Well-Intentioned Acts That Don't Actually Make Anything Better

Well-Intentioned Acts That Don't Actually Make Anything Better

Taking your own grocery bags to the store because it’s eco-friendly? Think again. Here is a list of some well intentioned acts we do that in reality, don’t help the planet at all.

by Staff Writer

Getty Images News / Justin Sullivan

We all want to be better people and help the planet. But there are several things we do with good intentions that actually end up being bad for the environment.

Read below to get a summary of the list and see how sometimes are good intentions actually have reverse effects. Don't believe us? Check the sources.

You Tried: Using reusable grocery bags, thinking it benefits the environment

Reality: In essence this will eventually happen but only after you use them around 300 times. The process and energy that goes into making the reusable bags offsets the energy of using paper bags that are actually recyclable. People often use the paper bags for trash bags as well so they don’t go to waste; not to mention, they are pretty much 100 percent biodegradable.

AFP / FREDERIC J. BROWN

Even the plastic bags that are the traditional choice in supermarkets may be less harmful to the environment than the reusable bags. According to a draft report from the United Kingdom's Environment Agency, those plastic bags are often "greener than supposedly low impact choices."

Why? Oftentimes, our cloth bags are not biodegradable and are made from things like cotton, linen, or nylon which will end up sitting in a landfill for years and years.

You Tried: Earmarking your money for a cause when you donate money

Reality: Charity funding can be incredibly selective. The big charities tend to get all the money and resources while the smaller ones fall by the wayside. Therefore all these projects with high-profile celebrity names attached can be overfunded.

AFP / YE AUNG THU

While the project may come out and shine with brilliance, there are several other projects that could have used that money to even reach adequacy. Be extra careful when choosing a charity and do some research to see the benefits.

You Tried: Volunteer to clean birds after an oil spill

Reality: Some say those volunteers can do more harm than good. After the Gulf spill, thousands of inexperienced people rushed to go cleanup the birds that were affected. They didn’t realize that with the large crowds the birds would often retreat further away and therefore abandon their nests, eggs, and chicks, all of which were also trampled on by volunteers.

Getty Images News / Justin Sullivan

Even with the expert cleaners, birds that survived and released were possibly released into the wrong habitat. Around 90 percent of them died from starvation or poisoning from ingested oil.

You Tried: Using biofuel to leave a smaller gasoline-enriched footprint on our environment

Reality: Ninety percent of biofuel in the United States is made from corn ethanol. The problem? Growing corn is actually one of the most heavy burdens on our environment, due to the massive amounts of land, water, erosion, and nitrogen-rich fertilizer required. All of these further damage the Earth’s soil and oceans.

Getty Images News / Mark Wilson

Plus this type of ethanol fails to reduce our energy consumption—it actually increases it.

You Tried: Buying local to save the energy which would be used to transport the food

Reality: Growing the food that people want in a local environment may not be a great choice. The location may not be perfectly suited for that type of growth or food, which means using resources to grow it will actually use much more energy, will be more expensive, and can damage the environment.

iStock

Food that is outsourced on a large scale and then transported to local markets is generally better for the environment. The fact is, over 90 percent of food-related emissions don't from the transportation of it, but the physical production of that food.

You Tried: Attending a charity concert to benefit a third-world countries

Reality: This may not always be the case, but it sure seems to happen a lot. Take for instance Wyclef Jean and his Yele Haiti charity: They collected over $15 million dollars for Haitians devastated by the 2010 earthquake. Half that money was spent on travel expenses, building a headquarters that has since been abandoned, and personal fees.

Getty Images Entertainment / Mark Mainz

Furthermore, Live Aid, one of the biggest charity concerts in the world, ended up helping Ethiopia’s terrible government, which further sent the Ethiopian economy into a tailspin.

You Tried: Donating money to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Reality: The organization may completely waste your money. The Wounded Warrior Project only donates around 60 percent of their annual income on veterans, spending 40 to 50 percent on overhead costs. Other charities, like the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust, spends 96 percent of their donations on legitimate veteran services.

Getty Images News / Justin Sullivan

In 2016, CBS investigated the Wounded Warrior Project; afterwards the CEO and COO were fired.

You Tried: Donating your old eyeglasses when you no longer use them.

Reality: This isn’t a direct lost cause and can sometimes be beneficial. However, it is just sort of a diamond in the rough. There is research showing that the cost to recycle glasses and actually find someone with the same exact prescription is very expensive and rare.

Pixabay

It may be almost adequate for the person to buy new ones at a Sam’s or Costco. Plus the used glasses won’t be in great condition and it takes a lot of work and money to repair them.

You Tried: Picking a charity that has a low overhead.

Reality: This is not always the case. People often assume that because a charity has less overhead spending, that means it's more effective, but a certain amount of spending is necessary for a charity to succeed.

Getty Images News / Oli Scarff

Research often shows that charities with higher overhead can be more influential and helpful than those that appear to be more cost-saving. The theory is supported by the old idea that it takes money to make money, so those charities may spend more on advertising and therefore be better well known.

You Tried: Volunteering in a third-world country to help

Reality: The good intentions are fully there and, hey, sometimes it really will help when there simply isn’t enough manpower to do the job otherwise. However, there are plenty of situations where tourists looking to feel good—commonly known as "voluntourism"—will come in to help but they only end up hurting.

AFP / INDRANIL MUKHERJEE

By popping in for a week or two to construct sub-standard buildings, they’re actually taking jobs away from the locals. Everything from shipping materials to labor will affect their economy since people may not have a job for as long and the materials aren’t coming from local vendors. And those sweet orphans in the children's homes may not actually be orphans—their parents may have abandoned them to an organization that purposely keeps them in poor conditions in order to solicit more donations from upset tourists.

You Tried: Supporting the Beat Bullying campaign by wearing bracelets

Reality: In 2005, a UK organization launched a campaign that sold blue bracelet with the phrase “Beat Bullying” on them. These bracelets went on to be sold on eBay for up to $30 a piece and became almost trendy as Livestrong bracelets did in the States.

Getty Images News / Scott Barbour

Unfortunately, they became so popular they evolved into an object for bullies to identify kids and then bully them even more for having the bracelets. It had a reverse effect in many schools and were ordered to not be worn anymore.

You Tried: Supporting Nebraska’s safe-haven law, which applied to any child up to age 18

Reality: This law stated that mothers could drop their children off at any hospital without repercussions, rather than abandon their babies in dumpsters or drains. It was meant to help give mothers a way out in a time of panic, instead of harming their innocent children.

John Tlumacki/Boston Globe

Unfortunately, Nebraska took it a step too far and offered safe haven to children of any age. They ended up having kids from as far away as Florida showing up, who had been abandoned by their frustrated parents. The law was eventually amended to accept only infants up to 30 days old.

You Tried: Buying all-natural, healthy, bamboo clothing to save the environment.

Reality: The process completely negates this idea. In order to turn bamboo into textiles, they have to be crushed, ground, dissolved in lye, mixed with carbon disulfide (which is a neurotoxin), and then washed in battery acid and spun into fibers.

Pixabay

That "all-natural" process is pretty much awful for the environment and costs almost three times as much as an organic cotton shirt would.

You Tried: You try to be eco-friendly by buying the "green" disposable ones

Reality: Huggies' Pure and Natural diapers claim to be made from organic materials but in reality, they are far from it. There is a lawsuit against them showing that their diapers contain unnatural and potentially harmful ingredients such as polypropylene and sodium polyacrylate and are therefore not pure nor natural.

Huggies

If you really want to help, then buy cloth diapers and wash them—true, that's a lot of "byproduct" to deal with, but at least it’s good for the environment. 

You Tried: Non-stop recycling to keep our planet from turning into "Wall-E."

Reality: Scientists have come up with calculations that if we abide by current rates, all the garbage in the United States over the next 1,000 years would fill up a 35 square-mile landfill that is about 100 yards deep. In other words, it's not that bad.

Getty Images News / Spencer Platt

If you do the math that is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the land currently used for grazing in the United States. As far as energy goes, once you factor in washing you would basically need to use your ceramic mug over 1,000 times to make it use less resources than a polystyrene cup.

You Tried: Buying organic food because it sounds like it’s healthy and great for the planet

Reality: There is actually no evidence that organic food is healthier for us. It may actually be harder on the environment as well. When you take away chemical fertilizers and pesticide, farming becomes much less efficient.

Getty Images News / Justin Sullivan

So they don’t come up with as many crops, but it takes a lot more work. Therefore cost goes up, and production goes down. Plus the organic food has to be shipped further and increases emissions because organic food can’t be grown everywhere.