Chris Belland's - "Going Green"
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Future Is Now -- But You Gotta Show Up

By Chris Belland

Woody Allen once said, very wisely, "Ninety per cent of success in life is simply |showing up." While it applies to careers, it also applies to the conundrum in which we presently find ourselves here in the Florida Keys, which is how to protect those very aspects of our sensitive environment that attracted us to live here and do so in an economically feasible manner.

Otherwise, in this writer's opinion, it will never get done.

Many of the answers to this all-encompassing problem will be there for all to see on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Key West High School.

I have been to the past GLEE (Green Living and Energy Education) recycling fairs held in Marathon and can understand why someone living in Key West could not or would not make the commitment to drive all that way, see the fair and drive all the way back.

Now there is no excuse. It's in our own backyard. I can promise you that time spent in exploring what the R4 fair offers next week will be a real eye-opener. More than that, I heartily encourage those of you with children to bring them along, for they are the real hope for the future and the ones who will bear the brunt of what we do or do not do. We will survive our sins and the sins of our fathers but they are the ones who will ultimately pay the price. I, and many others, do not want to be the generation that could have ... should have ... but didn't.

Let's put that aside for the moment. If someone needs to be shamed or chastised into attending, it is probably not worth the effort. On the other hand, if in your heart you know that many of the things you are presently doing are wrong on any level, then many of the alternative solutions will be demonstrated to you next week.

These recycling fairs are a heck of a lot of fun, through no small effort of the very dedicated people of GLEE, many of whom I am proud to call my friends. They have put together an extraordinary opportunity for you to get involved in a small or large way at home, at school or maybe even your place of business. Remember, just because the things you can do may be small, it is no excuse to do nothing.

This year's fair is going to be bigger, better and a great way to spend the day. There is going to be "Green Bingo" to win prizes, including an Earth Machine composter. I'm not sure what an Earth Machine composter is but I can tell you my Sun Mar 200 composter has been one of the joys of my life since I received it for my birthday last year. The way I understand the game works, there will be stations around the fair where you will get your bingo numbers. The stations will include places to learn about composting, water and energy conservation, electronics recycling resources, green parenting, community gardens, networking opportunities and green resources at the Monroe County Library and apparently a whole lot more.

For those of you who don't have recycling bins, there are going to be some available for those who can fill out five or more bingo squares.

There is going to be a recycling challenge game that will test your recycling knowledge and help you become more informed. But the best part of all is that my good friend Greg Sullivan from Waste Management will host "Ask the Expert." I have been in Greg Sullivan's presence many times where people have asked him questions and he really is an expert on the subject.

Recycling in Key West has always been an issue for me and I really can't rationalize why we are not setting the standard for the rest of the country. We are an island where everything must be trucked in and everything trucked out. We should have one of the highest recycling rates in the United States. We should have a community composting center that creates soil for our soil-poor environment. We should have a mandatory program that defines our commitment to the environment and, at the same time, makes economic sense.

If you love the Florida Keys, Key West and the wondrous natural beauty of the islands and the waters that surround them, then you must also ask yourself, "Can I afford not to become involved?" This is not something that can be left to a small group of dedicated individuals who keep pounding the drum of how to properly live here.

Unless everyone becomes involved in this effort, it simply won't happen. With all my heart, I hope I will see each and every resident within the readership of this column at the R4 Fair on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Key West High School. Talking the talk is no longer an option. This community, this state, this country, this planet must begin to walk the walk or we will have to look into the eyes of our grandchildren and explain why we didn't.