Girl, Up In the Air

Did you see that movie Up in the Air? George Clooney plays a dude who spends three hundred days a year on the road and gets a hard-on from rental car rewards cards.

Let me tell you, sometimes I can relate.

I mean, I travel only a couple of times a month, but that's enough to make me feel that I live in different world than the other people in line at TSA. It's enough that it's really not right, the thrill I get from waving my "A-list" card and cutting to the front of the security line. Like Ryan Bingham, Clooney's character in Up in the Air, I love it.

I love hotels.

I love the little van that takes you to the parking lot.

I love the TSA workers (they're just doing their jobs, people! Smile at them!).

What I do not love about travel, however, is that in Travel-world, America's disposable culture is taken to the nth degree.

For example, there used to be a time when you could pack your own lunch and carry it onto the plane with you. And you still can, as long as nothing in your lunch is of a liquid or gelatinous consistency. If it is, it will be taken away. (My boss once had a can of tuna taken away because it was packed in water). As a result, most of us buy our lunches and drinks once we've passed through security, and then throw away a wad of wrappers, plastic dishes, and disposable flatware.

And what about the hotel? I admit, I don't bring shampoo most of the time, because I know a tiny disposable bottle will be provided for me. I don't take it with me to recycle. I leave it in the hotel room. Really - what am I expecting? It's not as if little mice are going to fill re-fill it once I leave. The hotel staff are going to throw it away.

I've been thinking about this a bit, and I've thought of a few ideas that I'm going to try out to green my travel -- some I've already tried out. Here they are:

• Bring an empty water bottle. Of course, you can no longer bring your own liquids into the terminal, hence the price-gouging of three dollar bottles just past the X-ray machines. But you can bring an empty bottle and fill it up at a water fountain. However, it might get your bag an extra check as they make sure your bottle is actually empty (or so I've learned).
• Check a bag when you have time. Even when I bring a carry-on size suitcase, I sometimes check it. This way, I can bring my regular bottle of shampoo, rather than purchasing a small bottle (more plastic!). I also bring a few other non-disposable items, such as my reusable coffee mug and reusable flatware. Those items can go through security, sure, but why lug them around when you don't have to?
• Load up your computer with entertainment. I usually have work to do on the plane, but for those of you who are lucky enough to have free time and would purchase a stack of magazines, why not download a few episodes of your favorite shows instead? If your computer has a decent battery, you shouldn't be using too much energy, and you'll probably save money as well as paper. And if you're going to use your computer ...
• Don't plug in if you don't have to. I'm totally guilty of juicing up every time I see an outlet in the airport, just because I know I won't have access in the air. However, now that I do have an excellent battery, I'm trying to curb this habit.
• Reuse those hotel towels. Of course, the practice of not washing hotel towels every day to "save the planet" is the practice that helped spawn the concept of "greenwashing." Who cares if it saves the hotels money? It's still better for the planet.
• Walk. I love walking in unfamiliar cities, but many work travelers fail to notice the distinctions between towns because they cab it between the hotel and restaurant, hotel and conference center, etc. What's sadder than hearing someone say, "I don't know the difference between New York and Paris - they all look the same"? But you'll never say that if you walk.

Do you have any green travel tips?

Vote ...

... with your dollars.

Last Sunday, my friend, Katie, and I took in Mikey Moore's new entertainment-documentary (or whatever you call the genre he spawned with Roger and Me. Maybe literary documentary?), entitled Capitalism: A Love Story. Going to see a Michael Moore movie in the theater is always an interesting event, because you're surrounded by like-minded individuals, usually more liberal than anyone currently in politics - except maybe Dennis Kucinich.

It was a refresher of high school Econ, in which we all learned that capitalism is the system that lets folks vote with their dollars. (Oh, Mr. Sanders, my high school econ teacher, where art thou in these woeful economic times?). The idea behind capitalism is that people assert influence through spending bucks, and that people will spend bucks on what is good and true, and the best products at the best prices will win out over expensive nonsense.

Well, we do assert influence through dollars, but there's a rat in the ship that is Capitalism.

That rat is the extreme income-inequality of our age.

(At this point, you may be wondering how this relates to the green that is Mother Nature, as opposed to the green that is money. Hold your horses! It's coming!)

The problem with the high-school-econ view of capitalism is that a concentrated few now control a lot more of the "votes" than do the rest of us. And so it means that those of us who don't have millions of dollars have to use our money even more wisely, to make our "votes" count in the marketplace.

That means that those of us who are greenily-inclined must state that with our pocketbooks, not just our voices.

So, in this era of greenwashing, what does that mean? Well, here are a few of my humble thoughts. If you have others, chime in.

1) Do your best to buy a greener alternative.

Yes, it's true. There are greenwashers out there trying to trick us. They will claim that a product is "eco", "green", or "natural" (the dreaded and nearly meaningless term.) They will use green-colored packaging and put pictures of trees on labels. And a lot of greenies will say, "Don't buy detergent that says it's made with plant-based cleaners. That's not really green!" It may not be the greenest detergent in the world, but it's probably better than the super-chemical kind. If you can afford it, I say go for it.

2) Support local and handmade when you can.
Local farmers and crafters will love you if you choose their products over one shipped from far away. And usually, those items will have lower carbon footprints.

3) Try to make the hard choices with the information you have.
A study came out once in Great Britain saying that carbon costs of roses imported from the Netherlands were actually greater than those flown all the way from Kenya, because the Kenyan farmers used much more sustainable processes. So sometimes, more local isn't better. Sometimes you're faced with an organic apple from New Zealand and a conventionally-grown one from Washington state. Organic or Less-traveled? I don't know! Until they start communicating the carbon footprint of all we buy, we have to feel OK with making the best choices we can.

4) If "green" products don't work, don't buy them.
Greener products will never catch on if you have to pay more for them but they don't work. If you try something and it sucks, don't buy it anymore -- but you may want to let the company know why. Voting for green crap with your dollars is still voting for crap.

5) Think before you buy.
Really, like most green habits, voting with your dollars comes down to intentionality. Sometimes I get home from the store and realize I bought something made with partially-hydrogenated-high-fructose-monosodium-xanthan-carrageenan. When I'm more intentional at the store, this rarely happens. It means more time and more thought go into the process, but I think it's worth it ... at least, I'm crossing my fingers that it is.

The Green in GREENwash

Have you heard about the 8th Deadly Sin?

It's called greenwashing, and Satan is busy at work, building a new ring of hell just for those who perpetrate this act. In that ring of hell, your punishment will be to be chained to a tree for all eternity, to be forced to listen to folk music and drink matcha.

At least, that's how it seems when you read some of the eco-blogs out there. Read a few of these commentators, and you'll start realizing that greenwashing is everywhere.

So, what is this sin? What does greenwashing mean?

Greenwashing is the practice of spending money to market products or services as green, when the products either a) aren't that green; or b) spend more money on marketing than they do on greening their industries.

Greenwashing is not nice. On the other hand, IS IT SURPRISING? Basically, the constant cry of "Greenwasher! You advertisers are greenwashers!" is kind of like saying, "Advertisers! You are advertisers!"

Advertisers' jobs are to leverage the zeitgeist to get folks to buy crap. When I was a kid, there was a cereal called Sugar Pops. Today, you can't find Sugar Pops, because no one wants to admit they are feeding their kids a bowl full of sugar. Now we call it Corn Pops. (And it's super-yummy by the way). When a critical mass of people realized, hey, sugar is not a good breakfast for my 7-year-old, the advertisers realized that a "re-branding" would be necessary. Hence, the name change.

That's why I, as a glass-half-full kinda gal, see the green in GREENwash. We have reached the point where it PAYS to market green. Industry is paying money to find out how to leverage our zeit and our geist. And the spirit of our time is getting a little greener every day.

Do we know how to best circumvent that greenwashing and make the smartest consumer decisions? No. We haven't yet figured out yet how to see the truth of greenwashers' claims without doing tons of research. And honestly, I don't think we have clearly defined what it means to be "green."

Personally, though, I think it will be time to be afraid when greenwashing disappears, and advertisers don't care what environmentalists think, when trying to get a mom in Duluth to buy a "green" detergent doesn't pay and they go back to only talking about its Mighty Stain-Fighting Power. And still, let's try to do better and demand more of ourselves and industry.

Coming up: What's our consumer responsibility in a world of greenwashing? I weigh in, because, obviously, I am the best person to ask about that. Also, Andy gets his shout-out, and I wax rhapsodic about vinegar, once again.