Recycle the Future

“We are recycling not only to protect the environment, but for economic reasons as well. Disposal is simply too costly and too dangerous. The challenge is to redirect the flow of raw materials going to landfill into strengthening our declining local economies. The solution to pollution is self-reliant cities and counties.” – Neil Seldman ~ Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Recycling is the true embodiment of doing good for someone you will likely never meet, and yet you probably already have. We are bound to one another not by the legacy that we leave, but by the legacies that we allow our future generations to create. What makes us most human is our desire to protect that which is ours. It is when we take ownership of our planet that we cultivate a community built upon a cooperation of collective good.

It’s in our blood to use what we have so that we do not waste what one day we will need. Even from the beginning, our first tool was created by smashing one rock against another, in order to develop a sharp edge. We use what we have in order to make something that we don’t. But nowhere in that process were we okay with sacrificing our land by creating a product that would not biodegrade, or that was developed by unhealthy energy procurement and distribution processes.

Somewhere along the way we forgot that the end product we create is not only defined by the value to the end consumer, but by the value, or devalue, to the community long term. We are connected by what we pass down, but we are at a point where there is only so much rope left and everyone else is barely holding on.

Our predisposition to reuse what we have was born out of necessity, but has become a cry for help. The equilibrium, and ultimate survival, of our planet is dependent upon how much we care about other people.

We are all a part of the same organization, and we’re all profit sharing, but we’re not working together. When we only work for our own accord, we hurt the very thing for which we are working so selfishly, ourselves. The best decision a person can ever make is to buy in to the idea that working with others towards a mutually-beneficial outcome creates a greater potential for success, not only for themselves, for the communal organism as a whole.

When we recycle we fight for our neighbors’ land, as well as our own because the fence means nothing if neither of us has anything to stand on. Our pride must fall between helping those around us and not wasting anything that we have been given.

Even the best ideas are not made from scratch, they are recycled from others and progressed upon by many. We need to empower one another by working together to create a system where we reuse what we have so that we can reduce what we need.

A legacy cannot be defined in terms of now, but in the effect we have for many years to come. We may become nothing more than fragrant memories for our children’s children, but our legacy will be bound to the world we leave for them to propagate.

#NeilSeldman

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