Earth Day 2005

Hi my name is Jason
And I am addicted
I’ve been for years now
But I didn’t realize it until last summer
I was on a college tour with the high school students I work with here at Stanford.
We were out on a lawn having a picnic
Drinking a bottle of water, chilling with the kids
I got to the bottom
The plastic bottle, one of hundreds I would empty in a year
I looked around for a bin, but couldn’t see one anywhere
I began to sweat
Sure it was hot
But where was the familiar green, where was the 4 inch diameter hole
Where was the eternally rotating triangle
A trash can lay right in the center of the lawn
Could I? I could, what choice did I have.
Okay Jason, walk coolly by
Step, step, you’re going to go see Sandra on the other side of the can
Okay now drop it on in
Let go, let go
You can do it
Everyone is watching!
They can see the sweat on my face
The terrifying rattle of plastic on metal
Okay, now keep going
I only got ten feet before spining wildly around
Arms flailing sweat running down my face
My arm shot down into the can and grabbed a firm hold on the bottle
I shoved it into my bag, I would find a bin sometime that day, i would refill it
I am an addicted recycler.
When each of us produces more than 4 and a half pounds of solid waste a day
How can we afford not to be
Each bottle dropped in a trash can another stone in the glittering glass pyramid to which we enslave ourselves and our future
Each flier cast, two hundred each event, 15 events each week
How many post its would that make?
How many stanford students could take their notes solely on the backside of flourescent paper
How many do?
Each bottle discarded, 6 cases each party, 6 parties each weekend
You drunk ass mother fucker,
Three years at a place like this, at least 13 of public education, how many times have you heard that message?
How many times have you heard those three Rs/
And yet, ka-lunk
ka-lunk
bottle after bottle drops into the trash,
covered in vomit and booze who the hell is going to dig those out
We get tired with causes
Get tired with responsibilities
Get numb to the facts we’ve known from age eight
But if not you
Who is policing the trash can
Who is policing the fate of those dailies, those coke cans, those boxes
At an institution like this
Where we pride ourselves on progress
An institution like this
Where we know our society
An institution like this
Where we have responsibility for our future
An institution like this
Where we are educated, tolerant and open minded by definition
We cannot afford to not be addicted to that green can, that blue bin
We cannot afford not to police our own behavior
We cannot afford to set that example and create that future
We cannot afford to not worship the bin which lies in our room and outside our doors
Its so easy, so familiar, but we can’t forget that that little step, that easy extra step is precisely that, step, forward to something better
Addicted? how can we afford to be otherwise?
Use the bin, Stanford.