However, car owners are also quick to stand in line waiting to pay for their precious petrol, griping desperately about the absolute ridiculous price of fuel while the happy and satisfied bus transport goes bobbing by right behind them. The price of fuel, the price of car insurance, even the price of cars themselves is becoming insane. In 1970 the going rate of a house was about the same as what people now are paying for average cars.

Fuel prices are high enough, especially over the summer months, to create havoc in the average family’s household budget. As fuel prices skyrocket, so do other prices, such as recreation. Recreational projects are also somewhat dependant upon the cost of fuel. Even the small county fair that blows into town once a year that used to provide an evening of entertainment for a nominal amount of money now costs nearly twice as much to cover the increasing costs of traveling from town to town.

So when looking at public transportation, one of the main benefits is undoubtedly the ability to save a few sheckles. If just one person in each household opts for public transportation over driving their car, most average households would save between $50 and $75 per week. During high end gas peaks, that can add up to $300 for the month. For most average households, that’s a car payment.

Of course the car will last longer as well. While it’s not a good idea to allow a car to sit unused for months at a time, cutting the use of a vehicle down to just weekends can extend the life a vehicle by two years. Considering what we pay for cars, they should last as long as humanly possible.

The use of public transportation has a multitude of advantages, and most who make the switch determined after an adjustment period that they actually preferred public transportation to driving. It’s one of the few responsibilities in life that really all you have to do is show up. Once you’re there. You’re free to catch up on the newspaper, take a nap, play a game, talk to a stranger, or whatever it is that makes the ride to and from work more enjoyable than hanging your head out the window in a frustrated attempt to see what the hold up is ten blocks ahead.

Driver outrage is certainly understandable. It is simply insane what some people do behind the wheel of a car. People have no problem pulling out in front of you, stopping in the middle of a street to unload their groceries while a pile of traffic waits impatiently behind them, ride your tail as though you can control the speed of the vehicle in front of you, and of course there’s the wonderfully intelligent idea of texting while driving. These things can make safer drivers a bit crazy. Our “me first” society is quite evident behind the wheel.

How sweet it is to save $300 a month, make the car last two years longer, reduce the stress of having to contend with the world out there for just a bit longer while someone else taxis us to and from work. In reality, if the entire country banded together and each household gave up the use of just one car during the week gas prices would tumble as the demand would plummet, congestion would significantly ease, and the environment would be just a wee bit healthier, and every American household that currently owns a car would have a little extra spending cash for the local ice cream store on Friday.

People generally prefer to drive their cars simply because they prefer control. They can’t control the bus toddling in a bit too late or the speed of the train. People have the illusion they are in control when driving their own cars. It’s only an illusion. Accidents are evidence of the illusion of control, nor can we control the flow of traffic no matter how hard we will ourselves to have such a fantastic power, and of course, we can’t control the police officer’s action when he decides to pull us over for what we considered a terribly minor driving infraction. The financial benefits are quite obvious when considering public transportation. Of course, people are secretly in love with their cars, even the beat up old beauties that are quietly working their way to the grave demand a certain loyal affection from us the same way we have appreciated their loyal service even when it seemed it was painful to give. People are secretly in love with their illusion of control.

For most people, $300 a month just isn’t quite enough to refrain from continuing the private love affair.

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• Look for minimum packaging. First and foremost, try to buy items with the least amount of packaging available.
• Choose aluminum, tin, or paper. If you have to buy packaged goods—and it’s nearly impossible not to—go with these three types of packaging, as they’re easily recycled. Don’t buy products packaged with a mix of materials—for example, paper with an aluminum lining. You can’t recycle these.
• Watch your plastic bags. Get your own bag and bring it with you to the grocery store. Millions of plastic bags are thrown away annually. If you have to use the grocery store’s bags, don’t let the clerk double or triple-bag anything.
• Avoid plastic packaging. Plastic can be the toughest item to recycle, because many recycling centers don’t process it.
• Avoid disposables. In the twentieth century, manufacturers created a “disposable economy”—cheap products meant to be used once or twice and then thrown away. This translates into more money for companies—since you have to keep buying their things—and more waste in our landfills. Whenever possible, don’t buy disposable products. Choose cloth napkins instead of paper, cloth diapers instead of disposables, metal and ceramic dinnerware instead of plastic and paper. Always use items that last.
• Buy in bulk. The more you can buy in one package, the less packaging you’ll waste. Whenever possible, buy in large amounts so you save on packaging.
• Reuse when you can. When possible, put old packaging and goods to use. Glass jars can double as glasses, pencil holders, or storage containers. Plastic and paper bags can be reused when you go back to the grocery store. Plastic tubs can be reused as a replacement to Tupperware. Old bedding and clothes can be made into rags or rag rugs.
• Borrow or rent—don’t buy. If you only need a big ladder once a year or so—borrow it from a neighbor. Borrowing items you don’t use every day can reduce your trash and the clutter in your home. If you need a big-ticket item like a steam cleaner, rent instead of buying.
• Keep things in good repair. Many people throw out old things because of a fixable problem, or simply because they aren’t wanted anymore. Don’t throw out old shoes—take them to a shoe repair company. Get a ripped coat sewn. Don’t throw out your old TV when you get a new one—give it to a thrift store. Whenever possible, give old clothes, shoes, and household items away to thrift stores instead of throwing them out—this way, a family in need can benefit from your old things, and you’ll keep them out of the landfill.
• Compost. Much of our landfills are full of leaves in plastic bags. The leaves are biodegradable—the bags aren’t. When you do yardwork, the worst thing you can do is put your old leaves, grass clippings, and branches in a plastic bag and leave them on the curb. Instead, create a compost heap and decompose old yard waste. Your compost heap can become a healthy soil for your garden.
• Recycle. Recycling has never been more important than it is today. Your cardboard, paper, glass, and aluminum can all be recycled—never throw old aluminum foil or cans in the garbage. If you don’t have recycling in your neighborhood, start a recycling club—the funds you collect from turning in aluminum cans alone could pay for it.
• Get off junk mailing lists. Many of us get lots of junk mail every day—and we automatically throw it away. It’s a great idea to recycle this junk instead, but some envelopes are laminated or contain plastic. It’s better to get yourself off these lists altogether. Call the companies that are sending you junk mail and ask to be taken off their lists.

We’re running out of space in our landfills, and our trash problems will only continue to escalate if we don’t come up with better ways to manage our waste. These tips will help you get a head start on cutting down on your household waste, and making your household greener.

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People in the U.S. throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles an hour.Plastic is one of the most disposable materials in U.S. culture. We throw away our milk bottles, soda bottles, water bottles, trash bags, grocery bags, product packaging, and more every day without giving it a second thought. Plastic makes up much of the streetside litter found in cities and throughout the countryside, and it’s rapidly filling up our landfills as well.

Making new plastic requires significant amounts of fossil fuels. Studies suggest that between 7% and 8% of the world’s fossil fuels are used in producing new plastics. This doesn’t sound like a great amount, but it accounts for millions of tons of fuels per year. Recycling could preserve these fuels—even reuse them in other markets.

Plastic is easy to recycle – although few people do it. All plastic can be recycled. But it’s not being recycled as much as it should be. Some studies show that only 10% of plastic bottles created are recycled, leaving that extra 90% to take up space in landfills and killing ocean life.

Plastic bottles take up space in landfills. Our country’s landfills are closing at a rate of around two per day. The landfill-space crisis is especially problematic in cities, where inner-city trash dumps are often filled to capacity, and surrounding communities are unwilling to allow new landfills to come to their neighborhoods. Many coastal cities use the ocean as a dumping ground, resulting in depleted fish stock, polluted beaches, and other health issues for the inhabitants. Plastic bottles make up approximately 11% of the contents of landfills.

Incinerating plastic contributes to greenhouse gases. To save space at landfills, plastics are often burned in incinerators. When this is done, chemicals, petroleum, and fossil fuels used in the manufacturing process are released into the atmosphere, adding to greenhouse gas emissions.

Plastic in the oceans is responsible for the deaths of millions of sea animals. Plastic bottles floating on the surface of the oceans can look like food to larger sea life—often with fatal consequences. In addition, fish, sea birds, and other ocean creatures often get caught in plastic rings that strangle them or constrict their throats so that they cannot swallow.

Plastic takes a long time to degrade. Nobody is quite sure how long it takes for plastic to biodegrade—it hasn’t been around long enough, and the first plastics made are still around today. Scientists believe, however, that plastics will take hundreds of years to degrade fully—if not longer. Plastics as we know them have only been around a hundred years, and they are already a problem. Imagine five hundred years’ worth of plastics in our landfills.

Plastics contain harmful chemicals. These include cadmium, lead, PVC, and other pollutants in the form of artificial coloring, plasticizers, and stabilizers. Some of these have been discovered to be harmful and are not in currently-manufactured plastics, but the older, more toxic plastics are still filling up our landfills and floating around in our oceans, releasing pollutants into the environment. These can seep into groundwater from landfill runoff and cause health risks for both wildlife and humans.

Recycling plastic saves energy. Studies show that the energy saved by recycling a single plastic bottle—as compared to producing a new one from scratch—is enough to power a single 60-watt bulb for six hours. Think of those 2.5 million bottles thrown away per hour in the U.S.—we could practically power our homes on the energy savings we’d gain by recycling every one of those plastic bottles.

Recycled plastic is useful. Recycled plastic is found in many unexpected places—including carpeting, the fuzz on tennis balls, scouring pads, paintbrushes, clothes, industrial strapping, shower stalls, drainpipes, flowerpots, and lumber. It also contains oils that could be recycled and reused as fossil fuels.

The bottom line why we should recyle plastic is this: recycling plastic is a good idea. It’s good for the environment, good for energy savings, good for the health of wildlife and humans alike. So next time you buy a bottle of soda or water, don’t just throw it in the trash. Recycle it—and do one small thing for the environment. If you do this every time you buy a bottled drink, your small contributions will definitely add up to a big difference.

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Driving like an idiot is one of those incidental personality flaws that you don’t know about someone until you get behind the wheel with him or her. Here is this person that is ultra careful with their kid, is always on ‘accident watch,’ holds down a respectable job, and seems to abide by the rules in life – but they drive like a complete idiot. Not only do they role through stop signs, go 20 miles faster than the speed limit, but also seem to have the sense that they are the ONLY person on the road. Ironically, they buckle their kids in for safety and wear their own seatbelt, but have absolutely no common sense when it comes to getting behind the wheel?

So what is up with that?

Making matters worse is that today, it is dang near impossible to go out on a public road for a drive without seeing someone texting, talking on their cell phone, playing with their car radio, or even putting on make-up or picking their nose in the mirror while they are behind the wheel. Nearly every person, from young kids to older adults – are driving while distracted, which is the number one cause of traffic accidents and fatalities in the civilized world. With all the attention that Mothers Against Drunk Driving gets, you would think that it is only the boozers in life who kill people with their cars. The reality is that it is the regular, average Joe – who either causes or doesn’t avoid a traffic accident because they are busy doing something…anything besides driving when they get behind the wheel.

Ironically, as there has been a steady increase in the amount of advertising and education available to increase people on the dangers of driving while distracted – the numbers of distraction related incidents on roads and thoroughfares is rising. People think they can answer just that one text, or hand that one thing back to their screaming child, or go just a little bit faster than the laws allow because they are running late – and then are surprised to find themselves in a traffic accident.

Many people also have a sense of entitlement and become little adrenaline junkies when they get behind the wheel. The silky leather of the steering wheel, or the purr of the engine seems to make their inner dare devil emerge. The problem is that not only do they put their own lives and wellbeing at risk – but they also risk the lives and wellbeing of everyone else around them. Is this some form of egotism? Or is it a complete lack of respect for other that causes them to behave as if they are the only vehicle on the roadway?

As a general rule of thumb, you expect the new to the roads, 16-year-old kid to make irresponsible choices behind the wheel. You expect younger people to speed, and act out their emotions behind the wheel. This is precisely why insurance rates are so high for young drivers. But you don’t expect the stay at home mom driving the mini-van to be a complete idiot when driving to and from school. You don’t expect the little league football coach to be the one running you off the road as you leave the ball fields, or the teacher at your child’s school to be peeling wheels out of the Wal-Mart shopping center. Yet, often – it is these surprisingly should-know-better folks – who are the most dangerouos drivers.

The best advice is to stay out of these people’s vehicles. And, if you must ride with them – don’t be afraid to be a backseat driver and let them know how you feel about their idiotic driving antics. And in order to avoid being hit head on by moronic drivers who have no common sense behind the wheel – then quite possibly, you should always make it a rule of thumb to stay completely focused yourself when you are behind the wheel so you can avoid run-ins with these folks that could be costly in more ways than one.

Sadly, education and awareness are NOT the answers. Each day in the United States there are more and more traffic tickets being written – and the costs of fines are constantly increasing. Drivers today, who have a certain amount of points of penalties on their license, are required to take driving education classes and awareness classes. People who choose to drive drunk – are facing stiffer penalties than ever before and each day, laws are being passed to make it illegal to text from behind the wheel. But the message, is apparently not hitting home for some people.

Let’s revisit a statistic we mentioned earlier. Between the ages of 5 and 54, the number one risk to your life – is the threat of being involved in a car accident. The chances of you dying in a car wreck is more likely than the chance of you (or a loved one) dying from any other thing. This just seems to prove that driving like an idiot – for whatever reason – is something that comes with extremely high risks. Sadly, your distraction at the wheel that caused a fatal accident – is not something that can be undone afterwards.

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Aluminum is everywhere. We see it in soft drink cans, beer cans, pie plates, foil, packaging, vinyl siding, gutters, and more. What most people don’t realize is that aluminum is practically the perfect recyclable material. Out of the most common recyclable materials that clutter up our landfills—glass, paper, metals, cardboard, plastics—aluminum is the only material that’s endlessly recyclable, 100% recyclable, and that pays for itself. Here are some other interesting facts we bet you don’t know about aluminum recycling:

• It takes energy to make aluminum from scratch. The energy you save by recycling a single aluminum can will run a TV for three hours.
• In fact, it takes 95% more energy to make aluminum from bauxite ore than to recycle old aluminum into new.
• Aluminum beverage cans are getting lighter. Twenty years ago, a pound of aluminum made about twenty cans. Today, the same amount of aluminum makes approximately thirty cans. The thickness of the side of an aluminum can is about the same as that of a human hair.
• It takes about 400 years for aluminum to break down naturally. That Coke can you just drank from will probably still look about the same in another century or two.
• With all the industries that use aluminum—in manufacturing, in packaging, in cars and airplanes—the industry that uses the most aluminum is the beverage industry.
• In 2004, Americans recycled enough aluminum to build thirteen aircraft carriers.
• Every three months, Americans discard enough aluminum to completely rebuild every single commercial airplane in America.
• Approximately 350,000 aluminum cans are made in a minute.
• Aluminum can be recycled over and over without breaking down. In theory, we have an inexhaustible supply of it in circulation right now. If we recycled all our aluminum, we’d never have to make more.
• The average American discarded fourteen and a half pounds of aluminum just from packaging last year—and almost three pounds of aluminum foil. That’s not even counting aluminum cans.
• Most people don’t realize how strong a metal aluminum is. Four six packs can support the weight of a 4,000-lb. aluminum car.
• Aluminum has a phenomenally high melting point—1,220ºF, to be exact.
• A long time ago, aluminum was a much more valuable metal than gold or silver.
• The aluminum in one single soda can is worth about a cent. Americans threw away millions of cans last year. The American government could pay off a significant portion of its debt with a few years’ worth of aluminum cans.
• Four pounds of raw bauxite ore is saved for every pound of aluminum that is reclaimed in the recycling process.
• The aluminum Americans throw away each year is enough to provide the auto industry with all the raw material it needs to build a year’s worth of new cars.
• Because our landfills are so full of aluminum cans, some landfills incinerate extra aluminum. This isn’t just a huge waste; it also pours toxic metals and gases into the atmosphere.
• Aluminum is valuable. It’s still very much in demand, and recycled aluminum is just as useful and desirable as new. In fact, aluminum is the only recyclable material that depots can recoup their recycling costs with.
• Making aluminum from bauxite ore is a dirty process—and burning it is even worse. By doubling our aluminum recycling rate, we could cut a million tons of pollutants per year out of the atmosphere.
• Recycling aluminum isn’t just about collecting cans. You can also recycle old siding, aluminum foil, and even the gutters on your roof. Most recycling depots that take cans will also take these materials.
• Every part of the can is reusable—you don’t have to prepare it in any way, other than to rinse it out.
• In 1996, aluminum manufacturers saved enough energy by recycling aluminum instead of creating it from bauxite ore to power a city the size of Pittsburg for six years or so.
• Aluminum recycles in no time at all. When you send a can to a recycling depot, it’s processed, recycled, and back on the shelf again in about a month.

There’s no downside to recycling aluminum: it’s fast, it pays for itself, and it’s great for the environment. So next time you get ready to throw out that aluminum foil you wrapped your sandwich in at work or at school, think again—that aluminum could be back on the shelf in a month, save enough energy to run a big appliance like a TV for three hours or so, and pay for its own recycling costs in the process. Recycle it instead of throwing it out, and you’ll be doing the world some good.

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Perhaps even more ironic is that the last decade has exploded with an emergence of going green centered research and information. You cannot walk into a grocery store without finding organic, eco-friendly products nor can you turn on the television without being inundated with advertising centered around the planet. And yet the old, economy corroding products are still available – right next to the others; and often for cheaper making people quickly ‘forget’ the issues in order to save their wallet. So are people just ignoring the issue? Is buying a few environmentally friendly products just a way to relieve our global consciousness so we can continue on our course of action? And are we really destroying our planet?

One of the problems is that most people, just like yourself – don’t truly understand the conflicting information available about the demise of our planet. There has been much hype about things like global warming, the demolition of the rain forests – yet since few people see the consequences NOW, they either don’t believe or don’t care, about what the real risks are. And worse – so many corporations large and small have jumped on the going green bandwagon under false pretenses, that is hard for the average Joe to truly know what the real deal is? Then you have the plentiful going green and environmentally friendly political schemes and extremists who seem to take things into their own hand – making normal people very uncomfortable in their choices. In fact, environmentalists and planet conservationists are often seen as nothing more than ‘tree-hugging throwback hippies,’ creating yet another minority group in our society.

There is no doubt that environmental issues exist. There is also no doubt that as a world community, we are less concerned with or tuned in to the planet that hosts us. At least for the most part. We have allowed ourselves to live in a disposable world that is unlike any of any other generation before? Why?

Most of us grew up with parents and grandparents, who living through financial hardships or even a depression, became thrifty in their lives. They bought a washing machine and fully expected to keep it. When they purchased a car, they drove it until the engine fell out. This, opposed to the fact that in 2010 – only around 17% of Americans actually OWNED their car – and around 72% were leasing. This pretty much says that when they get tired of their car, and when something better comes around – they can jump on the new bandwagon.

Additionally, ‘back then’ folks would use their items until they broke and when they did, the relied on people to come and fix them. A broken washing machine didn’t mean they would have to buy a new one like it does today. It seems plausible, that people then just thought differently as a whole. They didn’t believe that the world and that everything in their lie was upgradeable or that they could simply throw something away when it became less than perfect. They patched jackets and jeans, wore shoes until the soles were worn and even then…tried to find a shoemaker to repair them if they still fit. Take this little challenge! See if you can find a shoemaker within 50 miles of your home? Chances are you cannot, but you will find 50-60 shoe stores and chains ready and waiting to sell you another pair.

The same is true with just about every other product we own from our homes to something as trivial as computers and cell phones. And yet, marketing trends to always up the ante would not be so evident in our world, if companies didn’t realize they were catering to a society that was so willing to live in this disposable lifestyle. Honestly, how many upgrades can a computer have? And even if you upgrade, aren’t you willing to admit that your technological freedom is only remotely advanced? Does a digital dishwasher really wash the dishes better? Is having a Tom Tom installed in your console reason enough to buy a new car, especially when you have a map?

And what about all those cell phones that were traded in last week and every day of the regular week even when a new phone isn’t being released. As soon as someone can afford a new phone; or is eligible for a free upgrade – what happens to the old cellphones. Or anything we throw away for that matter? We all know that battery disposal and recycling is expensive and toxic to the ground. And yet, that is just the tip of the iceberg.

A survey in 2008, showed that the average household’s trashcan is 75% bigger than it was just 20 years ago. And yet, families are still filling them up on a weekly basis. Where is all this excess trash coming from? And perhaps more importantly, where is it all going to go?

Isn’t is plausible to think that since we are getting rid of things so quickly, and have adopted the mentality of out of sight out of mind; that a day WILL come when each and every one of us is living in a treeless world with our homes perched on the edges of a landfill?

This ‘living in a disposable world’ lifestyle has to have come from somewhere. And while there is no particular person to blame – or one incident that seems to be the root cause; it does come down to the human mentality. Are we so clueless about consequences that we can individually continue living like this? Are we so spoiled that we are unable to fathom, even from an uneducated perspective, the result of our living. Is there any benefit from getting new things at the sake of trashing others that have yet to be paid off on our credit cards?

Lots of people say that children today are spoiled, that they have no real idea what life is about and so incredibly beyond belief lucky to live the lives they do. Yet, who pray tell is teaching them this? Is it the same parents who have adopted the belief that we live in a disposable world? Could it be this same mentality that is to blame for our increasingly high rates of drug addictions, divorce, suicide, unemployment, stress related illnesses, and depression?

Certainly, not just one of us has the answers. And certainly, there isn’t just one cure. However, it is inside each of us to find things in our world to hang on to – that isn’t simply replaceable by something later and greater. And the most important thing is happiness. All this searching, throwing away, starting over, and replacing things in our lives continue to leave the human race obviously empty. Just maybe what we have given up to have it all – what we have replaced is our common sense and innately satisfied and joyous souls. Sadly, while there will be innumerous landfills to show for our possessions and ways of thinking today – there will not be many tales of tenacity and happiness from living in a world where everything is made of plastic – the temporary indicator of our own existence.

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So Why Should Everyone Recycle?

It cuts back on global warming. Our planet is starting to feel the effects of global warming already—and we need to do whatever we can to lessen the impact. Production of certain materials from scratch can release significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Aluminum production is a prime example—producing new aluminum creates 95% more CO2 than recycling old aluminum cans. In addition, recycling paper saves trees—for each ton of paper recycled, 17 trees are saved. Each of these trees can extract around 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air in a year.

It makes us more energy-efficient. It often takes a great deal more energy to create something from scratch than to recycle it. For example, it takes twice as much energy to burn plastic as to recycle it; it takes 64% more energy to make paper than to recycle it; and recycling just one pound of steel can save enough energy to run a 60-watt bulb for one day.

It keeps our landfills from overflowing. We’re fast running out of space for landfills—especially near cities. Seaside cities have been dumping trash into their oceans for decades to circumvent the problem, but with widespread marine ecological collapse, this is no longer a viable option. Worse yet, it’s difficult to find land in suburban and rural areas whose residents will allow landfills to come into their areas without a fight. The squeeze for landfill land is only going to get worse in the future.

Recycling gives us some hope for this bleak scenario. Studies show that 60% to 75% of garbage in landfills can be recycled. That means that if everybody recycled, we’d have 60% to 75% less garbage in our landfills, and we’d need at least that much less land for garbage disposal.

It improves the quality of our groundwater. The garbage in landfills is usually not treated in any way—it’s simply thrown in a big hole and buried over. Much of this garbage is not environmentally friendly or readily biodegradable—and it’s no surprise that contaminants can get into our water. Rain and other runoff from landfills gets into our streams, rivers, lakes, and other waterways, damaging fragile ecosystems. It’s also a major reason why it’s not safe to drink from streams and rivers when you’re hiking and camping—even when it looks like you’re in a pristine environment. Recycling reduces the trash in landfills, and the more we recycle, the more our water systems can start becoming as pure as they look.

It reduces air pollution. Many factories that produce plastics, metals, and paper products release toxins into the air. Recycle these materials, and there will be less need for companies to manufacture new materials—saving on the amount of pollution dumped into our atmosphere. In addition, disposing of certain recyclable materials can also produce significant pollution. For example, plastics are often burned in incinerators. Plastics are made with oil, and that oil is released into the atmosphere when the plastic burns—creating serious greenhouse-gas emissions.

It creates jobs. From manufacturing to processing, from collection to invention—it’s no secret that recycling is a growth industry, earning billions of dollars annually. Our need to recycle is only going to grow more urgent as populations grow and as technology changes. Recycling creates far more jobs than landfills do—enough jobs to make a big difference in a small town.

It adds to property value. It’s obvious that a landfill near your home can decrease your property values significantly. Recycling reduces the amount of land needed for landfills. This reduces the number of houses near landfills, keeping property values up and homeowners happy. The more people recycle, the fewer landfills we need—and if enough people pitch in, recycling should pay off for everybody.

It’s good business. Pitting business against the environment is a lose-lose situation: everybody suffers. And yet, that’s how the debate has been framed in politics and the public sphere for years. This is a shame, because the truth is that recycling just makes good business sense. Industrial factories and processing plants save plenty of money on energy and extraction strategies when they use recycled materials instead of virgin resources. They also ensure that basic resources don’t become a scarce commodity, keeping demand and prices down and ensuring that their business can continue for decades to come.

One person can make a difference. With so many good causes, it’s easy to get discouraged—especially when the problem is so widespread that it’s hard to see what difference your individual effort is making. Many people think this is true with recycling, too—but the truth is that small acts of recycling make a big difference. For example, recycling just one large newspaper would save around 75,000 trees. On average, each person in the U.S. produces around 1,600 lbs. of waste each year. If you recycled all of that, you could save around 1,100 lbs. of waste per year—that’s over half a ton—just by yourself!

We hope that after reading this article, you’ll be inspired to become a recycling advocate—or at least be certain to recycle in the future. Recycling benefits everybody, and takes only a little trash-sorting to put into effect. With our limited space for landfills and dwindling resources, it’s a sure thing that recycling is here to stay.

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Let’s not mention that each of these laws, always stemming from horrific accidents and tales about what can and does happen behind the wheel; costs millions of dollars to not just write into the law books, but to enforce and ensure that due justice is followed? Not just millions, but also BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars! Your money. Your paycheck! All because people are too stupid to use their own common sense and pay attention while they are driving.

Driving IS a privilege not a right! This is evident by the forms and meticulous policies, tests and procedures that it takes to get a license in the first place. Interestingly, we give licenses to people that aren’t old enough to make their own decisions, but yet we trust them behind the wheel. These are the same people that light their farts on fire in school bathrooms for fun! And yes, they should be driving cars. Have we forgotten how many people are killed in car wrecks every year due to negligent driving?

Even more ridiculous, is the things you see people doing when they are sitting behind the wheel. Pick a random street in Anywhere, USA – even on a fast moving hectic interstate and you will see people immersed in nose picking, putting on make-up, texting, talking on their cell phone to the point of distraction, feeding kids, yelling at kids, changing clothes, reading the newspaper or even engaging in illicit activities. Then, come car wreck time, people are amazed, dismayed, heartbroken, and completely taken off guard. You can bet that any one, who has ever ridden in the car with that person, knew they were a distracted driver!

The problem is that while driving is a privilege not a right, the legal system is complacent with offenders. Is there any excuse that should get someone accused of vehicular manslaughter off easy? Especially if that is excuse is an addiction problem like being an alcoholic. The real problem is that people are self-centered and feel invincible. They think that bad things happen to other people, not them. They think that they are always in control, and that they can do horrific, irresponsible, and negligible things without being accountable. Should a texting while driving caused accident be punished as harshly as one that involves drinking! Yes! Because the person obviously has no respect for other people, and in one moment – they have altered the course of someone else’s life. Sometimes the other people they endanger are their own children and loved ones. A baby cannot reach out and take mom or dads cell phone. An infant in a car seat doesn’t know that setting the Tom Tom to find Starbucks while driving 85 mph down the interstate is a bad idea. You get the point.

Today, we waste an abundant amount of money and resources on things that are no brainers. It is stupid, ridiculous even that people think they have so many privileges in life, driving being one of them. Is one accident enough, or is it one too many – especially if there is negligible activity involved?

In the United States ALONE, around 43,000 people die in car accidents each year. Over 40% of these wrecks involve alcohol and drugs. And the others, mostly involve not paying attention. When you are driving something as large and heavy as a vehicle, where at any minute you could decide to take your own or someone else’s life – there has to be accountability and responsibility. And there shouldn’t be second chances. There are enough wrecks that happen as victims of circumstances, yet the majority are much more than being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is frustrating! Getting a license, insurance, purchasing a vehicle and being allowed to operate it on state funded roads should be something that only upstanding citizens and law abiding, respectful citizens are allowed to do. If you are exercising, your right to drive by engaging in things you shouldn’t be, even for a split second – shame on you. Slow down, keep your eyes on the road, and pay attention to what you are doing. All other things can wait. If you have to eat, have to text, have to make a phone call or have to read the paper – then at least be respectful enough to pull over to do it. If lawmakers would begin taking away the right to drive, ignoring pleas that it goes against constitutional law, perhaps people would take it more serious. How a generation of people with so much intelligence and insight can get caught and be prone to doing things so stupid behind the wheel is truly, beyond comprehension.

The bottom line is that driving is a privilege not a right (Dammit), which should be given ONLY to people who respect the laws and respect the lives of other people. It is not something that should be taken for granted – or given to any one who has the simple desire. Instead of spending billions of dollars on prosecuting bad drivers, enforcing the laws and cleaning up the financial, emotional, and physical side effects of car wrecks – the people involved should be left stranded or forced to take the bus. Not only would it save tons of money, but it would also save tons of lives!

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