Debating Over the Meaning of Eco-Friendly

It’s actually an interesting conversation to have with people from varying backgrounds.  Eco-friendly appears to have several origins and I think it really doesn’t matter what the truth is as long as people are starting to think about the issues.  But, people love a good debate and this one is particularly intriguing.

A few weeks ago, I made the statement that eco-friendly was actually about being friendly to the ecosystem.  I was attacked by quite a few people who were adamant that it meant to be economically friendly.  This all started because I said that Sunjel gel fuel is eco-friendly and it hasn’t stopped since.  But, it doesn’t matter to me because at least everyone is thinking about the issues.

Sunjel is an alcohol based gel fuel that burns for hours and all it dispenses is water into the air. Not even enough water to cause mildew in nooks and crannies around your house. A small amount of water that adds moisture to the air and evaporates entirely.

It beats burning wood and I know you probably never thought you would hear anyone say that. But, years ago it wasn't a problem. Mass consumption of anything always brings with it problems and that's an issue that has to do with the ecosystem.

Burning wood is burning a solid fuel. They yield particulate pollution. These are solid particles that are smaller than the cells inside your body. Particulate pollution has been the cause of over 2 million deaths world wide per year. Another thing, wood smoke is chemically active in the body 40 times longer than tobacco. You can read about the effects of wood smoke in William A. Pryor's Persistent Free Radicals in Woodsmoke: An ESR Spin Trapping Study, Free Radical Biology and Medicine 1989.

Sunjel is even better than gas. Gas produces a great amount of water vapor in the air. It's like pouring gallons of water on the wood and drywall around your house. Let it soak in and you are looking at some major water damage. Most people don't even realize where the damage is coming from in their home. They just keep remodeling all the while looking for leaks and drafts to fix.

But, the main thing about gas is that it also dispenses carbon dioxide into the air you breathe. That's not so much a problem as when the gas has problems with combustion. If combustion is incomplete, carbon monoxide and a great deal of soot is dispensed throughout your home. The soot you can see. But the carbon monoxide is an odorless, lethal gas that can cause debilitating sickness or death. It's a good thing there is a complex system of sensors and shut off valves in place to keep that from happening.

So, Sunjel is a safe bet and that my friends is how the eco-friendly conversation was started. Now, I'm getting emails every day telling me all about more eco-friendly tips that I can use. Most of them are really great. But, I also get those emails about how eco-friendly actually means economically friendly.

I doubt this ends the conversation, but economically friendly is about how much resources we save. Maybe we are saving money. Maybe we are conserving food, fuel or energy. That's economical.

The ecosystem has to deal with the balance in nature. If we conserve, then we are consuming at a healthy rate and maintaining balance in the ecosystem. So, it really doesn't matter to me if you think eco-friendly means economically friendly or ecosystem friendly. You see how they both could be true?

My only point is that people are talking about it and that's a good thing. Keep thinking green!