the Way of the Turtle

BLOG ACTION DAY
Save the Environment
Monday, October 15, 2007

It's Blog Action Day! The basic premise is - what would happen if thousands of bloggers all over the world addressed the same issue on a particular day, each in their own special way? This time around the issue of choice is the environment... and it should be pretty clear to anyone who's read my ramblings and rantings that I have pretty strong feelings on that score.

I can't claim to have any great wisdom to offer regarding saving our environment. All I really know is that it's pretty darn important. Part of its importance to me is from a recreational standpoint - many of the things I most love to do involve being outdoors, and I'm fascinated by plants, birds, and animals. The thought of perhaps someday not being able to go out and roam around in nature horrifies me. The thought of the whole world being the noisy, garbage-strewn mess that Albany is sickens me. In some ways, I think a part of my soul (and in fact the collective soul of humanity) would die under those conditions.

At the same time, I also recognize that there's a bigger issue, namely survival. Regardless of what our oh-so-brilliant political so-called leaders say, in the quest for easier lives and status and the almighty dollar we seem hell-bent to serve up our own destruction, as well as the destruction of many living things around us. Good heavens, one of the ongoing battles here in Albany is between the city government, which wants to continue to finance much of the city budget with dollars from the Albany landfill, and local residents and environmentalists who have to good sense to realize that the city claiming more of the Albany Pine Bush to expand the landfill's capacity is lunacy. Do we really need to debate over whether or not it makes sense to bulldoze an environmentally unique area so that we can continue to make money accepting vast quantities of out-of-town garbage?

And yet, as outraged as I get over these sorts of things, I'm part of the problem. I buy plenty of products that have too much extraneous packaging that I end up throwing out. I haven't put nearly enough energy into getting a recycling bin from the city so I can recycle more and discard less. I drive the 1.5 miles to work every day rather than get my lazy backside out the door earlier so I could ride my bike or walk. There are a LOT of things I could be doing better.

I'm going to tackle the recycling question first, and get a bin, even if I have to buy one myself. It's not much, but it's a start.

JMH