Recycling for a Greater Good

By Abe Fried-Tanzer
KOC Assistant Editor
New York University

Over the past few years, there's been an increasing call for environmental advocacy. I see this most through my chosen media, film and television. On TV, NBC takes an entire week to change their logo to a shade of green and inserts unsubtle references to carpooling or living better at every opportunity. The number of documentaries pushing for green living has also increased, with Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11^th Hour, Who Killed the Electric Car and others. There's a uniform message being put forward in all these films, stressing the real difference one single person can truly make.

This is a theme that persists in the principles of Judaism as well. It's a community of devoted religious people and of environmentally conscious citizens that we strive for ultimately, but one person should try to make himself the best person he can be. Through that process, it's important not to alienate others who might not be as willing or able to make the same choices in their lives, or might simply not wish to undertake the same decisions. I've seen it both ways throughout my experiences in college, those who explore their paths, giving consideration to others, and those who disregard other people's feelings, which to me contradicts the notion of trying to become a better person. Picking out certain ideas and emphasizing them without constantly thinking of how to actually be a good person seems foolish to me. You're losing the bigger picture along the way.

I see many parallels to environmental responsibility in Judaism without knowing the extent of the intricacies of the explicitly-detailed relationship between the two. A former of roommate of mine refused to participate in recycling in our room because he felt it was damaging the environment. I attempted to argue with him, but he wasn't willing to have a debate. I've grown up with recycling all around me, since my dad was a driving force in establishing the recycling program in my town. He now proudly drives a Prius hybrid, and while he hasn't converted the bike rack in the garage to a battery charger yet, I'm sure it's only a matter of time. When I'm home from college, I often help my dad take out our two recycling bins (paper and plastic) along with the trash, on Tuesday nights for pickup by the trucks the following morning. It's something that, like it or not, is part of my life, and something I've become accustomed to after all this time. While I would hardly consider myself an ardently green individual, I do still argue with my roommates about establishing a recycling pile and making every attempt to reuse beverage sleeves and scrap paper. I may not be changing much, but I'm trying to do a bit of my part. The important thing that drives me along is to try to present it as pleasantly as possible to others in order to create a peaceful environment and ensure that nitpicky things don't get in the way of ultimately living a good and kind life.

[Posted 12/27/08]