Recycling - is it worth the Effort?

Dear Margaret,
I try to do the right thing, recycling everything I can, but I often feel so hopeless. The kerbside recycling service only takes some items, & I have to travel a fair distance to recycle other things. However hard I try, I am overwhelmed by the rate at which stuff builds up. And now I see on television that recycling doesn't actually work. It makes me really angry when I take such trouble to help the environment. What should I do in future?

The problem, as I see it, is in our economic system. Until a responsible accounting system is adopted worldwide, & money ceases to be the bottom line in every situation, economic rationalists will always attempt to invalidate environmentally sound practices. See EWW3 for Dr.Louise Crossley's excellent article: 'Women,the Environment, & the Economy' for a brief explanation of the reasons. MARYLIN WARING'S book: 'Counting for Nothing' is more detailed, & I personally find it more readable & inspiring than the references listed by Dr. Crossley. (The page is in Spanish, with links to French & English versions.) Another equally important & related issue, that of Social Capital, was explored by Eva Cox in the 1996 series of Boyer Lectures. These should be available from your local library. If not, ask :"Why not?!" & make the library get them in for you. Or get involved in ECONOMIC REFORM AUSTRALIA & TOES - The Other Economic Summit.
There are no easy answers when it comes to guidelines for personal actions, especially if your time, money, & energy are in short supply. I continue to use kerbside recycling services, seeing them as one means to raise public awareness, & educate people to see rubbish as a resource. Very little of the material I recycle is my own, but collected from a half-dozen or so of my neighbours. I concentrate on not acquiring stuff that needs recycling if I can possibly avoid it, & re-using rather than recycling wherever I can.
But it doesn't seem to me as though you need advice on how to do this. You need support, validation of your feelings, & encouragement. Reading EWW can be helpful, & periodicals like Earth Garden, Grass Roots, & the Permaculture Journal are also inspiring. But real woman to woman contact is what you need. Reaching out in some way to others travelling in the same direction is the only way to find this. Why not contact the Permaculture Network, & link up with a local Permaculture group; join Trees for Life, or Landcare; locate an action group through your local paper or radio station.(use your Search Engines!) Maybe you could enrol in a relevant course or workshop. Go to LETS MARKETS, jumble sales, bush dances, & Womanspirit camps. I'm sure you will soon find at least one or two women with whom you can establish a rapport. Then take responsibility for nurturing & advancing the relationship. Focus on the things you have in common, rather than the differences.
Most of us feel isolated some of the time, especially if family and/or immediate friends do not share our point of view, or support our actions. But be careful not to have unrealistic expectations. Because the issues with which we are dealing are so immense & far-reaching, we often forget to lighten up, & celebrate all that has been achieved. Lots of people fail to deal with environmental issues positively because they try to go it alone, & set impossible standards for themselves, other people, & society. Fundamental change doesn't happen overnight, but change is taking place - if it weren't, why would the economic rationalists be so worried?

Note: In researching & answering questions about earthwise living, Margaret offers information, opinion, & personal experience, but no quick fixes! Readers should evaluate these offerings in the context of their own situations; they are suggestions, *not* recommendations. Any responsibility for their implementation rests *solely* with the reader.

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