wasted nation

I was thinking today (I know it's a shock, but I'm a brunette now, so it's allowed) about how wasteful we humans are. Everyone is theoretically so gung-ho about recycling and preserving our resources, but do people really care? I'm sure there are some hippies out there who recycle and reuse everything, but the majority of us, yes I'm including myself, don't really give a dead rat's royal hiny about preserving natural resources. Heck, I'm not even totally sure why other people care... most things that we use to make other things reproduce naturally.

So, I was just kidding about the whole "I don't care about God's green earth" thing. I do care, but I'm torn. I would love to take all of my paper, aluminum, old computers, batteries, light bulbs, and plastic to a place that would recycle the items, make something from them, and sell the new stuff for people to reuse the material that I recycled. The truth is, though, that even if we were to take everything recyclable to a recycling facility, would we buy the recycled goods? ....Honestly?? Probably not. I gross out when I go to a fast food place, and their napkins or carry out bags are "Made from Recycled Paper." What kind of paper was recycled to make this napkin that I'm wiping my face off with... ah, the beautiful mystery.

I work for a company that collects material such as batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, computers ... pretty much anything that is recyclable except paper, we take it. Anyway so they collect all this stuff and send to a recycling facility in Mason, MI where people recycle these items. This is all great and you're probably wondering why I'm rambling on and on and on about the place I work.... well, in our offices we have these recycling bins to put all our paper in and some people come out about once a month to empty the bins, take it back to their company, and recycle the paper for reuse. The thing that ticks me off though is that when I make my order for Staples, I'm not allowed to order recycled paper for us to use because it's more expensive than regular, non-recycled paper... what is the stupid point of making it practically mandatory to recycle paper but not following through with the process which is to reuse.

I'm pretty sure life will continue as it is without doing the complete recycling process, but it's still upsetting to me that I have the same "Recycle, but don't reuse" mindset as the company I work for.

Don't even get me started on how much food is wasted! Just eat what you have on your plate. Who cares if you don't like it ... if it's gross, it's probably good for you! Consume those nasty nutrients like there's no tomorrow!!!