| HGTV “Green Home”: Complete with Gas Guzzling SUV! |
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| Written by Joshua Liberles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 29 April 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sure it's great that taking care of the planet has become mainstream and people are becoming semi-conscious of their resource consumption. But pushing new products on consumers, whether they're greener alternatives or not, isn't going to have a positive impact. Consumption, the ultimate American value, just isn't the answer. Comments (12)
Steve
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.. mean someone has to pay for the entire promotion. The careful marketing and branding is connected to the fact that production costs of such a show are offset by product placement (advertising) sales. So, while I see your point, I understand why it happened - and I'm not sure there is a simple solution. |
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sorry for the double post, but the "Title" section of the comment doesn't appear. The first line should read: "The costs of production mean someone has to pay for the entire promotion." |
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HGTV may be the most affluenza-stricken channel on the dial. I'm not surprised in the least that they missed the point with their "green" house. The entire lineup exists to sell yuppies things they don't need like granite counter tops, stainless-steel appliances, and crown molding. |
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So have you investigated this particular golf course personally? The last golf digest magazine dedicated a large portion to the environment and golf courses. I just need to remember if I want an intelligently written article to stay on the ecogeek site and not bother following the link here. |
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Wow, Dan, thanks for the insightful comments. If by "personally" you're asking if I took soil samples - no. Here's one source among many, from a Clemson study of this and other Carolina-area golf courses: "Complaints of inadequate control or performance failures for some pesticides prompted the need for a survey. Even with environmental concerns, pesticides are considered essential to golf course management and product failures are costly with respect to dollars and customer satisfaction. In recent years, poor performance of some pesticides has been linked to enhanced biodegradation of the specific pesticide by soil microorganisms." Here's another study of just how green Hilton Head's courses are, among others in the region: "(PW035) Reproductive Effects of Sediments Associated with Coastal Golf Course Development on Estuarine Meiobenthic Copepods. ABSTRACT- Coastal golf course development is dramatically increasing in the Carolinas and Georgia with 40% of the 380 golf courses in South Carolina located < 2 miles from the coast. Golf course maintenance is chemically intensive, thus surrounding estuarine areas are at risk of receiving pesticide and fertilizer runoff." I guess I touched a nerve when I criticized your sport of choice. Hope I'm not muddying the issue here with too many facts. Keep swinging those clubs, Dan |
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I like your similie. Similies rule! |
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If you would of stated something to the effect of "research of this course" or "studies related to this course" I wouldn't of even questioned it. But just to kind of throw that out without any thing to back that up rubbed me wrong. I agree that most courses do use to much water and to much pesticide. But as the public gets more educated on the effects of poor course management decisions they'll accept drier crustier course conditions. I believe that golf courses can make a dramatic positive impact on the environment if managed correctly. Martha's Vineyard, MA. is an organic golf course. More and more superintendents are using more organic practices. Hopefully in the future these courses can help filter the sludge run-off from city streets before it reaches wetland area, and planting of trees can help reduce the carbon. Some grass hybrids are even salt tolerant enough to allow irrigation with sea water. What it all comes down to with golf courses is, what are you comparing them to? Green compared to a huge office building...probably. Green compared to corporate farming..possibly. Green compared to untouched land...no. Where I live, if the course wasn't here, it would probably have a center pivot in the center of it and be irrigated farm land. Our course is probably greener than the alternative. |
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Dan-- For the record, it's "would have." The grammar mistakes kind of erode your credibility. OF COURSE golf courses (no pun) are bad for the planet. Most are miles of razed ground that have been seeded with lab-grown grass and toxic chemicals, then trampled by overweight, middle-aged, balding men in white shoes with little, floppy tassels--and don't even get me started on the golf carts. Isn't this basic stuff? Then again, you are a golfer. What can I reasonably expect? In my experience, guys who play golf seriously are usually Polo-wearing jerks with huge egos, big paychecks, and tiny...er, clubs. Have fun on the Vineyard, teeing off with Muffy! |
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Dan, Man I don't even have a dog in this fight but I can't help respond to "TheAntiGolf" childish comments. You see, as a person that suffers from Dyslexia it has been my experience that when people don't have a valid online point to make, they go for the easy mis-spell or grammar mistake. It is usually because you've made an excellent point to which they have no real credible facts or come back to refute your point. So they virtually throw up their hands and run around mumbling idiotic things that have no bearing on the arguement at hand like, "the grammar mistakes kind of erode your credibility." If you keep score, When they do make this move it means that you've gotten under their skin and they are taking it personal and want to hurt you personally but in reality you've just won and they don't know it. I use to let these people make me mad, but thats what these petty little people want. Now I just have pity for them because they don't realize how childish it makes them look. |
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This is a vapid post, poorly researched, and below Ecogeek standards. No, the HGTV "Green Home" is not LEED Platinum. But what IS it? Josh completely missed the concept of green building when he says "But pushing new products on consumers, whether they're greener alternatives or not, isn't going to have a positive impact." With over a million new, single-family residential homes built in the US every year (conservative NAHB estimate), how exactly to you purpose to make a significant, and realistic change in our future energy consumption? Homes account for 22% of the total energy used annually (DOE/EERE) and within the home, appliances and electronics make up 20% of that. New products ARE an important part of reducing our domestic carbon footprint. Consumption for the sake of consumption is a bad thing, we all agree, but promoting new technologies to reduce energy use is part of the process to move us to carbon neutrality. |
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I have to agree with Mark R on this one. Even though most golf course managers are, in fact, opting for more green, organic ways to manage their courses, they are still vilified by you and your "green" counterparts, Josh. Dan presented an intelligent rebuttal to your blanket statement on golf courses and the only thing you can do is attack his grammar? Sadly, this seems to be typical of the supposedly "enlightened" crowd; when anyone debates your opinions (rarely do I see true scientific facts presented on these types of websites) those people are called nasty names, insulted, and are the subjects of character assassination. Lay off the insults and name calling. Not everyone who plays golf is, as you say, "overweight, middle-aged, balding men in white shoes with little, floppy tassels" (i.e.-Tiger). Maybe you should stop watching Caddyshack and join the real world...I mean where else would this insultcome from "guys who play golf seriously are usually Polo-wearing jerks with huge egos, big paychecks, and tiny...er, clubs."? |
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Steve, Mark R, Dan, and AntiGolf: Actually... I answered Dan's comments with facts derived from research, if you look at the sequence of response-posts here. I responded to his points, Dan made an intelligent rebuttal based on his experience and knowledge of courses, then AntiGolf went off the deep end. A good dialog is key, I'm not aiming for propaganda , "blanket statements," or character assassinations here. Thanks for reading and commenting. |
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