Easy Ways to Recycle More and Pollute Less in 2008

A recent AC feature that urged people to recycle more, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/242137, attracted lots of comments...many of them asking for more specific tips on things readers can do. Here are some of mine.

1. Beware of Green Party "watermelons." Some older members of the Green Party were formerly interested in ideas inspired by the old Communist Party. They became known as "watermelons" -- green outside, red (the Communist Party color) inside. While many of these people wanted to reduce overall consumption, regardless of environmental impact, because they grew up in a thriftier historical period, a few may actually have made it a goal to reduce economic prosperity because they absorbed a cultlike belief that it was wrong to have more of anything than anyone else does.

Others were interested in increasing the power (and the pay) of government officials because they wanted to become government officials. For reasons beyond my ability to analyze, these individuals felt that North America enjoyed "too much freedom" and that freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion, as well as freedom to improve one's personal domestic economy through honest work, should be curtailed.

These are the people who will advise you that transferring all your personal business and communication to the Internet is a great way to save paper. Reality is that the Internet guzzles vast amounts of electricity and petrochemical resources. Maintaining the Internet costs much more than publishing even the junkiest ad mail and the sleaziest magazines on paper. However, this consideration, which is paramount in a really "green" environmentally conscious mind, is secondary to the Watermelons, whose main concern is establishing a structure for government control of communication and business. Online banking, filing, and personal communication don't actually save you money, but they do make it easy for all kinds of people, including hackers and international spies as well as government officials, to keep track of everything you do.