Happy Earth Day 2016! For 46 years Earth Day has been on April 22. It is a day to celebrate the positives in addressing climate change and to remind ourselves what we as humanity can do as nations, regions AND individuals. I'm proud to live in province that has legislated waste management to be more in line with sustainability and environmental protection. Each home has a large green bin, which holds compostable materials -- kitchen wastes and yard waste. This goes to a regional compost site and the degraded wastes become rich soil for planting and gardening. Our recyclables go into clear blue bags -- one for paper-based products and the other for plastics and aluminum containers. Anything else goes into a clear colourless bag and this goes to the landfill. Each large clear bag can contain a small opaque kitchen size bag of personal wastes. If it is clear that items from the clear bags should be in other containers or are hazardous wastes, the bag is tagged and left at the curb for resorting. If this recurs a fine can be imposed. This took much community awareness building and buy in, but it works reasonably well.
I've read recently of other places thinking of trying a similar format, where waste collectors would be able to see inside the bags. This disturbs some folks, it seems. My bags go out and sit on the curb. Other neighbours put their bags into garbage bins on wheels, so no one but the guys on the truck will see what you are throwing away. It isn't an invasion of privacy. I put the cat litter in clear vegetable or bread bags so they see that it really is waste even if it seems sort of heavy <smile>. Others use the opaque bag for this sort of thing. I love the process. I've tried to help folks at work sort correctly and to be frank, these are people with several degrees <smile>. Some days are better than others, but it seems pointless to start a battle when I can use gloves and resort a few items. Why do I bother? I want the world to be healthy. Melting polar ice caps are raising water levels at shorelines. Many coastal communities have become flood prone areas, when they weren't before. The sea temperatures are rising, which will alter weather patterns due to changes in major current flows. I am a foodie and work to promote food security for all people -- so no one is hungry or has to eat less nutritious foods because that is all they can afford. All our food comes from the earth. If weather patterns change, traditional food growing areas may need to change crops due to temperature and precipitation patterns. We've seen the effects of the drought in California and the poor wine grapes in Europe. If those areas are forced to move to growing other items, who will pick up the large salad green crops from California and will there be enough to meet global demand? It isn't as easy as 'someone else will grow it.'
The song for today came to mind when thinking of this topic and other recent news. The artist is another that we've lost this year. The lyric "How can you leave me just standing?" seemed to fit the plight of many people, animals and plants that keep our globe turning. The title also covers the negative impacts of humanity on the world. Enjoy!
When Doves Cry -- Prince
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