Green Genes

When I first arrived in California, I was indoctrinated into the ways of recycling. My wife-to-be frowned and scowled at my poor habits. I thought I was doing very well. Having grown up in the foothills of Colorado, I felt proud of my environmental consciousness. I knew that a litterbug was the lowest form of life, and that I was extremely proficient at putting litter in its place.
Well, as it turns out, there are many places for litter. Glass, plastic, paper, aluminum, steel - these can all be turned back into glass, plastic, paper, aluminum and steel. I learned shame for my wasteful ways, and became somewhat of a recycling zealot myself.
And now I have seen the light. I am converted. The kids in my class know where paper goes, and we all anticipate a day when pencil shavings can be successfully reclaimed for mulch. I'm the one separating the packaging of my son's toys into what can truly be discarded and what can be reused or recycled.
Alameda County Waste Management made it even easier for us all when they started doing weekly pickups of garbage, green waste (compost!) and recycling. This, in part, was the reason Oakland was named one of the greenest cities in the country back in April. Nothing throws a wrench into sustainability like a garbage strike. Now the green, brown and gray bins stand by the curb, waiting for replacement workers to empty their contents into the proper trucks and take them away to the proper facilities to make the whole cycle to begin again. It's not like the pictures you may have seen of other big cities with Hefty bags piled chest-high along the street, but I did see a cardboard sign taped to a compost can that pleaded: "I am garbage too - please pick me up!"
And now that we are all so very well trained, how long will it take us to start to slip back to our sloppy old habits? It's not easy being green.