[Greenbuilding] Consumer Reports unbiased? was: What car doyousuggest?

[Bob Korves]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Dicke"
> Bob,
>
> I understand your concern for the CR product selection process.  How do 
> you
> feel about the tests they run on the products they do select? Accurate?
> Fair?
>
> Bob
-----------------------------------------

Again, I am not a regular reader of CR.  I might pick it up in a waiting 
room and casually read it.  I do not purposefully go to CR for information 
when I am going to purchase something.

I suppose that CR gives fairly accurate results for the tests they have 
chosen on the items they have chosen in the categories they have chosen.

My own frugal mind thinks on a different plane than a consumer oriented 
person.  My first thought is "Do I really need this something that is 
missing in my life?"  If so, then "Do I already have something that might 
adequately fill that need that might also fit the new role, or is there some 
different technique or lifestyle change that might make me able to avoid a 
new purchase?"  "If I do actually need to procure something to enrich my 
life, is that better served by a new object, a used object, or a 
refurbished, reclaimed, borrowed, or rented object?"

I will always try to go toward the simplest, cheapest, and most 
environmentally and culturally friendly path with all things considered. 
And I try to never lose sight of the idea that the simplest answer is to do 
nothing at all.  I keep re-defining my need as I search for an answer.

I try really hard to avoid what I call "the 1% solution".  This is where one 
might need a one ton truck with dual rear wheels to transport something once 
a year.  The rest of the year, such a vehicle is expensive, difficult to 
park, and wasteful of fuel and other resources.  Another example is a five 
bedroom house for a couple living alone, so as to have room for all the 
relatives to stay at once.  I attempt to solve the every day problems well 
and to improvise the 1% issues.  I find that much more efficient and end up 
with much less "stuff".

An example of the type of thinking I try to emulate, when I am able to cast 
off all the baggage I carry with me, is the web site of Dave and Pearl Omick

http://www.omick.net/

If you search the site and follow their thought processes, you will find it 
enlightening, even if their lifestyle or their solutions are not for you.

After that meandering explanation of my feelings about Consumer reports, I 
feel that Google, tempered with a large dose of Caveat Emptor, the Dalai 
Lama, Thoreau, and my Scottish father serve me pretty well.
-Bob Korves