Are you still having trouble with your “environmental lifestyle”?

I would like to share a letter that was sent to me awhile back by Amy Martin, an environmental journalist. Here are her thoughts on why we should recycle – Amy offers a great “recycling pep-talk.” I hope this helps ignite, or re-ignite, a passion about recycling.

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“Recycling is about saving resources and energy. The more we recycle, the less energy we use; the less energy we use means less pollution in the air and water.

“It takes a third less energy to recycle a glass bottle than to make a new one, half as much energy to recycle paper and steel, and 95 percent less energy to recycle an aluminum can.

“That’s fewer smokestacks of industry and power plants spewing forth the smoke of coal and oil, blackening the sky and compounding the greenhouse effect.

“Our world has a growing population, and every new mouth needs resources to live, resources already stretched thin. By recycling, fewer forests must be defaced for wood or mountains torn apart for metal ore, instead left intact for the wise use and enjoyment of our grandchildren’s grandchildren.

“Recycling rejects the notion of a throwaway society. Recycling says maybe, just maybe, if we stop tossing away all this garbage, we might not cast aside our children and pets, our downtowns and historic areas, our elderly and poverty stricken, when they become hard to manage. Responsibility, longevity, consideration, thrift: These are the values of recycling.

“On a symbolic level, a trip to the recycling bin is a kinetic ritual confirming that we are all interconnected, that one’s action (not recycling paper) has a reaction (cutting down rain forests) sometimes halfway across the globe.

“Recycling recognizes the circles of our existence, that we are born and live and die and live again, just like in the natural world, just like an aluminum can.

That’s why recycling can evoke such passion; it strikes chords so deep, few of us even recognize them.”