Other Blog Post

Hey all. This is a blog post from my other blog. I've decided that I like it just enough to save it while I delete the blog itself. I hope you find it at least mildly entertaining.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Seriously

Warning!! What follows is a sleep deprived rant:

I am president of my college's environmental organization.

Which is exciting and good, you get to meet new people and plan all sorts of crazy events.

We also do recycling.

And that is where it all goes down hill.

People are disgusting.

No you can't recycle that brownie, stop putting it into the bin I have to sort through. And that ice cream cone... no, you can't recycle that either. Stop creating a sticky mess of my recycling bags. The pop-spillage is more than enough for me thanks.

... If only it stopped there...

That band-aid that you just peeled off... it doesn't go in the recycling bin. It goes in the garbage bin two feet over. That condom you just used... don't even think of putting that in my recycling bin... once is more than enough.

I mean at least some people try... I guess.

I mean that used kleenex was a type of paper, so I understand the confusion, kinda. And the chew was spat into a nice water bottle... and bottle caps aren't recyclable so I can understand why you wouldn't put them on.

And for those of you who just want to add an extra incentive... just don't. Peeing on the bins, does not make them any more appealing. In fact it makes finding the motivation to recycle, rather difficult.

But really? Is it so hard to understand the difference between a trash can and a recycling bin. The recycling bins are blue, and labeled with a giant recycling symbol! They also happen to use giant plastic bags that I have to dig through once a week. Garbage bins, are not labeled, and thankfully do not typically need to be rummaged through. Thankfully!

So now that I've had my good rant I really just want to know how hard it is to understand. And why so many people have so little respect. It's disheartening. I spent two hours of my time today sorting through this trash to recycle it. It took so long disposing of the garbage and getting everything sorted, that I showed up late to work, and one of my fellow officers ended up missing a class. That should not happen.

I wish it was easier to make people understand what we were doing for them. To understand what respect is, and how much better you feel about yourself if you exercise it. I wish that people took that extra two minutes to do something right, instead of helping only themselves. And they aren't even helping themselves. Recycling is an effort that will help to keep this world a little cleaner a little longer, and if you think your funny trying to stop the effort that is helping your future self and family, think again.

~Cola

Sorry. I needed to rant. People make me sad... and frustrated. I just wish they knew what I was trying to do for them. I hope they learn, and we can work together to make our world sustainable. If only I could envision it as a possibility in the foreseeable future. I can only hope.

Toodles!

--> Current update: Recycling is still disgusting at times, but its actually been improving a bit. I just hope that it continues to do so. Now I'm much more concerned with the amount of recyclables that I see in the trash cans. Something for me to attempt to fix. ^_^ I can't wait until we get our new bins!