Why do I call this the "Green Rule"?

I don't know how many of today's generation are familiar with the song "School Days", but it mentions the three Rs as part of the Golden Rule. Since it pertained to school, it was Reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. This was the standard for learning or so it seemed at the time. Many years have passed and as I mentioned in my previous post, we have because a society that does not think twice about discarding items. We therefore needed a new rule...The Green Rule. The 3Rs of recycling.

While discussing this situation with my husband, I asked what has changed so much from when we were kids. The obvious changes which weren't discussed include the proliferation of fast food restaurants. I was in high school when the MacDonalds on Huron Line opened. It was take out only -- no place to sit and eat. From that point in the early 1970s, it was one fast food restaurant after the other. Today, it is unusual to be at home for all of your meals in one week. Yet when we were younger that was the way it was. Mom cooked all the time, baked desserts -- basically she did it all. It doesn't seem to happen that way in this day and age. There is too much to do and convenience takes precedence over everything else. Unfortunately, when there is convenience, there is waste.

Now, as current generations see the error of the ways of the last few decades, it becomes increasingly obvious that things need to change. As organizations and people rally together to improve the state of our earth (caused by many years of disregard) -- the new catch word has become GREEN. The implication is that green is good. Anything that you do for the environment that is good will be considered green. Kind of reminds you of those veggies that you didn't want eat, you remember the green ones, spinach, broccoli or brussel sprouts -- they are good for you but many kids didn't like the thought of eating something green. Sometimes we have to do things we don't like because it's for the greater good.

Recycling was born. Their slogan Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is common sense but how can it be applied to such hectic lives. Before the past few decades, reducing waste did not appear as necessary as it seems to be today. People definitely reused things in the past. There was little waste with food and once something had outgrown its usefulness with one family it often was passed on to another family -- remember the term hand-me-downs. When something was finally discarded, it was because it was broken and could not be fixed not just because it needed to be replaced. Don't get me wrong, many people still practice the basics of these principles but many others don't consider it when they get their garbage together.

Perhaps this careless disregard came from the prosperity that was realized after the second world war. I recently saw an article that had been published about 4 or 5 years ago by the Canadian government honouring the veterans of previous wars. It was a short article and it was about how people recycled during the war. This was done out of necessity but none the less, they did it. Why can't we do the same? The thing is we can. We have been and we will endeavour to continue. Things are improving. More and more items are becoming recyclable and new uses are being found for their products. The new horizon does indeed look green; but only if everyone cooperates and does their part. It is not impossible. It is attainable.

My next post will include specifics about the products that are currently being recycled. There are new additions to the list of items and it continues to grow. I will include items recently included in the last edition of the EWSWA newsletter. 'Til then, happy recycling!