0503/12 Groen and Clueless - Print View - The Daily Boast This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or to license text, images or graphics, use the Reprints tool at the top of any article or visit: Reprints (http://www .newsweckdailybeastreprints.com) aA tN} Green and Clueless Even people who want to ‘save the planet’ have no idea what they’re doing. by Sharon Begley Ucontributors/sharon-begley.htm)). | August 17, 2010 1:00 AM EDT Michelle Yee / Corbis ‘You could practically hear a collective groan fiom enviros across the world yesterday, when The New York Times reported (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/nyregion/ 1 6chill. html) on city apartment dwellers who leave their air conditioning running for days and days when they are not even home: with “utilities included” in their rent, these model citizens don’t pay for it, and they want to walk into a nice cool room when they get back from vacation or just a tough, hot slog from the subway. So much for all those 50 Things You Can Do books (http://www amazon.com Simple-Things- You-Save-Earth/dp/0929634063) , magazine articles (http://www time. com time/specials/packages/completelis/0,29569,1602354,00.html) , and Web sites wn thedallybeast.com/newsweok/20 10/08/17 why -we-re-so-lueless-about-being-greenprinLhtml wesoar on hitp:/www.SOwaystohelp.com/ , all of which patiently explain that it would be really, really helpful if we didn’t run appliances when we're not using them, Apparently, that message—which green groups have been disseminating for at least 20 years—can’'t hold a candle to people's apathy, ignorance, and selfishness, ‘and Clueless - Print View- The Dally Beast Heat waves of the decade, ARIF ALI But the problem goes beyond the fact that people don’t care about, or perhaps understand, the fact that wasting energy and using it ineficiently accounts for a good chunk of the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global ‘warming, (In one 2009 analysis (http://www pnas.org/content/106/44/18452.full), scientists led by Thomas Dietz. of Michigan State University estimated that household-based steps—as opposed to national policies like cap- and-trade—such as weatherizing homes, upgrading fiuraces, switching to higher-mpg cars, changing air fits in a firmace, and not wasting power would cut U.S. carbon emissions by 123 million metric tons per year, which is 20 pervent of household direct emissions and 7.4 percent of U.S. emissions.) Despite the millions of words that have been written on how to save energy and use it more efficiently, people basically have no idea what to do, wn thedallybeast.com/newsweok/20 10/08/17 why -we-re-so-lueless-about-being-greenprinLhtml 216osinart2 cS 7 and Cluoless- Prin View The Daily Beast Behind every statistic, there's a good story: facts and figures can add up to something greater than themselves. Scientists led by Shahzeen Atari of the Earth Institute at Columbia University surveyed 505 Americans (recruited through Craigslist), asking them to name the best ways to conserve energy. The most common answers had to do with curtailing use (by tuming off lights or driving less, for instance) rather than improving efficiency (instaling more efficient lightbulbs and appliances, say). But it is energy efficiency that offers the only possibilty for dialing back our voracious consumption of energy and the fossil fuels that generate it. The reason is basic psychology: we are just not going to become a nation of pedestrians, let alone do without all our electronic toys. The only hope is therefore to continue satisfying those materialistic needs but with less electricity and gasoline. Yet as Attari and her colleagues report in a study (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/08/06/1001509107. full pdf +html?sid=357269b2-7147-4bd5-9806- 720361060494) in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, only 12 percent of participants mentioned efficiency improvements as “the most effective way” to conserve energy, while 55 percent mentioned curtailing use. Specifically: 20 percent said tur off lights, but only 3.6 percent said use more eflcient bulbs; 15 percent said drive less or use public transit, but only 3 percent said use a more efficient car. No wonder Americans are so resistant to taking personal steps to mitigate climate change: they think it means doing without. ‘And the ignorance continued. The scientists next asked people to estimate how much energy different appliances used and how much different behaviors saved. More said line-drying clothes saves more than changing the washing-machine settings (the reverse is true). Most people alo think trucks and trains that transport goods use about the same energy; in fact, trucks use 10 times more to move one ton of goods one mile. Most people also said that making a glass bottle takes less energy than making an aluminum can (the reverse is true: a glass bottle requires 1.4 times as much energy as the can when virgin materials are used, and 20 times as much when recycled materials are used; making a recycled glass bottle actually takes more energy than making a virgin aluminum can). The higher the energy used by an appliance, the more wrong people were in their estimates. “Tn other words, the scientists write, ‘people’s understanding may be worse where the potential for CO2 reductions is large.” wn thedallybeast.com/newsweok/20 10/08/17 why -we-re-so-lueless-about-being-greenprinLhtml sie