I’m an old hippie, a boomer, a person who wore tie-dye in 1970 and bucked the establishment.  I thought I knew the issues, was “with it”, had it going on.  Tree-hugging might be a bit extreme, but I support animals, organic foods, recycling, and have for years.  Okay, maybe I recycled cans because it was easy – father-in-law collected them and gave them to a neighbor who needed the recycle money.  When my city put out the blue bins, I recycled paper and glass and plastic as well.  It’s easy – they pick it up.  But was I aware and awake?  Am I now?

The beginning of Anne’s real awakening came just recently.  I read Dear Abby – well, who doesn’t?  I was shocked by one just before Earth Day in April.  She listed a few of the usual throw-away items we use, and how long it takes them to degrade.  Bad, bad and worse.  But at the bottom was Styrofoam – it never, ever biodegrades!  I had no idea!  Anne awakens!  So… why is it legal?  Why is it around?  My initial indignation was huge.  But, of course, it serves a very important purpose – keeps stuff cold, keeps stuff hot, cheap…

More on how we fight that later.  But first… I walked into my office lunch room, and on the shelves are piles of Styrofoam cups.  We also have glass cups and mugs in the cabinets, but I watched person after person take the Styrofoam.  I put up a sign – “Earth Day is Wednesday – celebrate by using glass!”  I attached the newspaper clipping showing Styrofoam never degrades.  Believe it or not, someone came in and scratched that out.  An office of 40 professional adults and someone childishly scratched it out.  What threatened that person about my sign?

I’ll come back to the cups later.  Right now I am trying to deal with the concept that someone found the idea of not using Styrofoam so threatening that they had to obliterate it.  Anne is awakening.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bottled Water Launches Latest Eco-Friendly Packaging (treehugger.com)