Like many Americans, unfortunate circumstances have caused me to become familiar with hospitals, long-term care homes, medical clinics, and other facilities where cleanliness can be the difference between life and death.
When minimizing infection is paramount, no one cares about the rubbish that is generated every day: paper towels, disposable wipes, diapers, bed liners, booties, and plastic bags, straws, cups, utensils, gloves, and medical paraphernalia. And no one sorts that detritus into green, blue, and black bins--which by the way are all dumped into landfill in many jurisdictions.
The use of clean water for a sick individual's laundry, bathing, toilet, and housecleaning dwarfs any savings from using a low-flow shower head.
Now that everyone's worried about the coronavirus these medical protocols have spread to the general population, where, to no one's surprise, green priorities are ignored:
Washing hands frequently with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds is recommended by State and Federal authorities, with nary a peep from local water districts, and everyone does this 10 to 20 times a day.
Chemical wipes are used all the time on public surfaces, and no one disapproves. No one frowns at the extra amount of trash.
If driving a car to work or school is at all an option, have you seen anyone choosing to put themselves or their kids on a filthy bus or train? Maybe some of them will notice the nanny state "nudges" to move everyone out of their cars.
For years Starbucks and other coffee shops offered discounts to customers who bring in reusable (hard plastic, ceramic, metal) cups to reduce trash. The coronavirus has caused Starbucks to suspend this policy for sanitary reasons. (Horrors, do you mean it wasn't sanitary in the first place?)
IMHO, we all would be impressed by greens who walk the walk by using eco-friendly organic cleaners to wipe down surfaces and dispose of trash in biodegradable bags. True, they would have to scrub more often than if they used inorganic chemicals, but that's a small price to pay for saving the planet.
When the coronavirus becomes manageable, I wonder if we'll pay as much attention to the greens as we did before.
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