Recycle this
Feb/16/2009
The other
day, while I was recycling my mayonnaise jars by
placing them carefully into the recycling bins (can I
just throw them in there so they break or should I
place them in there whole? They're going to get
ground up anyway, right?) at my apartment house, I
said to myself, "Should I also be recycling my
plastic grocery bags?" Each of them weighs probably
.00001 grams, but at least I'm contributing to the
health of the earth. Then I thought to myself, "What
could I contribute that weighs a bit more, so that
I'm *really* contributing?" How 'bout cars? If I buy
a used car, that's like recycling, isn't it? I mean,
the real recycling happens when they squash the car
into a cube, but isn't this sort of pre-recycling
recycling? And cars weigh more than .00001 grams, so
it's a genuine contribution to the future of my kids'
kids. But then I stopped and said, "Wait a minute...
Who the hell cares about the future of the earth or
my grandkids. I want more sex and a bigger house,
right? Screw the earth, that's for those tree-hugger
weirdos." But then I realized that I was having
another selfish attack. You've seen it on tv, like at
political conventions.
Buying a new car might contribute to the country's economic health, but buying a used car would contribute to the notion that having value as a human being does not require ownership of a car less than 2 years old.
It's the great capitalism-specific dilemma of the 21st century, and I'm proudly a part of it.
Buying a new car might contribute to the country's economic health, but buying a used car would contribute to the notion that having value as a human being does not require ownership of a car less than 2 years old.
It's the great capitalism-specific dilemma of the 21st century, and I'm proudly a part of it.
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