We've spent lots of time over the last couple of weeks presenting our landfill program to elementary students and putting garbage in the context of the past, present and future.

Students studied "garbology" by participating in an archeological garbage dig of "garbage past" and "garbage present" to find similarities and differences in what we discard. The most impactful was a trip through the garbage graveyard to see "garbage future". Things like glass and plastic are "eternally ours" even after they reach their final resting place in a landfill. Landfills are designed to isolate garbage from the rest of the environment, limiting the amount of sunlight, moisture and air. Without these elements, decomposition occurs at a much slower rate.

As you celebrate the 41st anniversary of Earth Day, will you make a commitment in the coming year to:

• Reduce the amount of garbage you create.
• Reuse and donate more, giving your discards a second chance.
• Recycle everything you can, everywhere you are (even if it's inconvenient). Speak up and speak out. Ask for more recycling opportunities in places where recycling is not currently available.
• Buy fewer and fewer overpackaged, wasteful products.
• Compost food scraps and yard waste.
• Conserve ALL our natural resources. It's good to be green to keep our Earth clean; it's also important to be blue because our water is important too.
• Close the loop! Support recycling programs and purchase products made from recycled materials.

Standing in the checkout line at a local craft store, a customer ahead of me was considering purchasing one of the store's reusable shopping bags. While she was admiring the whimsical pattern of the shopping bag, she noticed the words "go green" along the outer edge of the bag. I was taken aback by her indignant response...she quickly hung the shopping bag back on the stand and proclaimed that she "was tired of having "that" shoved down her throat". That being the reference to going green.

Perhaps stranger still is that the bags she was considering are so clearly part of the "Go Green" effort so why the surprise and indignation?  As you can tell, the incident truly struck a chord with me and got me thinking deeper about the green movement. 

Is respecting our environment too much to ask? Is taking responsibility for the conservation of the natural resources that this planet provides such a chore? When did we lose sight of the core democratic value of the common good; when we are all working together for the greater benefit of everyone in our community?

Ask not what your planet can do for you, but what you can do to protect your planet.

The effort to eat meatfree on Mondays is still proving to be a bit challenging. Pleasing the palates of 3 children and 2 adults with the same dish isn't always easy (or exciting).

Today we tried potato pancakes, just for kicks.

Not surprisingly, our 7 year old had nothing to do with them. But that's how he rolls...introducing new foods to him is similar to a game of chess...it requires lots of time, patience and strategy. Our nearly 11 year old wasn't interested either, although he has eaten potato latkes at school during their classroom's winter celebration.

My husband ate one...mostly to humor me. Although he claims it was very tasty with pepper and ranch. My daughter also ate one topped with applesauce, probably mostly out of fear. Personally, I consumed 4 with applesauce and a smidge of cinnamon and thought they were yummy and comforting.

Potato pancakes were a traditional lenten meal in my house while I was growing up and they bring back lots of good memories.

Here is the recipe I used, give or take some quantities to your liking.

1 small onion, 5 red potatoes (rinsed, skins on and cut), 1 egg, 4-5 tablespoons of bisquick, salt, pepper, 1-2 ounces of cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup milk, garlic powder.

 

I pureed the onion and potatoes in the food processor first and then added the egg, bisquick, salt, pepper, cheese, milk and garlic powder. Pulse a few more times until well blended. (You may prefer to grate your potatoes instead).

 

Heat a skillet with olive oil and spoon the mixture into the hot pan. Cook about 4 minutes on each side, or until desired crispiness and texture. This recipe made about 12 nice size pancakes.

 

Serve warm. Top with your choice of sour cream, ranch dressing or applesauce (with or without a sprinkle of cinnamon).

 

 

If you can keep your trash when all about you haul theirs out to the curb on pickup day. If you can learn the habit of reusing, instead of simply throwing things away.

If you can smash your cans and stack your papers, and sort out all containers made of glass. If you can take the motor oil to be reclaimed, and compost all your garbage, leaves and grass;

If you can keep recycling more and using less, and find within each thing some added worth; My friend, you might not always save alot of time, but--which is more---you just might save the Earth.

---taken from a Hallmark greeting card years and years ago that was made in the U.S.A. and printed on recycled paper that contained a minimum of 10% post-consumer and 40% pre-consumer content.

Planned obsolescence is a business, marketing and manufacturing strategy that builds in or plans for a product to become obsolete, outdated, unfashionable, antiquated or otherwise undesirable in a certain period of time. It puts manufacturers, consumers and environmentalists at odds. Companies use it to ensure future purchases and repeat customers. Consumers often feel slighted that they wasted money and the products are not durable enough. Environmentalists are concerned with the ecological burden planned obsolescence has on natural resource consumption and the ever increasing generation of garbage resulting from our disposable lifestyle.

We have never in our history created so much garbage. The United States is merely 5% of the world's population but creates nearly 30% of all garbage on the planet. The amount of garbage disposed of in one year in the U.S. alone is enough to fill Detroit's Ford Field almost 10,000 times. That's 10,000 times in one year. One year.

Yesterday, we mentioned the documentary. Today we picked up the book. Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage is proving to be a read that is both fascinating and disturbing.

Recycling alone will not save us from the garbage we create as we are creating it at a rate far greater than the rate at which we recycle. What is needed is a paradigm shift on a global scale...a change that banishes the idea of disposable and demands products that are truly durable and sustainable.

But, in what lifetime can this be achieved? Let's ask ourselves...are we willing to make the shift, take the stand and be the change we want to see?