Its Tough To Make Comparisons

It amazes me how difficult some comparisons are.  Here I try to focus on the comparison between organic and conventional agriculture and the more I look at it the more I see incomplete comparisons and faulty methodologies.  If I can see these issues as an outsider, how can those who are supposed experts not see them or not address them.  It is generally shocking to me how few books on agriculture are available on places like Amazon, how few blogs there are, and how little discussion and debate there is.

I came across a few interesting blogs and articles recently that highlight this issue of being able to make a good comparison.  The first article is a comprehensive comparison of the costs and benefits of having a artificial vs. natural Christmas tree.  It should be simple, right?  Plastic trees are reusable and should be better for the ecology right?  Not so simple, take a look.

 Christmas Tree Article

So much of the analysis depends on how many years the Christmas tree is in use and what is done with it at the end of its useful life. Natural trees contribute to carbon sequestering right?  Not so fast.  Do yourself a favor and just read the executive summary.  So much has to do with what is essentially the weighting factors in the analysis.

The same issues are at play with the discussion of whether it is better for the environment to use paper vs. plastic bags.  I like this blogs covering of the topic.

 Plastic vs. Paper

Bottom line is this:  Paper really doesn’t biodegrade in a landfill so the biodegradability issue is really off the table.  Both bags are resource intensive for their single use and a lot has to do with where you bags come from and the trade off of fossil fuels vs. water with paper needing much more water to be produced and, of course, plastic being a fossil fuel.