My husband can attest to the fact that I am, at best, a reluctant recycler. After living in Newport Beach where they sort your trash, and then moving to the ‘burbs, it’s been hard for me to jump on the two trashcan bandwagon…one for recyclables and one for pure trash. As a purger, unlike my hoarder husband, I dare to take a stand and boldly say, “I like to throw crap away!” One time I even dumped my trash in a restricted trashcan when mine was full(Yeah I know I am a green traitor). I despise clutter and so I am quite content throwing away something we may or may not use in the next twenty years. But, for all my obsessive tendencies, I have given a yeoman’s effort to be a better environmentalist. Much of this is due to the guilt trip of my children.
The schools have successfully brainwashed our children into depicting my generation(30-40) as a gas guzzling, landfill hogging, ozone destroying enemy. And the children have been indoctrinated with a Go Green message to infiltrate the homes of the worst offenders…namely me. And it’s working, because I am slowly, one plastic bottle at a time, separating my trash. I have also bought one of those cute reusable grocery bags, not that I’ve used it, but it’s there, as tangible evidence to the shift in my heart.
And then one day, out of the blue, I knew I had crossed over to the other side when I had an unexpected reaction at the grocery store. It’s not the bad service, the long lines, or the mass commercialization of the cereal aisle that gets me, it’s the lousy coupons. When you check out, after going through the mental anguish of deciding between paper or plastic and then weigh the ramifications of either choice to the environment, the checker proceeds to print out about 500 little pieces of paper to save you money on your next visit.
Really??? After all the work you and I have done to clean up our acts, clean up our beaches, clean up the oil spill, sort through the trash, drive fuel-efficient cars, go paperless at the office, recycle, recycle, recycle…and the checker just used enough paper to wipe out a forest for coupons that I can never even remember to bring!
I am mad! Mad enough to raise public awareness and have a mini-fit!
That’s why I am going to Trader Joes where all the bohemian hummus eating people go to shop. They don’t have coupons, just pure and simple low prices. And I will sleep better at night knowing I did my part to save the planet
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