Is Anything Green?

On an episode of Boston Legal (S. 4 Ep. 10 "Green Christmas"), one of my new favorite characters, Katie Lloyd (played by Tara Summers), argued that a man who champions a green organization was not being green while driving his hybrid. She claimed that the nickel used to make the batteries of the beloved hybrid Prius are mined at a Canadian site that throws off so much pollution that the area has become a dead zone. NASA now uses the surrounding miles of this nickel plant to emulate moon missions. 

The horrors do go on. I've known Kelley's writing (who is the creator and head writer of the show) to be very preachy, but typically accurate; still, I was skeptical. 

An internet search revealed several articles discussing the economic effect of the Prius on both sides. To be honest, whether it is cost effective or not doesn't interest me as much if there is even question whether it will be environmentally effective. Finally, I stumbled on a Canadian blog that quoted an article on the carbon footprint of manufacturing hybrids. 

Success, I thought. But as I read the post, I realized that the quote was Katie Lloyd's speech--nearly verbatim. "For shame!" to some writer, but it is difficult to determine which one (Kelley, Blogger, journalist?). 

Unfortunately, the link to the aforementioned article was broken, and I've tried to use the Wayback Machine, also to no avail. 

I think I fell naively into the Green Fad without considering that even this supposedly green option comes with a substantial cost. Maybe it is worth it. And maybe the hybrid succeeded in the long run because it started loosening Big Oil's grip on the automobile industry (if it has even done that). Despite all of that, I think that I can't be satisfied that we are out of the woods because Toyota is successfully selling hybrids.

In the meantime I will still be trying to walk as much as I can . . . though I have heard that this can have environmental effects as well, but that's just being greenly obsessed.  

Post Script (10/24/08): Here is the hyperlink to the original article. The Wayback machine came through for me on a subsequent attempt.

Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage