Little Green Things...

I recently found myself in a lively discussion about green, recycling, global warming and carbon footprints. Of course, my position is pro-recycle and reduce carbon emissions, my opponent's opinion was that carbon emissions don't cause global warming and that since his local recycling program had been accused of not actually recycling the recyclables, that he didn't have time to be bothered with it. Furthermore, he stated that Al Gore's carbon footprint is huge, thereby rendering Al Gore and his position "full of crap".

Wow.

I participated in the first Earth Day back in the 1970's. We all walked to school, which was about 7 or 8 miles including a long trek up Tunnel Hill Road. The experience made an impression on me and over the years I have been an advocate of Earth Day, recycling, composting, tree hugging, etc. I explained to my friend that the green movement has been around for a long time and really has nothing to do with Al Gore and has more to do with taking care of the earth.

It just makes common sense that we should reduce our waste so we don't have to clean it up. And thinking that it doesn't have to be cleaned up, is (forgive me) ignorance to the highest degree. Case in point, a child's bedroom...or the dishes in the sink. These things don't just take care of themselves, someone has to clean them up and the same logic applies to pollution, trash and carbon emissions. Lord knows Mother Earth is doing her best to keep up with our mess, but, at what point to we acknowledge that Mom is exhausted and can't keep up ( any mom will tell you, that has been a problem for years).

I remember a few years ago, I was at a street fair along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania where there was a Native American woman sitting imparting her wisdom. She showed many traditional items and explained how her ancestors' deep connection with the Earth and nature would not allow them to waste any part of an animal that had been killed. They used the meat for food, the skin for clothing, the bones, claws and even stomach were turned into useful or decorative reminders to honor the spirit of the animal who died so they could live.

How have we gotten so far away from this very spiritual connection to the earth and everything that sustains us? Don't we think it's better to TRY to recycle than not? If only for the simple logic of trying to keep our big ugly piles of trash that we call "landfills" smaller.

I'm not a scientist, I'm just a mom trying to understand the logic behind this disposable lifestyle we've been taught to accept and I'm not buying it. Even if Al Gore has some work to do on his carbon footprint, why should I let that stop me from trying to reduce my own? And why would an otherwise reasonably intelligent man like my friend, adopt an attitude that it's all BS and it's "not worth it"?

Well, I would like to add here that after a few glasses of wine, the conversation turned silly when I mentioned the pollution in China as evidenced during the Olympics, and he said it was from everyone smoking cigarettes! We all laughed and called it a draw.