Green Breakdown

Found at Newsbusters:

In the past two days, men's speed skating was slowed to a standstill because of poor ice conditions, further complicated by the environmentally friendly machines, used in place of the tried and true Zamboni, that kept breaking down. A Zamboni is being brought in from Calgary.

Just made me wonder: does anybody intentionally buy green products? I mean, sure, somebody must buy them, otherwise they wouldn't be on the shelf. But does anyone buy the 'environmentally friendly' cleaner, use it, realize that plain water cleans better, then go back to the store to buy it for a second time? Is there a group of consumers out there who buy environmentally friendly batteries because well, darn it, regular batteries just last too long?

And I'm still waiting for the first documentary about bio-diesel buses traveling cross country where filming isn't suspended on the second day while the crew looks for a diesel mechanic in Irving, Texas. Sure, a few buses can run, for a time, on used McDonald's french fry oil. But McDonald's can't sell enough french fries to make a dent in our need for petroleum. And calling bad ideas 'revolutionary solutions' doesn't make them good ideas.

You can make incremental improvements to any product, but when you mandate a revolution in green technology you end up with cleaners that don't clean, and Zambonies that don't zambone.