The other night I was looking on a website called Zero Waste Home. This family of 4 fits all of their garbage for a year into a single mason jar! I know we could never do that. As my friend Annalee said, "Don't they floss?" But I do know that we could do a whole heckava lot better than we do with just a few changes around the place. For instance, I'm routinely finding things in the garbage upstairs that are low-hanging-fruit recyclable just because we are apparently too lazy to walk downstairs and put them in the recycling. When I point these out to Vaughn he will sometimes indignantly and exasperatedly say, "Mom, I go to the
environmental school" - as though this somehow gives him diplomatic immunity to not have to do as much as other people because he already goes to a school that has chickens.
I think the hippie environmental vibe of Sunnyside has worn a little thin for Vaughn and he's ready to transition. Right before Winter Break, they had the ability to sign up for special "mini-classes" and poor Vaughn didn't get any of the ones he selected (one of which uses the entire school for a massive game of Hide-And-Seek). I asked him what he did get and he glumly replied, "Making protest signs." You really can't make this up. So I can see how the school has him kind of burnt him out on the thrill of being an environmentalist. For my part - I put a paper bag upstairs for recycling.
