Is Going Green Bad for the Environment?

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Studies tell us that young people have the highest environmental awareness of any demographic slice (though the jury is still out on whether they’re walking the walk). And why not? We have to be around the longest to see how this whole environmental degradation and climate change thing plays out. It might be hard to fault our impulse to go green and conserve for the future, but are all our efforts working out in practice?

To answer this question perhaps it’s best to look to a far greener country than America. While in the U.S. mainstream politicians are still arguing about whether global warming even exists, in Germany every major political party has preserving the environment as one of its top priorities. It’s enough to warm even the greenest American heart, but is all that enthusiasm actually translating into effective action?

Leading German magazine Spiegel has its doubts. In a lengthy article that’s worth reading in full, the magazine lays out the case that, when it comes to Germany and the environment, good intentions are simply not enough, concluding:

Not everything that looks green serves the environment. The ecological principle of proceeding with care doesn’t seem to apply to environmental policy. The more, the better, seems to be the principle. No one is calculating whether all the billions being invested in protecting the environment are actually being spent wisely. Ordinary citizens can’t judge it and many experts have no interest in shedding any light on this aspect because their livelihoods are at stake.

A large amount of money flows into studies, risk assessments and providing seals of approval. In many cases, a closer look at environmental measures reveals that they’re expensive and don’t have much effect. German environmental standards are so high already that it would require an enormous expense to achieve further improvements — especially in comparison with less developed nations such as China, India or the former Eastern bloc states.

In economics, it’s called the law of diminishing marginal utility. The first glass of water you drink will help a lot to quench your thirst. The second will help a little less and so on. By the 10th glass you will be feeling unpleasantly full or even sick. That’s the worst aspect: some major environmental policies aren’t just ineffective — they are counterproductive.

Of course, America is a long way off from having the environmental commitment of Germany (where, for example, last year �50 million was spent on a road tunnel to protect a colony of crested newts), so just because Germany’s green mania may frequently be counter productive, doesn’t mean mildly more environmentalist policies on this side of the Atlantic would be ineffective. But the thought-provoking article does remind us that it’s not just the appearance of environmentalism we’re after, or the warm and fuzzy feeling we get from taking action — any action — but actual impact. Just because something looks green, doesn’t mean it’s actually helping the environment.

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