Is it asking that much?
Carl Kurek
Issue date: 3/8/10 Section: Opinion
Why is recycling so hard for some people? Not just recycling but also, to follow the cliché, reducing and reusing. In all seriousness it is not asking much.
Energy efficiency and "going green" are fairly big topics in our society, compact fluorescent light bulbs (those spirally light bulbs that save energy) and hybrid cars are gaining popularity, yet so many people won't put forth the effort to just recycle.
The statistics are mind-blowing. Oberlin College's Recycling Program's website (www.oberline.edu/recycle/facts) has many great statistics that you would think would be enough to persuade anyone to recycle more, reuse more often, reduce waste and overall become a more environmentally friendly person.
One of which is that each of us uses approximately one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree in paper and wood products each year. So America kills over 300 million of these giants a year. Way to go.
Here's another: recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity - enough energy to power the average American home for five months. Enough said.
OK, just two more. Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap Texas. Lastly, in a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his/her adult weight in garbage. If you add it up, this means that a 150-lb. adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 lbs of trash for his/her children.
Being a college campus, imagine how much we contribute to those statistics. Recent surveys on campus showed that students would use recycling containers if they were in classrooms but they won't carry their garbage to containers that are in the hallways even if they are going to walk past them.
Amazing.
I always hear the excuse, "What difference is it going to make if I do it." If everyone has that attitude then it won't make a difference, but to use another cliché, one person can make a difference.
I remember when my family didn't recycle, and I was always picking recyclables out of the garbage and lecturing my family on the importance of recycling. Now, a few years later, judging by the containers we drag out to the curb every week, my family recycles everything. This household of three usually has one bag of garbage compared to an overflowing city-supplied recycling container.
I hope that the university and the SGA do more to promote recycling and energy efficiency on campus, but apparently, short of taking the garbage from our hands and putting it in the right container for us, they can't solve the problem. It's up to you.
Energy efficiency and "going green" are fairly big topics in our society, compact fluorescent light bulbs (those spirally light bulbs that save energy) and hybrid cars are gaining popularity, yet so many people won't put forth the effort to just recycle.
The statistics are mind-blowing. Oberlin College's Recycling Program's website (www.oberline.edu/recycle/facts) has many great statistics that you would think would be enough to persuade anyone to recycle more, reuse more often, reduce waste and overall become a more environmentally friendly person.
One of which is that each of us uses approximately one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree in paper and wood products each year. So America kills over 300 million of these giants a year. Way to go.
Here's another: recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity - enough energy to power the average American home for five months. Enough said.
OK, just two more. Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap Texas. Lastly, in a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his/her adult weight in garbage. If you add it up, this means that a 150-lb. adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 lbs of trash for his/her children.
Being a college campus, imagine how much we contribute to those statistics. Recent surveys on campus showed that students would use recycling containers if they were in classrooms but they won't carry their garbage to containers that are in the hallways even if they are going to walk past them.
Amazing.
I always hear the excuse, "What difference is it going to make if I do it." If everyone has that attitude then it won't make a difference, but to use another cliché, one person can make a difference.
I remember when my family didn't recycle, and I was always picking recyclables out of the garbage and lecturing my family on the importance of recycling. Now, a few years later, judging by the containers we drag out to the curb every week, my family recycles everything. This household of three usually has one bag of garbage compared to an overflowing city-supplied recycling container.
I hope that the university and the SGA do more to promote recycling and energy efficiency on campus, but apparently, short of taking the garbage from our hands and putting it in the right container for us, they can't solve the problem. It's up to you.
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