Why Bother? Action equals results.
In the New York Times Magazine article Why Bother? http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=92 Michael Pollan is “looking for a few good reasons to go green”. He posits that while doing anything on a personal level to “go green” seems a bit like a drop in an ocean, we should do it anyway because a few people moving in the same direction can start a revolution. He arrives at the conclusion that “Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it’s one we probably all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren’t great”.
Finding proof of the payoff helps inspire us to take action and provides another “good reason to go green”. So, here’s a little proof!
Take the five Swedish authorities who in 2000 encouraged retailers and consumers to avoid the routine use of triclosan http://abetterwaytoclean.com/?p=39 . A 2007 Australian study found that triclosan concentrations were two times higher in Australians’ blood serum than in Swedish subjects’ blood plasma. This study indicates that reducing the use of triclosan in consumer products has a dramatic effect on the presence of the chemical in the blood of the people who live in the region where use was diminished.
Ready to start a revolution? Let’s bother…

Although there is still much that remains unknown about MRSA and other superbugs, there is general consensus among microbiologists that the emergence of MRSA and other antibiotic resistant bacteria is the normal and inevitable outcome of the use and overuse of antibiotics. Everything in nature wears out with use and antibiotics are no different – it is only a matter of time. Stated simply; the likelihood of resistance to any antibiotic increases with time and widespread use. Once resistant bacteria emerge, continued antibiotic use actually clears the field of competition and accelerates the spread into the community. This brings us all one step closer to the very real possibility that patients with previously treatable infections will die for lack of effective antibiotics.




