Colleges Encourage Recycling, and That’s Good, But Reducing and Re-Using Are Even Better

Our family just returned from another mini-trip to look at prospective colleges with our younger child, Valerie, pic here taken years ago. 

The relevance to renewable energy and sustainability may appear dubious at first, though I have to say that I was amused by this afternoon’s tour leader who went on at length about her school’s leadership in recycling.  “We had won the intercollegiate championship several years in a row, though we just got nipped last year and finished a disappointing second.  So, if this is the school of your choice, make sure you bring as much plastic, paper, and aluminum cans as you possibly can.”

This is bound to come across as lacking in the ol’ school spirit, but we’re missing this point here.  If we care about the environment, we don’t want to recycle more stuff; we want to use less stuff.  Ironically, the colleges that finish last in this competition could have the best record vis-à-vis the environment; the idea of a contest to see how much tonnage we can cart off to recycling centers misses the point in a huge way.

In any case, I know many readers’ families are making their ways through their college tours, dealing with the many thrills as well as the not-insignificant moments of stress, ultimately coming to terms with the fact that their babies will soon be out of the nest, flying on their own wings.  My very best wishes to you all.