A Matter of Convenience

STOP GIVING BACK TO MOTHER NATURE (OUR TRASH)

I remember sitting in High School Spanish class trying to stay awake one afternoon when our teacher came in and started a rant on recycling. Actually it was on littering, because this predated what we would call "recycling" (imagine Dr Evil doing the finger quotes). He was an avid photographer, was the instructor for the yearbook, and somewhat of a naturalist--though he was quite upset that Jimmy Carter was elected president that year. Anyway, he had just developed on film(an ancient recording medium for images)  pictures from a trip to the Rocky Mountains. In one of the pictures at 10,000 feet was an empty beer can. "Why can somebody hike up here with a full can, drink it and not bring it back down? It's lighter." An aha moment for me. Thanks Juan Sterner.

Two years later, Michigan passed a bottle bill that required a 10-cent deposit on all carbonated beverages in bottles and cans (except for brown bottles, which were 5-cent deposits for a number of years). The incredible thing about it was it really cleaned up our roadsides. Monetize it and people change their habits.

I remember talking with Ron Jones of GreenBuilder Media a few years ago and he it explained it like this: "What if everybody had to take care of their trash, to think beyond the end of the driveway where the trash can goes. What if whatever waste you generated, you were responsible for it. You create it, you take care of it."  That puts it in a bit of a different perspective. It wouldn't take long to fill the backyard.

And recycling isn't the cure-all by any means, but it is a start. Reducing our consumption, maybe buying gallon jugs of water instead of individual bottles, would be another step. And then of course, reusing some of what we consume. Do we really need a new cup from Starbucks or McDonalds every morning? If you like the paper cups, rinse it out and have them re-use it on your next visit. Just take a quick look in the trash receptacles at these places, then multiply that by the number of franchises, then the number of days a year. It's a big number. It would fill up my back yard pretty quickly.

Posted by COASTLINE BUILDING at 5/6/2009 11:13 AM
Categories: Re-use, Reduce, Recycle
Tags: Earth Day Recycling Reusing Reducing
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