Go Green - Date Local

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[FONT="Garamond"]Hey kiddies, long time lurker first time thread starter here :O

ANYWAYS. As I trolled the internet at work today, being the great employee I am, I stumbled upon this interesting article.

[URL="http://www.slate.com/id/2202431/"]Clicky![/URL]

For those of you a bit lazy, the gist of the article is that people should look close to home for relationships to reduce their carbon footprint. A relationship not measured by love, but by CO2 tonnes. You don't choose who you love or who you connect with... but should you try?

It makes some good points, I think. Would you think twice about LDRs because of this? If you're in one, what do you think?

Obviously it's not a surprise that someone not dating local would have a larger carbon footprint, provided we generalize they spend more time on the phone, on the internet, and travelling. Is the potential "eff up" of the environment worth it? I'm not a hippy or an insane conservationist but the article does make sense and would actually give me personally one more reason not to ever consider a long distance relationship.

Thoughts? Comments? Anecdotes? Lulz?[/FONT]

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]First impressions? Moronic.

Second impressions? Really moronic.

How dare someone suggest that your carbon footprint have any bearing on who you spend your happiest hours with? Secondly, I find the idea that carbon [one percent of our entire atmosphere] as a pollutant a foolish and entirely unscientific stance. The idea of a carbon footprint as something negative is completely unprovable and the list of people who disagree with such idiotic notions includes not only Republicans but actual legitimate scientists who have studied climatology their whole lives. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]I think it's safe to say that there are going to be long distance relationships since that's unavoidable, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take expenses and location into account when you date someone. That's what maturity is all about.

The whole point of the article, as I understood it, was to encourage people to THINK about their situation instead of throwing all that to the winds to satisfy one's hormones.

I don't completely buy into the distance thing, but I do think it's all to easy to overlook it when in reality, forgetting the carbon issue, it's going to affect your relationship.
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[OMNOMNOMALY]

[FONT="Garamond"]@ Raiha

The carbon footprint absolutely needs more research done as it's still a new idea... but pollution isn't a lie and it never hurt ANYBODY to pollute less.

On a semi related note but off the topic of pollution, our world is so wired, I don't think it would hurt anybody either to spend more time looking and interacting in real life, either. I'm sure dates in real life are way more fun than dates online =P Social skills are important! I think you're right, Beth, it seems like a lot of people don't really take into account what distance means.[/FONT]

[Rachmaninoff]

Putting aside the pollution aspect, though cutting back on that is always a good idea, it [I]is[/I] a good idea to think twice before having a long distance relationship. It's a little to easy to get indignant over the concept of restricting one's activities based on something like carbon footprints.

But if you stop and think about this, isn't the article pretty much pointing out how people tend to gloss over wasteful aspects of their lives all in the name of pursuing love or other habits?

In the end I'd be more likely to argue the stance of dating local for the simple reason that being closer, and therefore actually having time for more of those [I]happiest hours[/I], would be more appealing. And probably a lot healthier for the relationship as a whole. It's a little hard to be close if you... you know... aren't.

I mean seriously, I wouldn't want to date someone who was so far away I had to actually FLY to see them. o_O That's just crazy.

Also... wtf? Anomaly posting a thread in The Lounge? =P Hahaha. XD

[Kenso]

[COLOR=SeaGreen][SIZE=1][FONT=Comic Sans MS]I'm gonna have to go with Raiha on this one. I was especially annoyed about the call-out of college students who are 'dating out of town'. I'm sure I'm not the only person here who has known couples who went to different schools but continued their relationships as best they could. Are we to say that there's something wrong with continuing an already existing relationship in a long-distance manner just because it gives them a bigger 'carbon footprint' (which, on a side note, is a painfully aggravating phrase)?

Andrew MacLaggan, one of the commenters, also makes an excellent point. The author of the article does seem to confuse casual relationships with serious relationships, and LDRs aren't generally casual.

I agree with Anomaly that people do need to get out into the real world more often as a whole (which seems kind of strange to be saying, since we're having this discussion in an online forum), but I think the article is just a little bit nuts.
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[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]My father spent a year as an expatriate in Mexico while he searched for another job. He got to come home one weekend a month; fly in Friday, crash Saturday, fly out Sunday. He and my mother actually grew stronger in their relationship

Why is this kind of data study even getting attention?[/FONT]

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]My father spent a year as an expatriate in Mexico while he searched for another job. He got to come home one weekend a month; fly in Friday, crash Saturday, fly out Sunday. He and my mother actually grew stronger in their relationship

Why is this kind of data study even getting attention?[/FONT][/QUOTE]

[FONT="Garamond"]A Major in CO2 studies with a minor in LDRs?

=O

What the heck else can you do with that! ;D[/FONT]

[Allamorph]

[QUOTE=Anomaly][FONT="Garamond"]A Major in CO2 studies with a minor in LDRs?

=O

What the heck else can you do with that! ;D[/FONT][/QUOTE]
[FONT=Arial]Make slightly better life decisions in the future. That, and also consider stopping support of Ron Paul. :p[/FONT]

[eleanor]

[font=trebuchet ms] The dorm I live in was built to be green. I feel this fulfills my duties as a person looking out for mother nature.

Although I did take a "what's your carbon footprint" test and mine was like 5 earths or something.[/font]

[TheShinje]

Well that does it. I'm going to have to get a long-distance girlfriend now!

I've resolved to make my carbon footprin as large as possible just to stick it to whoever coined the term "carbon footprint." The whole global-warming myth is a joke. How can carbon emissions resulting from fuel under the earth be considered "bad carbon" while carbon from biofuels, the stuff that's made from the stuff food used to be made out of, be considered "good" carbon? Both fuels release carbon into the atmosphere, but the so-called "biofuel" lays waste to food crops to achieve this.

God help this wacky world!

[Aaryanna_Mom]

I think what amuses me the most about this article, is how quickly people get offended over the concept of being responsible for their actions. I do agree that the idea of a carbon imprint is kind of besides the point and highly subjective considering the very nature of our economy. But that doesn't mean we should instantly slam it and not consider it.

The actual distance is, whether anyone wants to admit it, important. For some, like Allamorph's parents it will work, but for others it can't be so easily overlooked. Being apart can be hard on anyone.

Putting relationships aside, reducing pollution is always a good idea, no matter what the reason. If you're being wasteful, then by all means, consider that instead of scoffing and thinking the article has nothing of value.

[TheShinje]

[color=teal]To be more serious on this, reducing our pollution is definately a good thing. I'm already doing my bit, cutting down on what I put into the air or down the drain, The thing is, I just don't need some boffin telling me the world will go to hell in a handcart if I don't. I'll clean up my act for the sake of keeping the planet pretty, not because I believe that we'll turn this planet into another Venus if we ignore the issue.

The biofuel crap really bugs me though. Food crops destoroyed for the sake of taking fuel from the top rather than the bottom. Ironic that this predicament is more likely to send the world into that proverbial handcart.[/color]

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR="DarkGreen"][FONT="Tahoma"]I'm all for reducing pollution and I think the writer has a point. However I think they choose the wrong thing to use as a focus point for making that point. The problem with saying date local is it implies that any distance at all should result in the termination of a relationship because of the carbon footprint. That's not a good reason in my opinion. It's a factor, because distance makes things harder, but it shouldn't limit you when it comes to meeting people.

I think the real problem is that it's easy to be wasteful regardless of whether or not you are in a relationship. I would have been more inclined to listen to this if they hadn't' tried to take an emotional slant to make you feel guilty for having a long distance relationship or considering one. [/FONT][/COLOR]