfriendly than, say, a Chevy Blazer or a Hummer, but it still burns gas and adds carbon to the atmosphere, and is therefore eco-unfriendly.

But the stuff I hate the most is the eco-unfriendly stuff that other people use. I can find justifications for the eco-unfriendly stuff that I use.

Hey, you! There's a mote in your eye. What's that you say about a log? Watch what you're saying there, buddy, there's no log in my eye. I'm just carrying this over to the toothpick factory. Harrumph!

 

Computers!! The San Jose Mercury News recently published a story about our computer waste going to China and causing huge, absolutely huge environmental problems.
Whole villages have been converted into "recycling" camps where no one wears any sort of protective clothing or eyewear. Hazardous materials, lead, mercury, copper, organic solvents, are regularly handled, inhaled, and drunk by the villagers since the waste is simply poured into nearby streams.
The environmental abuse and human cost is staggering. The Chinese regularly give lip service to human rights and environmental protection, but poverty, greed and corruption work to undermine any feeble government efforts to curb abuses. Most of these sweat shop (and software piracy) operations are run by the Chinese army, so you can guess where any reform ideas are likely to end up.
The main culprit, however, is the US computer industry, which like most US companies, has shown virtually zero responsiblity for the proper use and disposal of its products.
Our insatiable need to "upgrade" every year to new computers, and the industry's relentless drive to foster that (i.e., Microsoft's operating policy in a nutshell), has created literally mountains of electronic waste, most of which is highly toxic.
I have kept my 486 machine in part because it still works, and in part because I see no safe means of recycling it without contributing to the huge proliferation of dead computers.
Think about this when you next feel the urge to upgrade. Do you really need another .5 Gb of speed and/or the next version of Windows whatever??
Bob

 

Good point!

For anyone buying a new Dell, there's a recycling option that needs to be checked during the configuration and ordering process. It's FREE.

Even better may be to find a local 501©(3) org and donate the computer and/or monitor.

 

Personally I love to FreeCycle and have given away okver 20 PCs to families that wanted them. This also avoids the $5 fee per item to get rid of ewaste here.

 

Excellent point about computers. Our entire economic model is based on useless consumption. Consumption drives our economy, so that if people stopped consuming stuff they don't need, our economy would collapse. There are other economic models, but if you talk about them you are branded as a nut case, or worse, and nobody takes you seriously. The entire topic is excluded from the national dialog. Of course BOTH political parties share the same vision, in which prosperity and quality of life are measured by the dollar amount of stuff consumed, adjusted for inflation.

It's one reason why, as much as I detest the Shrub, I don't believe Kerry would have solved anything.

 

Carbon dioxide. Everything else is like deck chairs on the Titanic.

Along with wreaking havoc upon countless ecosystems, one day global warming will cause the West Antarctic ice sheet to slide into the sea. When that happens every ocean shore in the world will look like Sumatra on tsunami day, except that the water will not go back. Counting the thousands of extinct species and hundreds of drowned cities, our great-grandchildren will curse us for not abandoning fossil fuels with all deliberate speed in favor of nuclear, Solar, and wind.