Grads: "Recycling"

Dear Mark, Ryan, Benjamin, Jayco, Brian, Adam, Justin, Jennifer, Courtney, Michelle, Holly, Casey, John, Megan, Jeremy, Jennifer, Michael, Amy, Karen, LauraAnne, Robert, Natalie and Jennifer,

Remember when you hated my guts for saying that recycling is baloney?

University of Kansas, fall 1998, History 347, North American Environmental History, Wednesdays 10:30 up in Wescoe. And actually the green TA only acknowledged in aside to the undergrads how obviously no one thinks recycling is some major solution. Oh, the explosion, the word crime, the anger and denunciations, the chuffing and pouting and scowling for the rest of the term.

So how'd that turn out? I believe public opinion has "come around" on this. 200 grads = pi rads = 180°.

So young. I later realized that at a big university, with many courses to choose from, kids in environmental history were the greenies who ran recycling in high school. Which doesn't explain how it would clean up our driving, aviation, construction, agriculture, electricity and HVAC. But, you know, blue garbage cans.

Don't feel bad. Audiences still frown at this. And I have never lost one of these historical bets, because I was always only stating the obvious.

Besides, as I have told classes many times, you were my favorite class ever. On top of all the passion, Natalie, a petite little thing clearly practiced at swallowing air, would thereafter interrupt me mid-word with long loud belches, and then daintily peep in surprise "Oh excuse me! I'm so sorry!" Best student ever.

The first was in 1991, that in 2011 no one would be saying waitron. Quotes because what we call recycling isn't even recycling. Google Ngrams, dry water,waitron,green sky,Italian military victories. Robert Wellman Campbell, "Grads: 'Recycling'" RSS Longa, 21 May 2026, public domain via CC0 1.0.