What’s up with countywide curbside recycling? There are two excellent reasons to get behind this proposal: 1) If it has the impact it did in 16 other Washington counties similar to ours, it will increase the recycling rate from 32 percent to at least 50 percent. Why is that important?

It is not natural, nor logical to waste resources. The world is not getting any larger, but the human population is, and our impacts are.

According to the National Academy of Sciences we are consuming 30 percent more natural resources then can be replaced by natural processes.

It determined that we passed the break even point in 1983.

Remember, resources equate to jobs. 2) It will make a significant dent in the carbon dioxide (CO2) put into our atmosphere. It has been calculated that it would prevent the creation of almost 23 tons of CO2 annually.

Why is that important? The World Carbon Project has calculated that global CO2 is continuing to rise just when we need it drastically reduced.

At 17.4 tons per year, you and I Americans are the number one producers of CO2 emissions. The Europeans are in a distant second place at 7.7 tons.

Why is that important? A recent examination of the predictions made 22 years ago by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of its potential impacts have been shown to be extremely accurate.

All the weather related events of 2012, culminating in Super Storm Sandy, have demonstrated that the age of climate chaos has arrived. Responsible governments here, and around the world, are planning for those impacts.

Curbside recycling is one of those mitigating measures that we can point to when our children asked us what we did to soften the blow. Thank-you.

Gary Piazzon
Coupeville