The First Reed Grows
April 20–24, Athens, Greece
Seasonal Memoir #70
I think it’s time to stop the charade of recycling in the West. It seems to have become an exercise in guilt offsetting. There is simply so much waste, especially plastic, that there can be no cost-effective way to gather all of it and produce new items. I can only conclude that mostly all of it goes to landfill.
I’ve heard in India that there are no recycling schemes. Rather, your waste is divided into “wet” and “dry”, with the dry goods (most of what we’d call recycling in the West) being sorted through (by humans, of course) and then re-used or sold to someone who will do so. Of course in the West, people wouldn’t do this work…sigh.
What might we do? I wonder if behaviors would change if people were required to keep their plastic, paper, and glass waste in their homes before pickup at the end of each month? Or a hefty tax was levied on single-use items, like we do on tobacco? Or a hefty tax placed on shipping items–this free shipping era that we’re in is a disaster for the environment.
We can’t let the producers off the hook, either. We need better packaging. Come on, get creative! Use plant-based packing materials, and biodegradable glue instead of miles upon miles of cellophane tape. Tax them too, with tax credits for those who do the right thing.
I remember reading that the venerable Thich Naht Hahn used a toothache analogy to foster appreciation of the absence of something. He said we rarely appreciate when something is not there, but like a toothache, we can think of nothing else when we have one. That is the truth, as I’m once again going through a tooth saga.
Twenty years ago I had two root canals done on Nantucket, and done not particularly well. It was only a matter of time before each failed. The first (tooth #3) failed two years ago, resulting in a nasty infection. The tooth came out, and I now have an implant. No harm, no foul, but two years of aggravation and expense. On the flight to Athens this week, the other tooth (opposite side), flared up. Just an aching that kept me hitting the ibuprofen pretty hard. Lo and behold, another infection, and another removal/implant scheduled. I am just so thankful to have two world-class dentists back in Massachusetts (Dr. Munn and Dr. Gross). What must it be like in the rest of the world? Ugh.
Tina and I made it to Greece on our spring break to connect with six other couples (all Heads of Schools) for the first time in three years. Amazing! What a wonderful place Greece is, with its clean air, bright colors, friendly people, olive trees, history, and crazy-good food. The country is certainly a bit loose around the edges–case in point: our 80+ year old taxi driver blasting heavy metal music, who had us praying for our safety.
We were in Athens for Orthodox Easter, a truly special time. After a meal, we wandered the Plaka with thousands of others, with lit candles in hand. Powerful. Tina stayed up for the fireworks.
Being on holiday in Greece, with friends, gives the opportunity to reflect on drinking. You feel the pull of it, especially in such a social setting. You know the habit is not serving you well, but you nevertheless imbibe, pressing reset on most nights. What are we searching for? And while I’m a notorious lightweight, the prospect of something can easily draw me in. I’ve noticed the key is to recognize the inflection point in the evening, when having one more drink is usually done alone, sending one down an insular rabbit hole, mentally fading away from the present, and regretting the choice physically the next morning. The pandemic has surely worsened an already bad societal problem.
