Recycling, Composting and Manure

I have long been an environmentalist.  No, not THAT kind of environmentalist!  I mean a REAL environmentalist!

I have been recycling glass, plastics and paper, and composting vegetable matter in my garden, for well over 40 years.

At some time between the administrations of Teddy Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, the Leftists hijacked the cause of a clean and healthy environment.  And, if there be full disclosure, I myself bought off on that perverted version of it during my liberal days.

But part and parcel of my disillusionment with the Left included (but in no way was limited to) the fact that the facts didn't jibe with the rhetoric.  Some of the most significant environmental legislation was enacted during the Nixon and Ford administrations, for example.  And, unfortunately, Ronald Reagan's one major failing was his forsaking of the Republican Party's pro-environment stance.

I remember, for example, that when I was in kindergarten and elementary school,  I would collect empty soda bottles and redeem them at the grocery store -- 2 cents for the small ones (10 oz or 16 oz) and 5 cents for the larger ones.  They were ALL glass in those days, the polyethylene terephthalate plastic not yet having been put to its now familiar use in beverage containers.

But then, one day, the grocer declined to redeem a bottle I presented to him.  He showed me that the bottle bore the legend "No Deposit No Return."  Someone realized that by altering the design of a soda bottle so that it didn't use as much glass, it was cheaper to use brand new bottles each time, instead of having to clean and sterilize the returned ones.  The beverage bottlers caught on, and no longer conditioned the sale of their wares upon the return of the bottles.  The consumer would just throw the empty glass bottle into the trash, and it would go to the landfills with the rest of the trash.  Beverage purveyors were actually boasted of "No Deposit No Return" in their advertising.

But a while later, someone realized that just because the environmental cost of the bottles in the landfills doesn't appear anywhere on the beverage industry's balance sheet doesn't mean that there is no environmental cost.  And as the municipalities found that the taxpayers were in fact bearing the cost of the exhausting landfill capacities.  And so, the various states began to enact beverage container return statutes.  As one who regularly returns the beverage containers to the reverse-vending machines, this suits me fine.

And, of course, I put my recyclables out at the curb on collection days.  Where I live, it is paper and cardboard one week, and plastic, glass and metal cans the other week.  Once New York enacted the beverage return law, which was shortly after my wife and I relocated here, there was a noticeable (though by no means complete) reduction in the beverage container litter on the roadways and in the parks, et cetera.  My then 7-year-old son took to collecting the returnable bottles in order to supplement his income.

And so, today, I went to the Post Office.  Our Post Office has its regular wastebaskets, and also the blue Paper Recycle containers which bear the recycle legend and logo.  While going through my stack of mail, the janitor came by with his wheeled trash can, making his 1:00 PM rounds to empty the trash.  I stood to the side so that he could access the wastebasket beneath the counter where I was sorting through my mail.

Noticing the pile of papers from the junk mail and other extraneous cellulose matter from the contents of my P.O. Box, he asked me, "Is that trash?"

"It's for the paper recycle," I answered.

"Don't worry about it," he told me.  "I just put it all in the can and it all goes into the same dumpster!"

Query:  Why should I bother to take the time to bust my beitzim separating the recyclable from the non-recyclable if it all gets put into the same trash bin and goes to the same dump or incinerator?

At my local Post Office, all of the pretenses of recycling to protect the environment are a bunch of manure!

Earth Hour on My Own Time

It is now Earth Hour 2009, and we have just turned on the lights in our house. Most of the lights in our house HAVE, in fact, been shut off for the past 25 hours on account of our religious Sabbath. No dishwashers have been running, nor the washing machine nor the dryer. But with the conclusion of Shabbat, I recited Havdalah and we are now back to the regular days of the week. I have just turned on several lights in the house, and have switched on my computer, and am now composing this posting.

Understand that I was environmentally concerned long before many of the environitwits who are now pushing Earth Hour. Our family was one of the first to get on with the recycling of paper, glass and metal (and indeed, long before the familiar curbside recycling, my grandfather was a scrap metal dealer, that class of people who were the original metal recyclers).

I was composting the vegetable wastes from my kitchen long before many of the environitwits were even born. Where I live, there is an ordinance that prohibits the storage of waste on one's property. A number of years ago, one of my neighbors, Frau Himmler, reported me for having the compost pile, and I received a citation under that code provision (I don't know what she was complaining about; every year she has her landscapers literally spread bovine feces all over her lawn). I moved the compost pile to another corner of my yard and haven't heard anything further.

And, significantly, our household electricity usage is below the neighborhood average.

But amongst the environitwits who are aboard the Earth Hour bandwagon are some hard core enviroterrorists.

A few queries regarding the EarthHourlings:

* How much energy was expended in publicizing and promoting Earth Hour? How many of them jetted around the nation or the world in the promotional activity?

* How many of them recycle their cans, bottles and papers?

* How many of them require supercool air conditioning in the summer?

* In short, how many of them who are talking the talk are walking the walk?


Yes, we do need to cut down our national energy usage. But having someone who has no idea of my household energy needs dictate to me what I must do with my household energy usage is a far, far scarier notion than dependency on foreign energy resources. Because ours is not a welfare recipient household, the family budget seems to be the best determinant of our energy usage.

The ANWR Drill

I am ambivalent regarding whether or not drilling for oil should be permitted in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If I had to vote yes or no, one way or the other, it would now be "NO." This Republican environmentalist still has that oily taste in his mouth from 24 March 1989, when Exxon Valdez skipper Joe Hazelwood, with Jim Beam as his first mate, reefed the ship and did one big lubrication job on Prince William Sound.

But really, the people whose opinions should count are the residents of ANWR and its vicinity. Because it is they who will have to live with the consequences -- foul or fair -- of bringing the oil drilling industry to ANWR.

The following points, in no particular order, are noted:


1. We all know what the potential foul consequences of drilling in ANWR can be. See the first paragraph of this post.

2. Had Mr. Seward not arranged the purchase of Alaska from the Russians, then it is safe to say that oil would already be flowing from ANWR, and there likely would be several spill mishaps whose cumulative oil gallonage would probably exceed the 10.8 million discharged on account of Joe Hazelwood's aforementioned deviation from the designated sea lane.

3. There are many stable and prosperous communities where oil is drilled. Beverly Hills, California immediately comes to mind in that regard. The story of Jed Clampett has it all wrong -- Oil is drilled and pumped from underneath Beverly Hills (including an oil well on the grounds of Beverly Hills High School). The oil leases in the Los Angeles area, and Beverly Hills in particular, enhance the value of the real property and reduce the public tax burden, and thus contribute in no small way to the communities' prosperity and lifestyle.

4. The oil boom in Alaska has raised the standard of living for many residents. This includes running water and electricity, paved roads, better medical care, et cetera.

5. Unless the limousine liberals from places like Beverly Hills are willing to either (a) spend their own money to bring running water and electricity to the residents of the far outreaches of Alaska, and/or (b) give up their indoor bathrooms and poop in outhouses, then what right do they have to deny the Alaskans the opportunity to have indoor plumbing and electricity?


And so, while I personally oppose drilling for oil in the ANWR, that is a decision that should be made by the people in Alaska.