The Four "R"'s - Why are they important?

The Four "R's" - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot are becoming more and more important every day. I'm not talking about global warming or the environment even, this comes down to pure arithmetic. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there will be 9 billion people in the world by 2050. This means, according to the Go Green Initiative's website, that "if the world’s natural resources were evenly distributed, people in 2050 will only have 25% of the resources per capita that people in 1950 had."

This means we have to do something and do something now! We need to look into reducing what we buy, where we buy it and how we buy it. We need to re-look at all of our actions, can we reuse something in anyway before we throw it out or can we recycle it or compost it. We should be looking at all our daily decisions with new eyes so that we can make a difference. Many of our resources are finite and with the ever growing population there is only so much to go around. To quote the Go Green Initiative's website again, as they cover this subject so succinctly, "If we intend to leave our children and grandchildren with the same standard of living we have enjoyed, we must preserve the foundation of that standard of living. We save for college educations, orthodontia, and weddings, but what about saving clean air, water, fuel sources and soil for future generations?

Some of the greatest threats to future resources come from things we throw away everyday. Household batteries and electronics often contain dangerous chemicals that may, if sent to a local landfill, leak through the bottom barrier and pollute the groundwater. This can contaminate everything from the soil in which our food grows, to the water which will eventually come out of aquifers and into our tap water. Many of these chemicals cannot be removed from the drinking water supply, nor from the crops that are harvested from contaminated fields. The risks to human health are tremendous.

Throwing away items that could be recycled diminishes energy, water and natural resources that could be saved by recycling.

Did you know...

• For every ton of paper that is recycled, the following is saved: 7,000 gallons of water; 380 gallons of oil; and enough electricity to power an average house for six months.
• You can run a TV for six hours on the amount of electricity that is saved by recycling one aluminum can.
• By recycling just one glass bottle, you save enough electricity to power a 100-watt bulb for four hours.

The more we throw away, the more space we take up in landfills. When a landfill becomes a “landfull”, taxpayers have to build a new one. The less we throw away, the longer our landfills will last. The amount of taxpayer money we save by extending the longevity of our landfills is an important community benefit."

I'm thinking about tomorrow today, I want to leave a good future for my children and their children. Take time to look at your every day actions, I know I plan to!