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SUVs are so last century. You can't park them anywhere, their greedy gas tanks suck money straight out of your wallet, and no one can see you (or the road) through the obnoxious tinted windows. Let's be honest: Drive a car that big, and it looks like you're overcompensating for something.
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You're an on-the-go guy—but all the fat in fast food really just slows you down. And before they become Whoppers, McNuggets, or breakfast sausage, those cows, chickens, and pigs are crammed together in factory farms. The smell (and pollution) is enough to make anyone lose their appetite.
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Ten-dollar tees from chain stores make it cheap to keep up with the trends—but that flimsy shirt won't last much longer than retro kitsch. No wonder the average U.S. consumer buys 48 new pieces of clothing a year. With a pound of toxic chemicals being used to grow the cotton for just three T-shirts, our shopping addiction calls for an intervention.
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It's the curse of the modern man: Your job is swell, but the commute is hell! Each year, Americans waste 3.5 billion hours and 5.6 billion gallons of fuel while they sit in traffic. True, high-tech tools can make some of that time productive—or allow you to work remotely and skip the commute altogether—but do you really need the latest-model laptop, cell phone, and wireless Internet device? Each "old" (you know, from last year) tech toy contains toxic ingredients that leach into landfills when you toss it out in favor of the flavor of the month.
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A gift of jewelry says love, but the way it's made is a big buzz-kill. The gold in just one ring produces an average of three tons of mine waste. Other tokens of your affection can have equally unromantic effects: The floral industry uses more pesticides than any other agricultural sector, and cocoa plantations are replacing forests throughout west Africa. Maybe that's why she won't call back.
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Everyone deserves a vacation, but those lavish beach resorts can ravage the gorgeous coastlines you went to the tropics to enjoy. With the long lines and cramped legroom, getting there by plane is hardly half the fun. Worse yet, air travel creates almost twice the pollution (per passenger mile) of driving—and over five times as much as taking the train.
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