subject: Recycling – Why You and I Need To Do 10 Times More Than Today [print this page] Recycling Why You and I Need To Do 10 Times More Than Today
In the last 100 years, human beings have multiplied natural resource consumption by a staggering 1000 times. We don't have 1000 times more people compared to 1900, nor do we have 1000 times more land, water, oil, metals or other resources. At this rate, we all know that our consumption is unsustainable unless we do something different.
In a recently televised series on HBO and other channels, and in the movie Earth, Al Gore and other leaders have clearly highlighted the insane ways in which we have overpowered mother nature instead of living in harmony with her. Our standard of living today is significantly discounted due to the utilization of natural resources, without which everything on Earth would be a lot more expensive (imagine life without metals, oil and plastic) almost unimaginable in today's world. Like any other deal, such a discount cannot last forever or else the discount provider (in this case Mother nature) will go bankrupt.
Landfills are barren, useless land lying right in the middle of fertile cultivable Earth. And we have enough landfills in the US alone today to fill up New York City fives times over. Not a statistic that you and I can be proud of. Not only is that land totally wasted, it halts several underground processes that human beings do not have a full understanding of today. It's like saying it's OK to dump poison into the ocean since it's so big. It's not OK because there is life in the ocean and it's part of the larger global ecosystem which cannot be indiscriminately messed with.
Recycling is not a choice anymore, it's our responsibility. And in proportions that are several times higher than today's norm. Recycling has got to be in our DNA. When we buy ANYTHING, one of the things the seller and the buyer must think about is the lifespan of the item and what happens to it when it's use is over. In other words, how can it be put back into the mainstream in a different form without making it to a landfill.
Almost anything can be recycled if there is a will to put it to use. Current day norm suggests that newspapers, plastic grocery bags, Styrofoam, ceramics, lightbulbs and other items cannot be recycled. Most recycling companies refuse to accept these or accept it and end up throwing it in trash anyway in some way or form. That's unacceptable. Sooner or later, man needs to learn how to recycle EVERYTHING that's not naturally biodegradable. If man fails in that endeavor, we will be responsible for our own demise.
