Seriously, America

Neil Young and Crazy Horse--"Be The Rain" (mp3)

Sitting here with nothing to do, wishing I was watching the finale of 24 but not wanting to wade/wait through those commercials (I'll see it on fancast.com tonight), I have been picking out the last remaining nuts from a jar of Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts. And now, they are all gone, except for those last few that I don't want to eat because I don't want that handful of salt that will go with them.

But, that's beside the point. What's really on my mind is the large, heavy glass jar they came in.

And now that they're gone, the incredible, unnecessary waste of it. I bought a pound of peanuts; the jar that they came in weighs 14 ounces.

Seriously, America, I don't think we're getting it. I don't think we're figuring out waste and excess and reusing and cutting back and making do. Yeah, I know we're cutting some corners financially, maybe not eating out as much or buying some things we might like to have, but the increasing scarity of the world's resources? I don't think we get that at all.

Take me. Take that jar. For 18 of the last 20 years, I chuck that thing in the garbage and don't give it another thought. For the last two years, we've "kind of gotten into recycling" (italics mine, because the phrasing clarifies the commitment), but if we weren't "into it," I'd still be chucking that thing in the trash. Like a lot of other people still are.

Oh, I'm not playing high and mighty, believe me. I don't really know why we're recycling. I mean, I know it's a good thing to do, but I haven't felt a mandate, no one has asked me to do it, either locally or nationally, no government campaign or presidential plea has come my way, no public service ad campaign has caught my attention. I think we really just got tired of throwing so much shit away. We're kind alone on some kind of recycling island, as many of you are, I'm sure. We're blind virtue.

In the late 70's, when a president suggested that we turn down our thermostats and put on a sweater in the winter, he was ridiculed. Two years ago, when a presidential candidate talked about efficient light bulbs and other little things everyone could do, he was ridiculed.

Sadly, both caved to that ridicule and dropped the issue.

And now, here we are. It's 2010, and most restaurants giving to-go cups are using styrofoam. What? In 2010? You can't recycle styrofoam. Styrofoam takes longer to biodegrade than a Twinkie, for God's sakes!

Now, I certainly don't want to argue that Europe has got it all figured out. Not when their daily financial fears are dragging down my 401k. But if I bought those peanuts in Europe, say France or Italy, since those are the only places I've been, those peanuts would not be in a heavy glass jar.

First of all, the portion wouldn't be even half as large. And probably wouldn't contain MSG or whatever is in those damn things that makes them impossible to stop eating (while your brain sends you contradictory messages: a) "Nuts are good for you," and b) "Why does my head feel like it's swelling from a salt overdose?") Second, there would be some kind of fresh nuts that you could buy on the street somewhere. And, finally, they would come in some kind of light, unassuming cellophane wrapping. Not that cellophane is God's gift to the earth.

But still, window dressing aside, America does not seem at all to be on a mission to save itself environmentally. Al Gore has figured out how to make a lot of money from it. Madison Avenue learned that "green" sells products. Hell, even the Fox networks have gotten into the game, promoting "green" this and "green" that, and you know those bastards are marching to the drum beat that says man-made global warming is an impossibility.

As for my family's recycling empire? I grade us no better than a B-. That's a grade that would send any self-respecting private school student into a teacher's office to grub for a higher grade. And I think we're pretty committed. We've done a good job at sticking with something I didn't think we'd stick with. But come any time that we're putting on a party or simply get too overwhelmed and backed up, we just bag it all up and throw it out, vowing to do better next time.

No, we're all still consumers first, and everyone, from our own government to the world's other interdependent economies, wants us to to be consumers first. So that when we buy our peanuts, we not only support the nut roasters, we support the glass jar maker, the plastic lid maker, the label maker, the boxmaker, the grocery store, and, a little bit, some sorryass farmer who grew the things in the first place--for peanuts.

"Be The Rain" comes from the underappreciated cd/novel Greendale, available at amazon.com.