Saturday, January 07, 2006

Small Picture View

I am continually amazed at how everything seems to run counterproductive to everything else. I work at a school, and I also have a close friend who is constantly driving her children to and from sporting activities and school functions.

When I was a kid, we hopped on a school bus and were transported to the next school for sporting events. Our parents did not need to drive us or attend each outing. This undoubtedly saved time and fuel. Now, due to budget cuts, schools have shifted the burden onto parents who must drive to faraway places with great frequency. Though the global idea is supposed to be to save fuel, all of these mini-vans must be using considerably more gas than the single bus was. Still, the school saves and taxes don’t go up –though we use more gas and parents spend more money.

At the school I work at, I noticed that everything at lunch is throwaway. Nothing is recycled. The trays are Styrofoam and the “sporks” are plastic. All are thrown away. Each of the three lunches at this one school produces 5 or 6 garbage cans full of trash. That is 15 to 18 cans daily just for lunch! Aren’t we supposed to be teaching kids to recycle?

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