THE PUBLIC MIND: WANT TO SAVE THE WORLD? START IN OWN BACKYARD WITH RECYCLING

Dear Editor:

The environment? What could I, one person, do to save it? That is for the government to deal with. It is too big a task for one person to undertake.

This type of attitude is taken on by many people, members of this community in particular. What needs to be understood is that one big things always consists of many smaller parts. For example, for a movie to be considered a comedy it must contain several short one-liners and funny split-second facial expressions and this combination of parts makes the whole movie funny. For the tenants of this planet to improve the present and future condition of the earth, each individual person, like the split-second facial expressions, must participate in playing his/her role.

So what constitutes this Role? should I start boycotting big companies who pollute the air? Sell my car and walk everywhere? Stop running my air-conditioner? Fly, or rather walk to Washington D.C. and march on the White House lawns demanding better environmental policies? These drastic measures are just that, drastic. Why don't we just start in our own backyard with our system of solid waste disposal.

A very heated controversy in this community is the present trash pick-up schedule. It is believed by many that our solid waste is only picked up once a week. This is wrong. Our garbage is picked up twice, once as organized refuse and once as unorganized refuse. Is it really that hard to separate glass, plastic, newspaper, and cardboard from the other garbage?

Many people complain that the unorganized refuse is a nuisance to have around the house for seven days especially in the summer heat. If the garbage has been properly recycled by taking out the picked-up items and maybe even going so far as to compost left-over foods and to separate aluminum as well this problem is greatly reduced, literally. I know this is true from personal experience. I come from a seven member household who, before recycling, threw away four cans of unorganized trash a week. Now, after starting on the recycling system, we throw away only one can of unorganized trash a week.

At the last city council meeting, several citizens were expressing their anger over not only the garbage collection schedule but also the increase in tax on it. One lady even went so far as to ask why we recycle if it costs the city money. Paying extra money and reducing the unorganized trash pick-ups provides a great incentive to recycle. It is a shame that in this community, more people do not recycle than do. It is time that we as tenants of this planet stop solely thinking of ourselves and starting thinking about the future state of our world. Just think, all the energy used up complaining about trash pick-ups could be put into recycling and separating your trash.

Kathryn Welsh

Cape Girardeau