[GreenYes] Re: with $400 million, I think we could get darn close to ZW!

[Alan Muller <amuller@no.address>]

At 11:38 AM 6/30/2006 -0500, Reindl, John wrote:
>Hi Alan ~
>
>Yes, I would say that, for example, transporting glass 1,000 miles 
>for glass-to-glass recycling may result in the use of more energy 
>and the emission of more pollutants to the atmosphere than 
>alternative methods of handling that material.
>
>I recommend that we do analyses of what the environmental impacts 
>are of our decisions. I also recommend using an environmental 
>valuation process to help us combine the range of impacts (a pound 
>of arsenic or mercury to the air has a larger impact than a ton of 
>carbon dioxide; environmental valuation can help show the different 
>sizes of these impacts).
>
>Europe has used these methodologies to set green taxes. I suggest 
>that we also explore this approach.
>
>John

I agree that there is something to be said for this.  But I see 
problems also:  (1)  Demands for this sort of analysis could be used 
to obstruct the development of "zero waste" programs by calling for 
all sorts of complex evaluations, and (2) this sort of assessment 
usually involves assumptions piled on top of assumptions.  The 
results often seems more sensitive to the assumptions than to the 
basic data itself.

I am influenced by the mischief that has been done by industry-driven 
"risk assessment" in environmental decision-making.

Alan

Alan Muller, Executive Director
Green Delaware
Box 69
Port Penn, DE 19731 USA
(302)834-3466
fax (302)836-3005
greendel@no.address
www.greendel.org 

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