Texas: The Super-Consumer Nation-State

Texas sure has lots to be proud of; the only state to join the Union as an autonomous nation, enough arable land mass to house the entire earth's population with 1,000 square feet for each person, some of the most diverse landscape housed within a single state and a lot more. But did you know that Texas is also the leader in emitting the greenhouse gas CO2?

It's true and a dubious honor to be sure. Not an easy one for many of us Texans to grapple with. In fact there are greater issues at stake here. Many people, especially in Houston, are very interested in responsible consumerism. This 'green' trend has even reached into our daily lives as individuals as well as large projects like home construction, new car technology even paper products and light bulbs. In fact light bulbs are a perfect example of the dichotomy of sustainability. The newer energy efficient compact florescent light bulbs take more packaging. More packaging means more natural resources consumed, more space in transit thus more fuel to transport. Is the net savings of electricity enough to balance out the additional consumption of resources and extra emission of these bulbs? Not to mention the specially required disposal needs; compact florescent bulbs, like all florescent bulbs, require special recycling and can't just be dumped into the garbage and into the landfill.

As Texans we have a smaller population than either Wisconsin or California but we provide more carbon gases than both of those states combined. Conservation is more than just recycling and turning out the lights when not in use, it's being aware of the balance required to live a sustainable consumer existence. Fewer trips to the grocery store, combining errands, generating less trash. It's all part of a life-long complex web of actions and reactions.

All in all and above all it requires individual responsibility. On the face of it that's fairly easy to do.; be responsible for yourself and your actions but at the same time we are influenced by the myriad of other inhabitants of this planet. Here are some places you can find suggestions to help you make small changes over time. If we can all make small adjustments the impact could be immense.

Ideal Bite
Green Living Ideas
Campaign Earth
Low Impact Living

For more in depth discussions check Marketplace.org's Consumed special report.