posted
I don't know how this is going to do as a discussion starter, it's not a winner in normal social scenes. I'm always wondering what people think about it though. So that's the disclaimer.
This is the question. What do you guys think about changing your lifestyle, our lifestyles as Americans, to be more harmonious with the rest of the world and what we know about the way nature works? Do you feel like if we learn something would make a difference to someone or something outside our circle of immediate concern, we have an obligation to do our part?
I recycle. But I throw things away if it's a lot more convenient. So I know it's not crucial to me to not waste resources, or I'd be trying to figure out a way to make sure nothing I was once in control of ended up in a landfill. So my answer is, I feel in my heart I should be more careful with natural resources, but with my actions I daily do otherwise. Does this make sense?
(edit: That was so stressful. I spelled recycle wrong, and while it was just sitting there I couldn't figure out how to edit it because I thought topics were different than posts. whew)
posted
I'm slowly converting a lot of my purchased items to the more environmentally friendly stuff (yey Whole Foods, for example), but I rarely recycle. I actually consider it an important environmental contribution to not have children. It seems more likely than not that I will not be having children.
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I'm supposed to recycle, it is one of the rules where I live. But I am way too lazy (and pressed for space) to fold down every cereal box and put it in a special bag that, in turn, gets taken down the stairs to the recycle bin. Also: supposed to save and separate magazine and white paper recyclables.
Pfooey on that.
I do, however, save my cans and plastic bottles. It's economically sound. There's a machine near the convenience store I frequent, and so I get my money back for the deposit I pay on them.
I do reuse my cardboard by painting on lots of it. I also use it to make things sturdy when I ship them.
I recycle margarine tubs and egg cartons, because my kid's school uses those things for projects.
Hey, I'm not so bad!
Bottom line: if it was easy and you got money for it, more people would do it.
Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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That's why I don't a lot of the time, too, jexx.
So...this is a trick question. No it's not. But CT just posted something in the thread about Iraqi prisoners that hits on what I really wonder about. I think this is a good point about it, though. How much are we really going to have to do to be a better nation? I mean really. And how willing are we? Not very, I don't think. Not because we suck, just because routines take a lot of energy to break up.
Posts: 377 | Registered: May 1999
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So recycling as we do it now doesn't work. The point is the end, are we interested enough in the end to find a means that works? And actually do it? Whatever it is?
Posts: 377 | Registered: May 1999
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in my old place I did, since if you put your recycle stuff in a bin they would take it away...my current aprartnment does not have that, they just have a huge dumpster, so I don't anymore. Though, in my office they have a paper recycling bin and I use that.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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Ah, Mrs. M, I *love* that show! Hehe. I hardly ever get to see it, though, because it conflicts with another show I like. Durnit.
Even so, I feel good about recycling items when I 'reuse' them for another purpose (like margarine tubs for toy containers at The Boy's school). It's economically sound.
Plus, you know, five cents a bottle at the recycly machine! w00t!
There are other things, IMO, that we can be doing to make the world a better place.
**************** edited to add: Oh! I lost sight of the question, because I was thinking about recycling. D'oh!
This is the question originally posed (without the distracting shiny bits):
quote: This is the question. What do you guys think about changing your lifestyle, our lifestyles as Americans, to be more harmonious with the rest of the world and what we know about the way nature works? Do you feel like if we learn something would make a difference to someone or something outside our circle of immediate concern, we have an obligation to do our part?
Are you talking about the ecology of the planet? Or the societal groups?
The planet will recycle *us*, in the end, so I'm not sure where you are going with that.
We are a part of nature, like it or not, so what we do is 'natural'. Now, it may not be healthy (it most probably isn't), but natural all the same.
For example: It is in my nature to squish bugs (sorry Jenny Gardener!) when they are in my habitat (house). So I am the predator. Predators are part of the "Circle of Life", no? Harmonious of me, indeed!
As far as '[learning] something would make a difference to someone or something outside our circle of immediate concern', well...we do that all of the time. That's how charities make money for kids in Africa (for instance) or why people pray for complete strangers.
posted
There is very little incetive for recycling to become the major way to dispose of things today. This will be true until there is an economic (naturally or government mandated) incetive for recycling. Recycling those things which are easy to recycle is good, however easy of recycling needs to be high on the list at product design time. Feel free to correct me, but I don't really thing that it is in the bulk of cases. And thats all that matters, the bulk. Unless your in the 10 ten manufacturers in half a dozen or so industries you simple don't make enough stuff to have the effect we need to have.
That said, I recycle cans, and glass and some paper.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I love those guys. Heh. When I was young and idealistic (euphemism for 'dumb' ), I did NOT love them. Now that I am older and wiser (read: jaded), they make a lot of sense.
VBG
Really, though, they are incredibly smart. I'm so glad they are doing a program like this (although, not to be a puritan, I could do with a smidge less profanity--man alive, Penn can cuss!).
Have you ever seen 'Mythbusters'? Kind of the same deal, but with urban legends (think Snopes with actual science experiments, way cool). I think it's on TLC. Me and That Man I Married love that show!
Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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When I lived in NM, I recycled a LOT. Everything from plastic to aluminum to tin to cardboard. The facilities to do so were convenient and easy to use.
Nowadays, I only recycle soda/beer cans, plastic bottles and cardboard boxes, because the facilities at or near where I live just aren't as good. But I do my best to reuse as much stuff as I can, especially postal materials.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2002
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No, I don't think we're committed enough to find true energy/resource saving technologies. They cost a lot to develop and consumers just aren't willing to pay the extra cost when it comes down to purchasing goods. I suppose if trash were to get a lot more expensive, we would have more incentive, but as we've seen with gasoline it really has to get pretty extreme before we care enough to change our routines.
Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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We recycle, but it is because we CAN recycle. We have a dump with a bunch of bins, and we have to pay a buck a garbage bag.(We buy the bags from the town) Therefore, it pays to recycle, because we have less garbage in the dollar bags.
We also compost.
Another thing we USED to have around here was Children's Recycling. Things like egg cartons, cardboard boxes,anything teachers could use to make crafts. It is really more of a delay tactic, I guess, because as a parent, i am sad to say many prjects have gone into that dollar garbage bag. Otherwise, we would need to buy a bigger house.
(Oh golly, there is a mouse in this room! I am outta here!)
Edit to change SUED to USED. ha ha
[ May 02, 2004, 09:32 AM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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That's a really interesting link, namaki. I took an agroscience class a couple of years ago and we spent at least a week talking about alternative fuel sources, all of which at this stage are pretty inefficient because of the energy required to produce the fuel. But then the first round of any technology is usually laughably inefficient compared to its progeny.
Posts: 377 | Registered: May 1999
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My favorite recycling story is at our school. The sixth grade organized a huge plan to rcycle paper at schhol. They got specal waste paper baskets, and would take turns picking up the paper and taking it to be recycled.
Well, after two years of this, we learned that, after the sixth graders did this, they gave the huge bucket of paper to the janitor, who promptly dumped it all in the regular dumpster.(You need a special dumpster, or have to take the paper to a recycling place)
Anyway, a sad but funny story about recycling.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I recycle, and compost, and use big cardboard peices for easy weed killing. I do think it's at least as important to just create less garbage in the first place- we use cloth shopping bags, diapers, unmentionable women things, rags ( instead of paper towels) use tupperware instead of baggies, buy bulk beans, and fresh veggies instead of canned stuff. The first part of reduce re-use recycle is reduce
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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R-E-C-Y-C-L-E recycle C-O-N-S-E-R-V-E conserve Don't you P-O-L-L-U-T-E pollute the rivers, sky, and sea Or else you're gonna get what you deserve!
-Rocko's Modern Life
Posts: 1658 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Anna, in France how do people dispose of most of their waste? I guess it must be a much bigger issue in Europe now than it has become yet in the US.
Posts: 377 | Registered: May 1999
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Our recycling is pretty great. I can just put everything into a bin, and they take it away and sort it out. They accept all the numbers, even! So I try pretty hard to rinse things out and recycle them. Most weeks, our green bin is fuller than our trash bin, which makes me feel good even if the recycling doesn't work as well as I'd like.
We also have a compost heap and a 'yard waste' bin, so the big stuff I can't put on our own compost heap (rose clippings, etc.) goes to the city's compost project.
I do think it's important to change our habits to conserve more and find better ways to do things. I would buy a hybrid car or similar if I could afford one (hopefully, when they become affordable!), and I make an effort not to use too much electricity, AC, water, etc. Like, I usually turn off the shower while I soap up, thus saving two minutes of water (pathetic, I know). And I don't buy styrofoam, and try to use washcloths instead of paper towels--but I still use a lot of those. I love my clothesline.
(You know what would help? More people sharing living arrangements. Six single people, each with their own space, take up a lot more resources than a family with 4 children do. Part of the reason there's so much sprawl is that there are fewer people in each home now.)
Posts: 335 | Registered: Feb 2001
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We are very big recyclers. It's funny though - I NEVER even thought about recycling until I had to take an environmental science course in college. Boy did that open my eyes! I think that a lot of people are just uneducated about exactly why we need to recycle, and even why we need to stop using fossil fuels, etc. Too bad we can't require everyone to take the course that I took!
posted
I currently work part-time at a restaurant and am slowly going crazy with the number of people who take more ketchup than they need, are too lazy to get metal spoons (which are located approximately 10 steps away from the plastic ones), eat half their food and leave the rest, etc., etc. GR. Well, I feel better now. And aren't you all more aware of your wasteful actions as a result of my venting?
Posts: 165 | Registered: Apr 2004
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jexx - You're just breeding more resistant bugs. They'll come eat you, first.
I recycle. Composting is about the easiest, funnest, and most immediately visible means of recycling. All you do is throw food and lawn wastes in a big pile, let them rot, and VOILA! AWESOME soil! I feel guilty if I don't recycle when facilities are available. It's doing my little bit
Also, I get extremely angry at people who litter and don't seem to care at all about the environment. I cannot tell how how much junk I've pulled from a short section of creek - mostly beer cans, soda cans, candy wrappers, tires, and plastic grocery sacks. Also, a dead dog, pieces of a deer and its blood in a trash bag, balloons, and bait boxes.
Just go clean up a roadside or a streambank to find out how little we Americans care for the world we live in. Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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OK, Jenny, you have reminded me of something which is going to make me feel really old.
Does anyone remember the commercial in the 70's(60's, maybe even) with the Native American man standing beside the road as someone tosses a bag of trash out a car window? They zoom in on a tar trickling down his face.
That image has stayed with me for lots and lots of years.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Elizabeth, I went to an anthropology seminar with a guest speaker who wrote a book about that commercial. I can't remember what it's called, but it's about how Native Americans were not supernatural paragons of harmonious living, they used up resources and had to learn by trial and error how to keep from destroying the earth. They just could make effective changes more easily because there were fewer of them.
Posts: 377 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Sorry to resurrect a thread, but I just came across some commentary of the Penn & Teller show, which I did not see, from a guy who works in the waste industry. For those who are interested, it's about the fifth post down on this Straight Dope thread, and I hope this isn't against any rules. Essentially, he says that P&T were only partially correct, and recycling is both a good idea and improving.
Another thing we should do to "reduce" is eat less meat! A more vegetarian diet takes up less agricultural space (assuming, of course, you're not eating all super-processed-packaged foods!)
Posts: 335 | Registered: Feb 2001
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Lara, The Third Chimpanzee has a great exposition on how humans have been destroying the environment everywhere they go for pretty much as long as they've existed. It's an interesting read.
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), I did NOT love them. Now that I am older and wiser (read: jaded), they make a lot of sense.![[Hat]](graemlins/hat.gif)
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Well, I feel better now. And aren't you all more aware of your wasteful actions as a result of my venting?
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