A student recently posed a question at Cluster Council – “why don’t Andover students recycle?” The answers were numerous and whiny: the bins and dumpsters are too far away; what goes where can get confusing; no one has any time! I beg to differ. The dumpsters are not that far away, and you could use the fresh air. The various cans are marked very clearly and everyone in this school can read, especially when the words are in bold, underlined and capitalized. How much time does it take to pick up a glass in Commons instead of a plastic cup? How much time does it take to put your old Phillipian in a colored bin instead of your overflowing trashcan? The final consensus was that Andover students are lazy. But also something more – we don’t appreciate the importance of recycling. Jeanette Francis ‘06 suggested that the student body be shown a movie, filled with statistics and dying sea turtles, so that we get the idea and are sent through a guilt trip. That is an excellent idea, but may not occur. So until then, I have a message to the Andover student population: Recycle. It’s important. In fact, I offer three words: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. No doubt you have heard these preached since kindergarten, but their value remains. These simple directions diverted 72 million tons of material away from disposal in 2003. According to the Environmental Protection Agency web site, “Recycling prevents the emission of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants, saves energy, supplies valuable raw materials to industry, creates jobs, stimulates the development of greener technologies, conserves resources for our children’s future, and reduces the need for new landfills and combustors.” Furthermore, don’t forget about the sea turtles. Some quick research revealed that sea turtle deaths have occurred due to the ingestion of everything from plastic bags and pieces of milk jugs to balloons that floated out to sea. One of the main reasons that the turtles are so susceptible to this painful death is that they mistake the plastic objects for jellyfish, a main component of their diet. As humans, we have the ability to distinguish between a jellyfish and a plastic bag, which is why we need to take the initiative to save the sea turtles. They can’t save themselves. As citizens of a diverse globe we have a responsibilty to the nature and animals around us. The lazy, inactive mindset of our school is one that is shared by our nation, and one of the major reasons we now have such a panic about oil, a finite resource. Today, the selfish actions of the human race are catching up with us. This might sound melodramatic, but I guarantee you that it is not. If we continue using up resources at the rate we have been, the consequences will be disastrous. For this reason, the government is desperately searching for cleaner sources of energy. Reliance on fossil fuels continues to harm the environment greatly, so try not to complain that the temperature of your dorm room has been lowered a mere 2 degrees. It starts here at high school. We need to be less wrapped up in our petty, material lives for a few minutes every day to reduce, reuse, and recycle. It won’t be hard, especially after it becomes habit. As students, we need to take responsibility for the earth that we are inheriting, so that the oceans will not be filled with refuse. We should not need a movie or even an article to remind us of this task, but better to be nagged and needled constantly than to be taught through experience, the necessity of recycling.
