European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Green consumerism by Patty Reinert associated press relax America you can change your Oil read the sunday paper Wash your clothes and eat fast food a without further endangering planet Earth. But beware. A trip to the supermarket May be More challenging than Ever. Quot every time you open your Wallet you re casting a vote for or against the environment Quot said Joel Makower a Washington based author who adapted the British edition of the Green consumer for the . Market. Quot the bad news is that so Many things we do have a negative effect on the environment. The Good news is that it does no to take a drastic change in lifestyle to help solve the  for would be environmentalists in the United states there is no shortage of self help guides All of which have been released in time for the 20th anniversary of Earth Day april 22. One is Diane Maceachern a save our planet 750 everyday ways you can help clean up the Earth. This years theme is Quot who says you can t save the world Quot a i really believe that one person makes a difference Quot said Maceachern 37, of Takoma Park my. Quot i want this Book to be a Point of departure for everyone sitting there saying global warming is horrible but where do i Start a Quot Makower a Brand specific guide explains How to look for a Green Quot a or environment Friendly a groceries gardening supplies Home appliances and cars. Quot Twenty years ago the idea of Green consumerism was a contradiction in terms. It meant you  buy anything Quot Makower said. Quot but now so Many companies have spent millions of dollars in an Effort to Appeal to Consumers who Are willing to take environmental matters into their own hands. A the products Are out there Quot he said. Quot you just have to know what to look  for example the Green consumer recommends checking boxes of Cereal cake mix and laundry detergent to see if they Are made of recycled cardboard. Makower also suggests buying in bulk choosing Glass Over plastic avoiding Over packaged foods and putting fruits and vegetables directly in the shopping cart rather than in plastic bags. And at the Check out counter the question Quot paper or plastic should be answered  even paper takes up precious Landfill space before it biodegrade and most grocery bags Are made of Virgin paper rather than recycled paper for added strength. The Green consumer shops for groceries with a reusable cloth bag. Makower predicts that the quote Factor Quot soon will be As important a consideration As Price Quality and convenience in today a environmentally conscious marketplace. According to a 1989 Survey by the Michael Peters group a new York based marketing firm 89 percent of the 1,000 adults questioned said they Are concerned about the environmental effects of products they buy. Seventy eight percent said they would pay More for items in recyclable packages and 53 percent said they had boycotted products for environmental reasons. Quot people Are starting to realize that we can to wait for Industry or government or technology to do it for us a Makower said. Quot we helped cause these problems and we have to help solve  Maceachern says Novice environmentalists can Start just about anywhere. Quot the Public sometimes does no to understand the Chain reaction a the interconnectedness of everything. But they Start doing one thing a like conserving Energy by shutting off their the throw away society Here s a partial list of some of the things americans throw away daily arid yearly. In 1980,160 million tons of municipal solid waste were dumped inthe . Lir own away daily intones. 32,000 23,900 thrown away every year in Anions plastic do pcs a i plastic bags it spurs razors and Blades pens tires sources Hackensack Meadowlands devel. Comm. Environment Center environmental Protection Agency congressional office of tech. Assessment garbage Magazine lights when they done to need them. And when they see that their Utility Bills have gone Down then they say a Why Don t i try to save water a. And pretty soon it s just  among Maceachern s suggestions a Weathe Rize your Home. As much Energy leaks through american windows every year As flows through the alaskan pipeline. A Plant Trees. The american forestry association says that one or two Trees shading a Central air conditioning unit can increase efficiency by 10 percent. A eat at Home. If you eat at fast food restaurants refuse the styrofoam packaging. It is made with chlorofluorocarbons which destroy the Earth s protective Ozone layer. A Plant an organic Garden and avoid pesticides. A refuse to buy products harmful to the environment Recycle what you do buy and reuse what you can to Recycle. Each year americans throw away 18 billion disposable diapers 1.7 billion pens 2 billion razors and 220 million tires. Barry commoner Down to Earth activist up environmentalist author Barry commoner Clear prescriptions for change. By Paul Raeburn associated press the staggering $1 trillion the United states has spent on pollution control for the past 20 years has done Little to clean up the environment. Emissions of air pollutants which were supposed to have been Cut 90 percent Are Down Only 18 percent. Emissions of nitrogen oxides potent contributors to acid rain have increased 4.2 percent. With a single exception efforts to control pollution have failed and Congress is making the same mistakes again As it struggles to pass a new clean air Bill says scientist activist Barry commoner who helped launch landmark environmental legislation in the 1970s. As the 20th anniversary of Earth Day approaches on april 22, commoner looks Back on those Early efforts in a new Book entitled making peace with the planet. Quot i was very Active in bringing All of this about Quot he says. Quot and you have to ask yourself a what Good have i done a you come to the conclusion that All that we be been doing has had a minor  with the one exception Lead. Quot Lead has gone Down 94 percent Quot commoner says. Quot what a More the Levels in children s blood have come Down. This is a real  what did we do right with Lead that we failed to do with nitrogen oxides Fulfur dioxide and Carbon dioxide the answer is that Lead was eliminated from gasoline. There was no need for controls Lead simply was t being injected into the environment any longer. In the Case of the other pollutants an attempt was made to control their release not eliminate them. Quot what it says is controls done to do the Job a commoner notes. Quot environmental pollution is an incurable disease that can Only be prevented the same thing happened earlier with Dot. Level sad _ in the environment have dropped Sharp y in develop countries because its use was eliminated. Been made to control it a rather than Elim no tons those efforts would have failed commoner main a commoner 72, directs the Center for the Bio orgy of natural systems at Queens College in new Yorito his 1971 Book the closing Circle was a Best s that nourished the american Public s growing App for information on the environmental crisis. In the 1970. Commoner focused on the harmful environmental effects of the Energy Cansis. N Tat. Ran for president As the candidate of the c Lens a y a coalition of reformers he helped up 9 his activism did t deter him from a a a writing. Most recently he has been St y9 Jon problem of plastics recycling working in c p with the environmental group g a a a pm Ftp the web of commoner has an acute ability to pece the we economics science and politics thaa environmental policy questions. The result is u r Clear prescription for change. Ifni elation such in the Case of current environment leg. G As the clean air Bill commoner s an y control switch to pollution prevention rata aws Quot every one of our operational Environ me goes into effect Only after the the environment. You be got to redo the entire Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes sunday april 8,1990