You Are What You Choose

A while back I was reading The World is Flat. There was a comment made by Thomas Friedman there that stuck with me:

"Every time you as a consumer make a decision, you are supporting a whole set of values."

That thought stuck with me and today it resurfaced, as I was reading about 18Seconds.org, a green initiative started by Yahoo! to convey the importance of switching to Energy Star CFL light bulbs.

Ironically, about a week ago, 18Seconds.org had surfaced on digg.com (though it had only gotten a handful of diggs as of this writing). A comment below the digg pointed out the environmental issues that CFL bring about:

CFLs contain trace amounts of mercury. The amount is not large enough to pose a hazard to users (it is about 1/5 the amount in a typical digital watch battery), but it does become a concern at landfills and trash incinerators where the mercury from many bulbs can escape and contribute to air and water pollution.

Go figure! You are trying to do good by substituting (like we did) all incandescent bulbs in your house for CFLs... and you realize you may have made the wrong choice.

This happens all the time, so what's left to do? As long as we have the greater possible good in mind, we can always take corrective actions and do the right thing in the long run. For instance: in this case, learn how to recycle mercury and, like the person who made the comment in digg mentioned, use more natural light (that is the biggest energy saver there is in this case), buy smaller wattage bulbs and consider (for some rooms) using candles. Sounds extreme? I would say no, when you realize that our choices affect the world around us in ways that we may or may not suspect.

So, what choices have you made that you think you could do better at?