Winning Words 12/28/12
“It’s not easy being green…”  (Kermit the Frog)  It seems that our recycling bin is getting heavier each week, but we still have a ways to go.  We haven’t started a compost pile, nor have we switched to curly light bulbs.  The first Earth Day was observed in 1970 and has been gaining adherents ever since.  I’d be interested to know what it is that you are doing to make this earth a better place in which to live.    ;-)  Jack

 FROM WALMART REV:  Most certainly could be better at being a good will ambassador in this regard, Jack...I do work at picking up and throwing away dropped paper found along my way, and with participating in the recycling program of our city.////FROM JACK:  A good resolution for the New Year:  "I'm going to be greener in 2013!"

 FROM DR PAUL IN MICHIGAN:  We have been asking for the same size recycling container as our garbage.  As it is, we have two full little buckets each week. The reason we get for not allowing a bigger container is that the recycling trucks are not equipped to handle them. This is a good case of people wanting to do the "green thing" but the system won't adjust.////FROM JACK:  Sometimes good things take time.  Think how far recycling has come since 1970.  Think how far you have come since 1970.  The patience of Job is a good example to follow.

 FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Composting, curly light bulbs, recycling all papers and plastics.  Could do more - and probably will as time goes by.////FROM JACK:  Our first curly light bulb burned out in a couple of months, and it was a pain to get rid of it.  Maybe I'll have to try again, if I want to be green and practice what I preach .

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  Learning organic gardening, not watering the lawn, being happy and joyful with produce that nature produces that isn't looking perfectly perfect, accepting more diversity, trying to listen and learn more from plants and also people what they need from their perspective and not trying to control others, living more with reconciliation and peace and always seeking understanding and wholeness.////FROM JACK:  WOW!  That's a BIG plateful.  I don't know if I can eat it all at once.  Listening to plants?  I've heard that in Iowa you can actually hear the corn growing in the fields

 FROM WATERFORD JAN:  A couple years ago I added grocery and household packaging to the appropriate collection and was surprised at the accumulation in a week's time. Cardboard, metal, and glass are collected by my waste disposal company every week, and that does make it easy. There are public bins for disposal of newspapers and magazines in many areas.   At church we recycle food waste that wild animals will eat, collect recyclables that we can put in our home collection, and the Sunday bulletins go into a special basket after worship.  One by one we can make a difference.////FROM JACK:  I'm beginning to use cloth bags at the grocery store, but now I have to buy plastic garbage bags to replace the store ones that we  used for garbage.  When I was growing up, raw garbage (no paper, metal or glass) was picked up in an open truck and hauled to the hog farms for food.  That was a kind of recyling.////WJ:  I recall my parents dividing garbage/trash during WW II--food waste was separated out to feed the hogs (we had hogs in Michigan, too), and I never wondered where the other stuff went--I later assumed it had been sent to landfills.  My dad took food scraps to a corner of the Victory garden every day, turned it over into the dirt with a spade, and used that dirt later for fertilizer--easy composting with no odor.

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  We recycle everything but it's to cut down on buying garbage bags.  I use the curly bulbs only outside because they are so deadly inside if they break.  No compost pile but we do turn off the water, take short showers sometimes...when the arthritis isn't too bad, and try to eat what we buy instead of throwing it out.  We do turn off lights when we leave the room.  We aren't up in the top 20 of recyclers but we do try.////FROM JACK:  An outhouse would conserve water.

FROM GUSTIE MARLYS:  I have a few curly light bulbs, but I hate them.  They are very expensive and don't last as long as they are supposed to.  I hoarded the good old incandescent kind.  I hope they get reinstated before I run out!////FROM JACK:  Sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease.  I think that there are still problems to be solved regarding those bulbs.

 FROM ILLINOIS LIZ:  my good friends own local coffee shops. they bring up a good point... restaurants just throw all their waste in the dumpster. no recycling.////FROM JACK:  Yes, it's a good point.  It's not a perfect world, but slow progress is better than no progress.

 FROM EMT SINGS IN MICHIGAN:  We are probably doing just a drop in the bucket compared to some,  But I do recycle every bit of trash: break down all cardboard boxes(cereal, etc), all sorts of food now is sold in recyable containers.  I save many and reuse.  I reuse the gallon storage bags by washing them out. (My kids will say to me if they are looking for a bag " I mean a new one,not one that has crumbs in it!"). I take the newspapers to a school as they get credit for them, etc, etc.////FROM JACK:  The ocean is made up of many drops.

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  We installed two of the new light bulb in the kitchen yesterday because one had burned out,  It is amazing how much brighter everything is and still is using just 23  watts.  What a wonderful world we live in.////FROM JACK:  Speaking of a wonderful world, the Wolverine football team will be playing in Tampa on New Year's Day.  Will you be going?

 FROM DP IN MINNESOTA:  I compost my garbage, use curly light bulbs, and save all clean paper for recycling.  I iron clothes and use my dishwasher on weekends or after 8:00 pm.////FROM JACK:  You get a gold star, because you are REALLY helping to make your corner of the world a better place.////DP:  Well, I have no choice because I serve on the Environment Committee and everyone here at Becketwood is expected to cooperate on these matters.  And I am all for that! Of course many do much more than I ! ////J:  Two gold stars! 

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  I live by the sampler, : Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Do without." BUT... I am resisting curly light bulbs with a vengeance. Contain mercury and made in China. ////FROM JACK:  Do you remember when we used to play with mercury in chemistry class?  We'd coat dimes with it to make them slippery.

 FROM CL IN CALIFORNIA:  A few years ago Novi ended its recycling program.  Instead of weekly pickups they opened a recycle center on 11 mile rd where you can drop off all recycle material.  Lois and I have used  the centerand make a trip or two a month,  not many people use it since I have never seen a crowd at the location.  Just an example of what recycle does to our garbage landfill problems.  As I said we have used it since it started and over the years we have never generated more that 1 bag of garbage a week{a small one at that].  We have a neighbor who is out of town most weeks so I agree to dispose of his garbage.  He does not recycle anything.  When I pick up his garbage on Monday Morning he never has less than 3 BIG bags of trash that goes to the landfill.  consider the savings if we were  required to recycle.  but of course we are far to democratic to require anything like that.////FROM JACK:  I thought that Northville was a progressive community.  Weekly recycling pickup, plus two hazardous waste days, is taken for granted where we live.  The waste hauler will also pick up any large items when a call is made ahead of time.  I also like Michigan's 10 cent per bottle/can deposit program..

 FROM TRIHARDER:  I can't believe the bags and bags of paper -- just from home -- that I toss out every week.  The vast majority of it is junk-mail and plastic.////FROM JACK: I don't mind the junk mail.  It's sort of a subsidy for the Post Office and it provides jobs for advertising people, printers, paper mill workers and loggers...and wood is a replaceable resource (like other plant products).  But I still think that recycling paper is a good idea.

 FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  so my beloved has been paying attention.  i got a really nice,(all i wanted was a basic), ukulele for christmas,  i started relearning chords with somewhere over the rainbow and it's not easy being green.  two of my life's anthems.  dorothy and kermit...so much in common.////FROM JACK:  Next you can start working on Don Ho's "Tiny Bubbles," and Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe Through the Tulips."

 FROM JT IN MINNESOTA:  Well, we do have curly light bulbs and I have a compost barrel.  Our church is "green" which is led by one of our congregation whose career is in the "green" world.  She has organized a rain garden, named the plants, recycles in the church and writes a monthly note in our news letter.////FROM JACK:  It's surprising what some people can do when they're motivated.  I tried to be a motivator in some of my sermons.

 FROM BS IN ENGLAND:  We, across the pond are recycling everything possible.  It is becoming competitive!!!!////FROM JACK:  A lot of recycling seems to depend on whether or not it's cost effective.

 FROM CH ON CAPE COD:  Our church has solar panels that supply 110% of our electric needs, J (we will be able to donate the excess to someone/charity of our choosing)  At home we had an energy audit and will get some free upgrades and do a few things that we’ll pay for (we have the curly light bulbs, will get better insulation)////FROM JACK:  Why do"people" go green...To save money, or to save the planet?
////CH: At our church, we had a group of people who were interested in “saving the planet,” a group of people wanting to “save money” and a group of people trying to keep another group from having the money to spend.  When all three saw solar panels as serving their goal, then we had the momentum to move on it in the congregation.  It was a humbling (and perhaps inspiring) lesson that when ideals and pragmatism and compromise come together, things get accomplished… (I once thought it would be as easy as discerning the will of Jesus ----- and then realized when dealing with human beings, it’s always a bit more complicated!) ////J:  Sometimes you ask a question, and you get an answer.  I got an answer that was also interesting.

 FROM SPARTAN JS:  I LOVE being GREEN.  :>)////FROM JACK:  As Kermit says, "it's not easy being green," when you lose to the Wolverines.