Earthday...?

One more random tangent for your day... yesterday was Earthday 2009. I think it came and went with very little fanfare - at least in the corporate world. I didn't see anything major happen except for the update "Google" logo. But, I'm sure that there was a lot of work going on as I definitely feel the world is starting to embrace the "greener" way of life. A few observations - and feel free to comment with your own observations or if you disagree with mine...

- I think we have actually become MORE of a disposable society. My God, how many D&D coffee cups have I thrown away? And for those responsible companies like Starbucks (ok, their marketing is more responsible) why don't they do the obvious stuff to promote being green? Like, get rid of those stupid sleeves to hold your paper coffee cup. People, suck it up. Why do you need to have a cardboard sleeve over your coffee cup? Too hot for you? Tough. Also, couldn't they install "recycling" containers for napkins and used cups? There must be some better solutions.

- Everything is plastic. I try to recycle as best as possible, but when 76.567% of my plastic waste is NOT recyclable (ie, it is labeled as recyclable, but no community outside of southern California has facilities to recycle is - so therefor it is about as recyclable as nuclear waste) it ends up in the dump (well, "transfer station"). Listen, I buy a lot of Barbie dolls (for my daughter... and collecting... hey, deal with it) and they are all encased in plastic. What can you do?

- Nobody wants kids toys back... I donate the toys when I can, but nobody wants to take the 1,786 stuffed animals. What do you do with them? They are still fine. I mean, they are still lovable poodles filled with soft stuff. How about we figure out what to do with that!!?

- How are we going to recycle 10,000,000 Webkinz 10 years from now?? That is the solution we need! Paper bio-degrades during a good rainstorm, but Coco the Monkey Webkinz is eternal.

- Speaking of paper... why is it so important that we recycle that? Isn't paper made from trees? Aren't trees regularly grown in forests? Conceivable - and call me crazy - we have an unlimited supply of paper. If I want to throw the McDonald's napkin (made with 34% post consumer material) on the ground, isn't it going disintegrate naturally during rain storms? Ok, maybe in 3 weeks? Everyone talks about going "digital" to save the environment. Aren't computers essentially made of plastic, plutonium, and mercury? Listen, my Dad has 10 Commodore 64 computers in his basement. What is he going to do with those? We churn out millions of computer components each year - to go green, I guess - and yet when those components are old or dated they get thrown away... and sometimes with hazardous materials in them. I still don't get the argument... we should be printing EVERYTHING on paper and recycling the computers!

- Small thing... but we build tons of cars every year. Why haven't people figured out how to recycle cars? They are all the same - 4 wheels, seats, gas tank... and on that same token, why does EVERY car have to have different components? I know this sounds Socialist and anti-American, but why do all my cars have to use different windshield wipers? Honestly!? I don't get it. It doesn't get more basic than the windshield wiper. It is metal, plastic, and some rubber and it goes across your windshield and wipes away the rain. Why doesn't the wiper on the BMW fit on the Hyundai? Are BMW owners such snobs that they don't want to use the same windshield wiper as my mother-in-law? That seems like the biggest no-brainer in the auto-industry. Standardize the windshield wiper. Save the planet! Have one manufacturer make one type. Then we can recycle them! If a car gets into a crash, take off the wipers and donate them to the needy to put on their Kia! Think about it! We could do the same with door lock knobs, and overhead light switches, and power window buttons. Every car has an Emergency Light switch - you know, the red triangle - why can't this be the same button across the board? Why does there need to be 10 manufacturers making different buttons for each make and model? How many buttons is that?! What if we don't use the buttons?! Where do they go!?

The transfer station.