Green in the City

I never saw "Inconvenient Truth," because I knew it would be too distressing for me. This avoidance of the movie doesn't mean I'm not a believer in the dangers of what global warming will mean to our world and for our children. When I lived in LA, the idea of recycling was one I didn't take too seriously. This seems odd since Angelenos are so 'hip' about anything green. Or so they say.

The city's recycling program was a joke, really. Most of my friends, even those who are more left than not, were not committed to recycling. How could they recycle bottles and plastic when their cars guzzled enough gas on an annual basis to fuel a small jet? This strange hyper talk about the importance of the environment was just that: talk. There was little evidence among Angelenos they were really going 'green.' I will say I don't blame the people as much as the lack of incentives offered by the state government. Solar panels, in a city sun-drenched 11 months out of the year, would seem like a no-brainer. But ask me how many people I knew who put solar panels up? Right, somehow those panels didn't take precedence over the satellite dishes on the roof of every house in my neighborhood. Then there is the dependence of everyone on the bottled water. No one ever used filtered water, instead opting for water out of bottles, plastic bottles at that.

I don't know why, but since I've come to New York I've been obsessed with recycling. Our apartment complex has recycling bins in the basement that allows for the sorting of paper, bottle, plastic, and refuse quite as easy as dumping everything into one bag and throwing it down the trash chute. Initially it started with the recycling of the newspaper and empty bottles after a night of drinking. Then I realized how much stuff comes in plastic containers, all of it recyclable. I'm now at the stage where I'm collecting items as I cook to take down to sort into their proper bins. Somehow my obsession has not stopped at the sorting of trash. No, it's now on to light bulbs, replacing all our bulbs with the long lasting kind. I've now forbidden my husband to stop running the dish washer unless absolutely full. If only I could get my hands on a compost bin for the city...

Perhaps it's living in a city where trash, or the sight of trash on sidewalks, makes this awareness an inevitability. Or perhaps it's the extreme weather occurring with greater frequency all over the world that's given me pause. But it seems this new focus on being green is, knowing my obsessive tendency, bound to get worse rather than better as time goes on. I know I'm going to get a compost bin in Martha's Vineyard. It seems the state of Massachusetts offers incentives by selling these bins cheaply to residents willing to compost their garbage. Of course this means I will have to have a vegetable garden since I will be making compost. No worries about me moving up to Vermont to really live among my people. I like urban life much too much to go to such an extreme.

But I do think about how a little effort could make a difference in whether or not we will have such things like wines out of California instead of Vancouver--notice my concerns about the wine making business. I know oil, our dependence on it, is something far worse than whether or not I recycle the plastic container the Chinese delivery came in. But then, isn't it all the same concern? If I disregarded how every little act or negligence adds to an increasing problem, aren't I no better than that Suburban-driving-mom with one child in some suburban town? And despite the conservatives claim that global warming is some hyped up call from the left, isn't it our moral duty to do what we can to preserve our planet? Don't I sound like all those annoying people who drive hybrid cars and are so sanctimonious about being green?