Topics covered in this issue include:
1) 3Rs NEWS & POLICY DISCUSSION LISTSERVE
by jennie.alvernaz@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
TO 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) PRACTITIONERS & ADVOCATES
FROM Bill Sheehan, Grassroots Recycling Network 7-22-96
(Please pass this message on to other lists)
RE INVITATION TO JOIN A 3Rs NEWS & POLICY LISTSERVE
The article published in the New York Times Magazine on June 30th,
Recycling Is Garbage, was written in the context of efforts to scale back
New York City's recycling program. The piece is being used by
columnists nationwide and in Canada to encourage cutting back 3Rs
programs. In California's capitol, for example, the Sacramento Bee
published a shortened version of the Times article at the same time as
attacks are underway to severely weaken the state's recycling laws.
The Times article is only the latest in a long series of attacks on
recycling. The gains in recycling and waste reduction we have made
over the past decade are threatened and goals for increasing recycling
and waste diversion are in danger of being abandoned.
The Times article may be beneficial if it wakes us from complacency.
Recycling is incredibly popular, yet we are consuming more materials
than ever and recycling has not significantly reduced wasting
(landfilling and incineration) on a national level. While recycling is no
panacea for environmental problems, it (and especially source
reduction) could achieve much more if it were not seen as the stepchild
of *municipal solid waste management.* We need a vision for 3 Rs as
an ALTERNATIVE to, rather than subset of, wasting. The Times
article could prove to be a godsend if it spurs us to do this.
GREENYES LISTSERVE
If you agree that the time is ripe for advocating more -- not less --
resource conservation, you may want to subscribe to the GREENYES
listserve. This is an open (unmoderated) discussion forum focusing on
policies and strategies needed to advance sustainable resource policies.
We seek to advance serious discussion from a broad range of
viewpoints.
TO SUBSCRIBE to the GREENYES listserve, send the following email
message to: listserve@ucsd.edu (leave the subject header blank):
add greenyes
(Post messages by sending them to greenyes@uscd.edu)
GREENYES is hosted by the GRASSROOTS RECYCLING NETWORK.
GRN is a network of 3Rs activists, business people, environmentalists,
waste facility opponents, and other conservatives who believe that our
waste-based economy is radically out of balance with the requirements
of a sustainable future.
The next GRN meeting will be held during the National Recycling
Congress in Pittsburgh. A GRN general meeting will be held 3:30 to
5:30 on Tuesday, September 17 (following a Congress session on
Building the Conservation Coalition). We encourage anyone interested
to attend. (For Congress info, call 703-683-9025, or on the web visit
http://www.pittsburgh.net/NRC96)
Beyond that, we are working on convening a winter
conference for grassroots 3 Rs activists to set a national resource
agenda for the next 15 years. For more information about GRN,
email Bill Sheehan at the address below.
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Bill Sheehan
email: bill.sheehan@sierraclub.org
(comes to jennie alvernaz's email account)
work: 770-995-9606; fax 770-995-6603
home tel & fax: 706-208-1416
268 Janice Drive, Athens, GA 30606
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