Recycling, Alternative Energy Sources and Automobiles
Today was recycling day in my household. Everyone knows about the good thing it is to recycle your empty wine & beer bottles, cardboard boxes and miscellaneous debris. What everyone doesn’t know is that there was a time when every American wasn’t a part time trash man (or trash person to be PC). People might not believe that there was a time when the trash was picked up once or twice a week as part of the taxes you paid. The trash collectors went behind the house and emptied your trash into a big can so the ugly trash cans never needed to be put on the curb to be collected.
While separating the trash into the appropriate recycling bins I started wondering wondered how my wife and I who hadn’t entertained in several weeks could create so much trash. It is amazing when you carefully consider how much waste we create unnecessarily. We put carefully factory wrapped articles into a bag to carry home. The factory packaged articles are often encased in almost impenetrable bubbles of plastic. They seem to be sealed to remain pristine at significant ocean depths in case the ship carrying them to America sinks along the way. The ship seldom sinks and they all wind up in our homes.
They do make a contribution to maintaining our continued employment as part time trash collectors with a sub skill as recyclers. I am waiting for Congress to start a training program as part of the Stimulus Bill to help all Americans to be more professional as trash collectors thereby contributing to a cleaner environment..
When I get thinking about how it once was in American, in the day, I can’t seem to stop with one subject. Today I moved from the trash to our use of energy. There are also probably many people who won’t believe that air conditioning was not always an automatic inclusion in our life. As a matter of fact when growing up, I knew no one at any income level that had air conditioning in their home. I often went to a movie on a New Jersey Boardwalk in the summer which had the first air conditioning I experienced. The air conditioning consisted of two giant fans each about 12 feet in diameter. One was on each side of the screen with water streaming like a mini waterfall in front of the air current created by the fans.
It worked pretty good and if the movie was not good, the hypnotic effect of the fans could be the magic carpet to an adventure in your imagination. I never figured out why the water wasn’t blown onto the audience. In our homes on a hot day we opened the windows and turned on a smaller version of that movie fan. I don’t remember any water in the home fan.
We even wore suits in the summer when we went to church or to the theater. I miss wearing a suit in a restaurant whose bill for two is going to approach $100.( with only two glasses of wine) Somehow an outstanding meal deserves the support of a diner wearing a suit and a tie whatever the temperature.
Coming back from my trash chores I was driving behind a Prius and got thinking about the Auto Industry problems in Detroit. I hate to tell the energy sensitive folks that a Prius is not ever going to create the excitement in any life like the excitement of a 57 Chevy. As Americans we knew about cars. Taking a long ride with your parents in the fall was the time for the car game between the kids in the car. You got a point for recognizing and identifying the new model year cars that you passed. Every kid 12 years old knew every car and could tell you the time left before he or she would be driving. Kids today still look forward to driving so they can get somewhere easier but we simply looked forward to driving. To sit behind the wheel of a car, a car WOW!. It would in our dreams be a Pontiac or Oldsmobile or Chevy muscle car or an imported sport car like an MG, Triumph,. Sunbeam or that new star on the street called a Porsche We talked about twin carbs and mufflers at a very early age and knew that using an automatic transmission wasn’t really driving. Cars are important today to kids but a Toyota Corolla or a Hybrid Ford will never be the cause of the endless conversation that was generated when the new model year of the American car lineup hit the showrooms every year.
There are some kids that still can tell you the features of the great new cars about to be introduced. They can talk about the BMW 3 Series the 7 series and the expanded Porsche line of performance automobiles like we talked about American cars when we were kids.
I wonder if the 20 member board of auto industry advisers recently appointed by the President had a love of cars as an appointment requirement. I know that I would require that passion to be present before appointing anyone to be involved in straightening out the Detroit mess.
I’m going to open the windows this summer in the car and the house on a hot day. I think this is something I can endure as my contribution to the energy problem. Maybe if we all opened the windows we could avoid those ugly windmills being placed all over the countryside, killing birds whenever the wind blows.
The trash is a problem. I’m going to make a real effort to cut down my time as a part time trash man by eliminating bags and unneeded wrapping. I’ll work to get those plastic bubbles out of my life
I am absolutely confident that we will find our way out of the economic and environmental problems we are facing in our country at this time. I hope that we solve the problems without eliminating the joy and excitement that is a special, important part of being an American.
PS It has been reported that 17 of the 20 members of the Presidents Auto Advisory group drive foreign cars. I’m not sure that a productive relationship between auto execs and the Presidents group can be easily established as long as they are “driving” the competition. I think they should all go out and buy an American car tomorrow as a sign of their sincerity.
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