Published: April 23, 2009 03:06 pm      

Residents share their green experiences

Earth Day was observed yesterday and area citizens shared what they are doing to participate in the worldwide environmental effort to “go green.”

The observance of Earth Day was established in 1970 to promote environmental citizenship and worldwide year round progressive action.

“I always recycle aluminum and have done so before it ever became cool or correct.” said Jack Wiese. “It’s marketable to recycle.

“I break down cardboard from our business, store it up and then take it to the recycling station.”

Wiese lives in Gainesville and also has a business here.

“I do a little bit of composting,” said Gainesville resident Diane Henry. “It’s one way to use up debris in the yard and dispose of things.”

“I used to do more when the there was a recycling center at Fair Avenue a few years ago,” said Henry. “Now I have to go all the way across town.”

Carla Hennigan of Gainesville said “most people need to stop using styrofoam. That would be an easy thing wouldn’t it?”

Erica Cler of Lindsay said that she and her husband recycle all of their paper, putting it in a box and then dropping it off at the Lindsay Recycling Center. She and her husband have been doing this the past six months. They recycle junk mail, household items, school stuff, and any paper.

Cler said that she moved here from the western states where recycling is required and readily available.

Ruby Grundy of Era said that she uses organic vegetables.

“They are free of the bad stuff are supposed to be good for us,” said Grundy.

Melissa Fuhrmann said that her dad recycles plastic bags and aluminum cans.

“My dad just says it’s good for the earth and we don’t need to be wasting things,” said Fuhrmann.

“We recycle aluminum cans at the restaurant and reuse all of our plastic bottles,” said Charla Taylor.

Jane Dane said that she does a lot of green things on their farm out near Woodbine. We use natural animal fertilizer and compost tablescraps. She said she uses boxes that come from shipments until they are all beat up and no longer usable before she throws them away so they are not wasted and just dumped without any use.

Dane said that she also recycles household containers, but wishes that recycling in the Cooke County area was much more available and user-friendly.

Pamela Morris of Whitesboro drives an efficient economy car.

“I also recycle obsessively,” said Morris. “The City of Whitesboro has a recycling service that comes by every two weeks.”

Sherril Mitchell of Gainesville recycles cans at home. She also gardens and grows plants.

“Yes, we recycle in our two houses,” said Tony Jones who lives in Denton and works in Gainesville.. “We recycle cardboard, glass bottles, plastic, cans and our food scraps go to the compost.”

“I’m not a crazy earth day person and I’m not fanatical about it, but I like recycling because it helps humans,” said Jones. “When it starts to take away jobs, then no.”

“We rode the train to Gainesville today instead of driving the car,” said Norman, Okla. resident Jan Hunt as she walked down California Street to do some shopping.

“We’re shopping here in Gainesville and then going back on the train,” said Norman, Okla. resident Diane Newman.

“At home, we recycle,” said Newman. “When I wash out plastic bottles I use the water to water the flowers so it isn’t wasted.”

Lynn Monden of Gainesville said “I recycle plastic.” “Let me ask you this? where can we take our recyclables? I’d like someplace to take our cardboard.”

“At home, we don’t use paper towels and paper napkins, we use cloth,” said Monden. “When we do use paper we don’t use much. We have our kids draw on the back of paper they have already used.”

“Recycling should be important to everyone,” said Fulton Supply Manager Trichia Decker. “Not only our generation but for the many generations to come.” “I realize people today are busy and don’t consider recycling a priority, but if we don’t do our part to minimize our landfills our choice may be taken away,” said Decker.

Fulton Supply in Gainesville celebrated Earth Day by paying more for recyclable metal. They also gave out Earth Day tee shirts. Fulton Supply regularly buys scrap iron, copper, brass, aluminum, cans, tin, batteries, steel and cast iron.

Decker said that she when she lived in another country for four years, one small 13 gallon trash bag cost about $6.40 in U.S. dollars. You had to recycle paper, plastic, cardboard, glass and metals. Coffee grounds, and left overs were put in a compost bin. With the trash bag being so costly, you learned quickly the method of recycling.

It was when I moved back to the states, I realized much of what we Americans do throw away is very wasteful. It's time we start cleaning up after ourselves and doing our part to cut down waste in our wonderful country, before the landfills become part of our back yard.

Decker said that recycling is a community service that is very much needed and keeps people from just having to "bury it" or leaving it sit unused and unwanted.

Decker said that Fulton Supply provides tours for schools, boyscouts, girl scouts, so people can see and understand the recycling process.

The Earth Day network website states “our mission is to broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable environment. We pursue our mission through a combination of education, public policy, and consumer activism campaigns. Our campaign and programs are predicated on the belief that an educated, energized population will take action to secure a healthy future for itself and its children.

Another website is www.EarthDay.gov, which states “Earth Day is a time to celebrate gains we have made and create new visions to accelerate environmental progress. Earth Day is a time to unite around new actions. Earth Day and every day is a time to act to protect our planet.” The website chronicles the environmental progress of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information on recent studies and statistics of Earth Day related information go to www.pacificresearch.org.