Response to Derrick Jensen Excerpt - MD

"Or let’s talk waste. In 2005, per-capita municipal waste production (basically everything that’s put out at the curb) in the U.S. was about 1,660 pounds. Let’s say you’re a die-hard simple-living activist, and you reduce this to zero. You recycle everything. You bring cloth bags shopping. You fix your toaster. Your toes poke out of old tennis shoes. You’re not done yet, though. Since municipal waste includes not just residential waste, but also waste from government offices and businesses, you march to those offices, waste reduction pamphlets in hand, and convince them to cut down on their waste enough to eliminate your share of it. Uh, I’ve got some bad news. Municipal waste accounts for only 3 percent of total waste production in the United States." - D. Jensen

Well, he does have a very valid point. I agree with him, the truth about the trash is factories are really to blame. No matter how hard you try there's always going to be someone else who's producing a lot of trash. Your waste may be zero, but theirs may be ten. Sure you can try and persuade them to change their ways, but it probably won't happen. So I wouldn't be too surprised if they said no and kicked you out of their office. Or they could just laugh and say "What a silly idea! We don't waste at all!". I suppose the worst thing that could possibly happen is they could release the hounds. Then you'll regret ever trying to save the planet from it's trash problem.

But, not everything has to be completely green. You could simply persuade them to recycle a bit more. Like instead of throwing paper, cardboard, and plastics out, they could sort them. And maybe if they have a lunch room, they could set it up like our school's lunch room. We have one for plastic, paper/cardboard, and one for Caprisun pouches. That's an easy way to keep track of what's garbage and what can be reused. And they could even start a green team of their own! Maybe that's how we could get big companies to recycle.

MD