Reduce - Reuse - Recycle - (Recover)

Last week in Environmental Chemistry, I learned about the big circling collection of garbage in the oceans. The whole time I was reading ch. 6 of Rosland, I had this picture in my mind. It is really disgusting to see this amount of trash and it perfectly exemplifies how much trash we have and how much it is out of control.  There are initiative to remove this trash but the problem is that it just comes right back due to the movement of the ocean currents. Here 'recovering' isn't really an effective answer to the surplus of trash.

The reading brings up an interesting point, people are so focused on recycling and recovering, which are the last of the (four) R's. One of my favorite initiative to reduce is the 'think out side the bottle.' I have saved SO much money not drinking bottled water/tea. I have a britta filter at home and I brew my own Ice tea. It is really not as inconvenient as people might think it is to carry around your own water instead of purchasing it. Not only does it save money, but, in light of the reading, it has a major effect on the planet. We shouldn't need to invest in so much recycling if people would just 'reduce' a little more.

The resistance to change that Americans have toward the environment is crazy. Instead of changing we implement new technologies for recycling and recovering. Like the book says, this kind of misses the whole point of sustainability. We have to change our lifestyles if we are going to be sustainable. Programs like recycling are only a short-term solution. I signed up for the think outside the bottle challenge about two years ago. I can probably still count on two hands the number of water bottles that I have purchased -- I'm pretty proud of that!