Never mind Rudy Huxtable.  Forget that silly frog.  Being green is easy!

            Don’t get me wrong.  I’m no Green Peace terrorist out to blow up whaling ships; I’m as worried about global warming as my father and grandfather were about global cooling in the ’70’s and ’40’s; and the earth is not my mother...but it is my home.  I think it is our duty to be good stewards of the earth, and there are some simple things we can do that require little time, effort, or expense, and are good for the environment at the same time.

            We use energy efficient light bulbs in our house.  They’re rather expensive—at least by unemployed student standards—but they save us money on our utility bills and last longer than incandescent bulbs.

            Perhaps the easiest thing we can do for the environment, as pointed out in Tuesday’s Southerner, is recycling.  I became interested in this when I learned of those monthly fees on our utility bills whether we use our curbside recycling bins or not.  The wife and I didn’t even have a bin, so I called and had one delivered.  It’s a paltry amount, but if we’re being charged at all, it’s stupid not to use it.

            How many plastic drink bottles and steel food cans does your household go through in a week?  We eat three meals a day and have something to drink with each one.  It adds up.  Why send all that perfectly good refuse to the landfill when it can be used again?

            We recycle our plastic grocery bags.  We use some of them again for lunch bags and trashcan liners, and the rest we take to the recycling barrel outside Food Lion.  Perhaps I should check to make sure they really are recycling those bags.  When I worked at Harris Supermarket, we had a barrel that the store manager would have someone go empty into the dumpster when it was full.

            If you’re reading this, you have a newspaper to recycle.  My bin contains almost as many newspapers as it does bottles.  Cardboard can be recycled, as well as the reams of junk mail we all hate.

            At least once a week, our mailboxes are stuffed with the same coupons, circulars, and insurance ads that are stuck in our newspapers.  Those of us with P.O. boxes get triple the aggravation.  Throw in the daily credit card offers, and that’s a whole lot of trees dying needlessly.

            Each time I check my box, I see the trashcans in the post office overflowing with junk mail, so I came up with a simple solution: requiring the U.S. Postal Service to provide recycling bins in their facilities.

            I wrote to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, and Postmaster General John Potter, as well as Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), who chair their respective chambers’ subcommittees dealing with the USPS.  I shared my idea with each and pointed out how this would be a good opportunity for the federal and local governments to work together since most municipalities have some sort of recycling program already.

            Three months later, I have only received a response—if you could call it that—from Dole.  She never once mentioned my issue, but did thank me three times for sharing my concerns.  I didn’t expect much from her or Burr, though any acknowledgement is better than none.

            I’m really disappointed in the three Democrats, especially Butterfield.  My own representative—the first line of defense, so to speak—should have the gumption to respond in a timely manner.  I thought any green issue drew Democrats like an outhouse draws flies.

            I voted for Dole, Burr, and Butterfield, and they can count on my remembering their shoddy constituent service when they come up for reelection.  But, even without the help of the government, I can still have an impact on the environment in my own small way.

            Go thou and do likewise.

© 2007 by J.D. Lewis