Should Uncle Sam Make Us Green Up?

By Carrie Madren

09/15/2009

Manufacturers once generously added phosphate to boost scubbing power in dishwasher detergent. But sewage treatment plants couldn't filter it from the wastewater flowing into our rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, where phosphorus fertilizes oxygen-sucking, sunlight-blocking algae blooms.

In 2007, Maryland lawmakers voted to virtually ban phosphates in dishwasher detergents by January 2010; in 2008, manufacturers persuaded legislators to push the deadline back to July 2010 because they needed six more months to develop and market new low-phosphate products. Under the new law, phosphates must total less than half a percent by weight in dishwashing detergents. Similar laws will soon ban dish detergents with phosphorus in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York.

That's just one example of how legislators can help remedy an environmental problem - by taking harmful products off the market. Lawmakers can also make the green choice more enticing with incentives, such as tax credits for solar water heaters. This subtle, green-shaping of our markets helps us to make real gains for the ecosystems we live in.

Whereas buyers as individuals can change markets slowly over time, a new law or regulation can make an immediate, definite impact by getting everyone on board.

"It's the responsibility of the government to protect the environment and human health," says Diane MacEachern, who wrote the green buying guide Big Green Purse in 2008. Part of the job of lawmakers is to serve as a collective brain for us (and our environment), by making the best decisions possible about products and services, especially when the wrong choice will spoil the environment or harm unknowing people.

Legislative changes can save us from ourselves. The ban on using paint with lead, known to cause neurological problems, significantly reduced the number of children with lead in their blood. Likewise, a ban on fishing for rockfish in the Chesapeake helped the species rebound. Bans on importing certain exotic species - such as dominating, aggressive snakehead fish - have protected native species in local ecosystems.

Sometimes, we don't need the government's pen to make green choices - many people choose compact flourescent light bulbs without a law telling us we must. But not all of us carefully consider the products that we buy. We don't scan ingredients lists and ponder packaging versus cost. Some people choose harmful products - gas-guzzling SUVs - out of ignorance or a lack of concern, and pollution trickles into our ecosystems in an all-too-familiar tragedy of the commons. So when legislators phase out harmful products, it makes for a healthier environment for everyone.

Laws can steer our choices with encouragement, too: Uncle Sam and the states can influence where we spend our dollars with tax incentives. In Virginia, legislators decided to make the second weekend in October a tax-free holiday for Energy Star buyers. Other governments dangle the carrot of tax credits for those who invest in alternative energy or build energy efficient buildings.

Many state and local governments make demands of themselves - requiring energy efficient light bulbs or that all new government cars be hybrids of flex fuel vehicles - to grow green markets as well as save energy costs. Setting such a good-citizen example should be the first step to getting us to green our buying habits; a next step should be teaching communities about environmental decisions - through advertising and outreach. Successful recycling campaigns have upped recycling rates throughout Bay Country, without the need for additional laws.

Too often, though, law is necessary. Laws that we should have, says MacEachern, include a Kid Safe Chemical Act, which would ensure that all chemicals used in toys and children's products would be toxics-free. We also need laws that regulate cosmetics and personal care products, many of which contain harmful ingredients, including lead, she explains. Such toxics and chemicals harm us before ending up in the environment at large.

In Virginia, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters hopes the legislature will pass legislation offering more tax credits for weatherization and alternative energy generation. "We don't have a solar tax credit here, so investors go to other states because there's no in-state market," explains executive director Lisa Guthrie. Other Mid-Atlantic states have their own wish lists.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering tough, new regulations to control water pollution in our rivers and the bay.

Few of us will miss phosphorus-laden detergent, and our ecosystem will rebound with less algae. Green tweaks to our products and nudges to invest in eco-friendly appliances help us - the millions of residents who live in the Chesapeake watershed - to all become better stewards and healthier humans.