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10. Ecological Intelligence <BR> <BR><blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1><b>quote:</b></font><p>When it comes to going green, intention can be easier than action. Case in point: you decide to buy a T shirt made from 100% organic cotton, because everyone knows that organic is better for Earth. And in some ways it is; in conventional cotton-farming, pesticides strip the soil of life. But that green label doesn't tell the whole story — like the fact that even organic cotton requires more than 2,640 gal. (10,000 L) of water to grow enough fiber for one T shirt. Or the possibility that the T shirt may have been dyed using harsh industrial chemicals, which can pollute local groundwater. If you knew all that, would you still consider the T shirt green? Would you still buy it? <BR> <BR>It's a question that most of us are ill equipped to answer, even as the debate over what is and isn't green becomes all-important in a hot and crowded world. That's because as the global economy has grown, our ability to make complex products with complex supply chains has outpaced our ability to comprehend the consequences — for ourselves and the planet. We evolved to respond to threats that were clear and present. That's why, when we eat spoiled food, we get nauseated and when we see a bright light, we shut our eyes. But nothing in evolution has prepared us to understand the cumulative impact that imperceptible amounts of industrial chemicals may have on our children's health or the slow-moving, long-term danger of climate change. Scanning the supermarket aisles, we lack the data to understand the full impact of what we choose — and probably couldn't make sense of the information even if we had it. <BR> <BR>...<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote> <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0%2C28804%2C1884779_1884782_1884776%2C00.html" target=_top>http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article /0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884776,00.html</a>
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