On Ken Burns' The War

As I watched Ken Burns' new documentary on World War II, "The War," the pictures of kids collecting scrap metal and large recycling bins on street corners virtually leaped off the screen. Then, when Jim Sherman spoke about collecting scrap metal and other things to recycle as a kid during the war, the question in my mind became clear, "Does it really take a world war before most people will recycle?"

A World War II newsreel, shown in "The War" asks the public:
"Fight Waste! Make your home an arsenal for victory by fighting waste every day from now until the war is over. 1. Don't waste anything. 2. Buy only what is necessary. 3. Salvage what you don't need. 4. Share what you have."

Americans know how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. We proved it during World War II, when according to Katherine Phillips, "...everyone took part in World War II down to the youngest child." During this time, the widespread perception was that to reduce waste and salvage was to contribute to victory. "Everyone" accepted responsibility and was part of the war effort, and Katherine even says, it wasn't that hard.

As I listened to the descriptions of rations, doing without, and dragging out old iron bedsteads to donate to the war effort, it struck me that not only did Americans at home take on the responsibility, they did so without question. Again, in the words of the people who lived through it, Jim Sherman said, "If you were lucky enough to get a pound of bacon, for example, and you get the fat in there, you were supposed to pour that into a tin can and then take it down to the salvage guy. Now, I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how're they going to make ammunition out of bacon fat?" Katharine Phillips reiterates, "All of this we knew made ammunition, but we didn't know how. But anything to help the boys."

Today, a considerable amount of time and money is spent on explaining to Americans why reducing waste and recycling is a good thing to do, and convincing them to do it. For example, the main goal of the EPA program, The Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC), is to "change the way Americans think about waste." Fighting waste, a thing of the past, turned out to be such a good plan to begin with, that we are now trying to find our way back to it, using some of the same language, so it seems.

The words of RCC sound eerily like those of the war newsreel. "The Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC) is a national effort to conserve natural resources and energy by managing materials more efficiently. The goals of the RCC are to: 1. Prevent pollution and promote reuse and recycling; 2. Reduce priority and toxic chemicals in products and waste; and 3. Conserve energy and materials." In other words, fight waste!

Studies back up the perception that Americans are not on the same page about fighting waste. For one thing, Zero Waste Amercia reports from Biocycle magazine show that the amount of waste continues to rise in the United States, while the amount of waste recycled seems to be holding steady at around 30%. I get it and I agree that just because our government tells us to do something, doesn't mean that we should do it without question, anymore. We want to know why, what, and how, and generally, that's a good thing.

Why should we recycle? Learn the "Top Ten Reasons to Recycle" at the National Recycling Coalition web. Earth911.org will help you find out what you can recycle in your area. Lime's Guide to Recycling has a great pull-down menu to tell you how to recycle almost anything.

Just like everyone took part in the World War II effort at home, the EPA today says, "Everyone has a role," and "Accepting responsibility for improving our environment means changing our habits, processes, and practices."

History shows that our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were able to work toward a common cause to make the world better for their children, who now think of them as "the greatest generation." Will we step up to the plate for the common cause of our generation and make the world better for our children? What will the next generation say about us?