Every Day is Earth Day

The day that I have long known is coming, has finally arrived. The conversation I've dreaded having with my son has finally come. No - it's not the talk about the birds and the bees; it's the talk about RECYCLING. Here's the deal: We don't recycle. Well, we do - right into a landfill. I'm not proud of this, but it's particularly difficult to recycle in our community. There is currently a petition being signed to bring recycling to our neighborhood, but until then it's up to the individual to drive to the recycling center. This is just something we simply haven't put at the top of our list of priorities.

Ever since Kirby started preschool, I knew the day would come when he would bring up recycling. It's everywhere! It's amazing what these kids are learning now! His class has spent most of this past school year doing a unit on the rainforest and he's come up with a lot of amazing information (like when I dropped his paper flower the other day, and he said, "Mom, could you hand me my bromeliad?) Yesterday, when we couldn't see the mountains because of smog, I told Kirby about pollution. He seemed distraught to find out that the pretty white clouds of "smoke" spiraling up into the sky are in fact, making it dirty and blocking his view of the mountains. This afternoon he informed me that we need one trash can for trash, and one for recycling, like his cousin Jadon has. The piece de resistance was this evening. I stepped outside to check on the boys' chalk drawings and Kirby informed me that "Connor picked up some litter". "Way to go Connor!" I said, slapping him high 5. "Yeah, it was gum in Steve's driveway" (that's our neighbor). Ewwww! "Well, good job anyway Connor, we should always pick up litter". "Yeah" Kirby said, "because every day is earth day!"

Okay, time to start recycling.