Let's Make Every Day Earthday

We all have a small number of significant days in our lifetime where we remember the location, the weather, and the time of day that a particular event takes place. For some it is a national event, such as the assignation of John F. Kennedy, for others it is the birth of a child. For me it was the first Earthday on March 21, 1970. I was a brand new teacher with my first assignment teaching high school biology. My plan for the evening was to attend a dinner/speech at a local nature camp, expecting to come home with materials for lessons I could use in my classroom. What I did not anticipate was how that the speech and the discussions afterwards would affect my life. From childhood and on through college I had been fascinated with the beauty and wonder of our planet but had never given much thought  to what we were doing to it or what we needed to do for it…until that day.

Since that day, I have incorporated Earthday into my lessons every year. My students and I have participated in cleanup campaigns, adopted animals at the local zoo, and created energy efficient house models. I appeared at local schools as a guest speaker with a hands-on program about recycling. When I taught college my class made a community presentation about solid waste options. I consider the “3R’s—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” to be a way of life. I was active on a committee that worked with the local government to mandate recycling in apartment complexes.  Despite the fact that I lived near Chicago, where the average citizen does not really care too much about the environment, I was still feeling pretty good about my positive contributions to our Mother Earth…until last fall.

I made the decision to retire early from teaching and to move to where I had wanted to live from the time I was a child --California. We have all heard how California is always first to tackle new projects, particularly those that are good for the Earth.  So I moved here in September. My first shock came when I found out that my apartment complex, which has over eighty tenants, does not recycle! Upon investigating I discovered that recycling was available to me if I pack up my recyclables and drive two miles to the back of the local grocery store. Upon my arrival, I learn from the homeless lady who is sitting there under a tree, translating for the migrant attendant who does not speak English, that they only take plastic (like pop or juice), glass bottles and aluminum cans that show that they were purchased in California. OK, so what do I do with newspaper, junk mail, milk bottles, detergent containers and other items which should also be recyclable? Answer: drive another five miles to Company XYZ (which as it turns out, it the local dump!) This is not making me a happy camper.

Upon more investigation, I have learned that in my new home, Palm Springs, apartment residents do not have recycling offered to them, that they must physically load up these items and drive them somewhere else where the options are limited and most of it gets land filled anyway. I have volunteered to be on a committee to organize this type of project like the one I did in Illinois with no response from the local government officials. I have volunteered to start such a committee, if one does not exist, again no response. What should I do next? For now, I am writing this article to let others know about the situation while I think about what I will do next……………..what would you do?