| Reducing civilization's
environmental impact is not just a matter of declaring ourselves
"green". It takes commitment at all levels, from the personal
level up through all levels of government and practically all our
society's institutions. That point is made very well by the
following thoughtful editorial from the June 5 Key West Citizen.
Last Stand says "hear,
hear!!" |
Going green: Changing behavior is no easy task
At this point, we should all have been told we
live on a fragile planet and on an even more fragile string of
islands. And we're all becoming familiar with the rhetoric. In
an effort to restore the delicate environmental balance of our
surroundings, we all must do all we can to adopt the mantra:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Take a moment to consider we're doing thus far:
* Reduce As a nation we are extremely wasteful. How often do
we throw out overripe vegetables or fruits? How often do we buy
the larger size because it's a better value, only to throw out
the excess or worse yet, indulge in gluttony so as not to be
"wasteful"?
* Reuse The primary driving force behind Americans' consumer
decisions is convenience. Take, for instance, the habit of
buying cases of bottled water. Purchasing water in 12-ounce
bottles may make sense when compiling emergency provisions, but
when we consider that our single-use plastic bottles live for
decades in landfills, filling a water glass, sports cup or other
reusable container from the tap surely is a justified
inconvenience for daily use. And why do we buy food-storage
containers when we so frequently discard the containers in which
we buy foods containers that easily could be reused?
* Recycle The percentage of recycled versus collected refuse
in the Keys is an anemic 6.7 percent of the total collected. How
can this be possible? Every recyclable plastic container has the
plastics recycling code on the bottom. We all know that
batteries must be bagged separately and placed in the recycle
container and that recycling them (and florescent light bulbs)
keeps mercury and other toxic heavy metals from being pumped
into our air via incinerator smokestacks. We know that cardboard
boxes should be cut down and bound (staples removed) for the
recycling.
So why don't we do all that? Well, it's inconvenient, isn't it?
And it runs against the grain of our consume-and-dispose
culture.
That's why it will take a focused effort to change our ways, to
come in line with other cities that are recycling 50 percent or
more of their waste streams.
One option is incentives. First, make recycling containers
ubiquitous throughout the Keys. They should be available at
every store that sells recyclable products. Then create rate
structures for waste collection that make recycling collection
cheaper than refuse collection.
When it becomes easier and less expensive to recycle than to
dispose of everything, our recycling rate is guaranteed to
improve dramatically.
When it comes to energy, two factors rule out large-scale
countywide mass transportation as a solution to rising fuel
prices we live on islands and we lack sufficient population to
make it practical. But public transportation is a good
alternative in compact communities like Key West. Bicycles are
even better.
Government agencies, utilities and other large organizations can
also begin replacing vehicle fleets with high-mileage hybrid
alternatives.
The rest of us can give serious thought to purchases we once
made intuitively. Whenever possible, we should choose
appliances, automobiles, watercraft and outboards, containers
and most everything else we consume with consideration for what
has the smallest impact on the planet and ultimately the
smallest impact on our wallets.
Of course, none of these are new ideas, and it is relatively
easy to put these notions into print. The hard part is accepting
the reality that our world is changing for the worse due to our
cumulative bad habits, and that each of us must find ways to
change our personal habits and inclinations in order to reverse
the damage. And it won't work unless "each of us" encompasses
everybody.
If we can get past denial and apathy, we can move on to learning
new behaviors. A good starting point is as close as our
computers. Here's a few bookmarks to begin that journey:
https://www.wmlamptracker.com/wmdefault.cfm
https://www.thinkgreenfromhome.com/ThinkGreenFromHome.cfm
http://www.keysglee.com/ |
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