Give Until It Hurts…
Sometimes I feel like I’m a poster child for charitable, environmental, and humanitarian advocacy. I walked through a county-sponsored open reserve today, complete with my Juvenile Diabetes Foundation denim shirt, participating in the ecological Cache In Trash Out program. I am fanatical about recycling, often fill up our 96-gallon recycling container that is collected weekly, and have been known to schlep Styrofoam packing materials back home with me from work and job sites. Even one of the reasons I bought my Saturn six years ago was that it was fully recyclable. I’ve also installed a solar electrical system (photovoltaic) at home.
And, yet, other times, I feel like the poster child for planetary exploitation. I hiked through those same woods with my Reebok tennis shoes (certainly an exploitive company), drove my less-than-economical car back home, stopped at 7-Eleven for a chemically enhanced overly sweet Slurpee in a wax paper cup and nonrecyclable plastic lid. Just about every one of my dozen or so computers is completely non-recyclable, and I’m terrible forgetful about properly disposing of batteries and inkjet cartridges.
Fortunately, I tend to lean much greater towards the virtuous side…
UPDATE: I am now quite diligent at recycling my inkjet cartridges, and at saving my spent batteries to give to the county hazardous waste department.
Unfortunately, I now have a Jeep — so my mileage is about half of what it was back then!