From: sbarnhar@mailbox.mail.umn.edu (Dr. Barnhart)
Subject: Re: Carburetors, gasoline, and why I don't recycle
Followup-To: misc.consumers
Organization: U of Mn Propoganda Ministry
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 13:44:08 GMT

In article <1992Sep2.044635.13345@julian.uwo.ca>,
wlsmith@valve.heart.rri.uwo.ca (Wayne Smith) wrote:
> 
> In article <1992Sep02.010828.24870@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu> ejhupper@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Huppertz) writes:
> >
> >I refuse to recycle.  If I have an empty soda can, and there's a
> >garbage can right next to a recycling bin, I'll throw it in
> >the garbage can.  Same with newspapers, bottles, plastic jugs,
> >you name it.  I say, into the trash with it.
> > 
> > [much stuff about oil-company motives deleted]
> >
> 
> To comment on the oil/gasoline stuff, the fed's would much rather
> not have the US so dependant on mid-east oil, because it makes for
> rather messy foreign policy, and the occasional war.

U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil is something of a gross
oversimplification of U.S. policy in the middle east.  The fact that
there's oil there has a lot to do with it, but the fact that much of the
WORLD is dependent on it as well as the U.S. has a lot to do with it as
well, as well as the recent political history of the region as a hotbed for
U.S./U.S.S.R. conflict.

It makes for interesting leverage when it comes to major U.S. economic
competitors to have the U.S. "protecting" the middle eastern oil fields. 
We managed to bilk a few billion dollars out of the Japanese to further
U.S. policy goals for that reason.  But that's got little to do with
misc.consumers.

> 
> But on a larger scale, recycling is really not a good thing.
> What recycling does is it enables us to maintain our current
> population and standard of living; for a time.   
> Every advancement in human history (agriculture, plumbing,
> sanitary devices, waste treatment etc) has enabled us to
> continue our exponential population growth.
> Sure we can recycle now, but we will need to take even more drastic
> steps in the future -> it's part of a spiral that will have very
> bad consequences later on.

This is where I have to agree with the poster.  Recycling, for all of its
benefits, still enables consumers to continue to continue wanton
consumption of overpackaged goods.  "Why should I worry about all that
metal used in a case of canned soda?  All I need to do is recycle it."  And
suddenly not only is the consumerism OK, but by simply recycling you're an
environmentalist as well.

All the recycling in the world is not going to make a sigificant impact on
the environment.  It's going to take a crisis to provoke a real change in
consumer and manufacturer behavior.  What did it take to get Detroit to
start building and U.S. consumers to accept smaller, more efficient cars? 
Government regulations?  Self-appointed environmentalists?  No, it took a
couple of oil shocks to get consumers to WANT to drive them.  They wouldn't
have accepted a small Toyota if gas was still $.35 a gallon.  They'd still
want a V8 road machine.

Shawn Barnhart ! sbarnhar@mailbox.mail.umn.edu
I'm not selling out, I'm buying in.
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:15645 sci.electronics:14836