SOME UNCOMMON SENSE ABOUT RECYCLING

An excellent post from Madsen Pirie about recycling newsprint

"Why do people recycle newsprint when the practice is so bad for the environment? The collection and transportation of the stuff uses fossil fuels and causes atmospheric pollution. The treatment of the pulp leaches both bleach and chemical pollutants into the environment, and uses energy. Even at the end the resultant recycled paper is of lower quality.

Some people seem to suppose that by recycling paper they are saving trees, but the opposite is often true. Paper is mostly made from trees planted for the purpose, and it is young trees that soak up most of the carbon dioxide. If those trees are not planted, that carbon is not soaked up. Nor is it if they are not harvested and replaced.

Recycling paper may make people feel good, but gesture politics can be environmentally unfriendly. Should the planet as a whole pay so that a few can enjoy feeling good? Or should those who enjoy the gesture pay for the consequences of their actions?

No doubt some would argue for a paper recycling charge. A dollar a ton could be levied on those who recycle paper, and used to plant more young trees to undo the damage caused. (Maybe not.)"

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Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.

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