Kultur-Texte 6 - Andrew McBride

For this Kultur-Texte assignment, I found the article about waste baskets and recycling to be the most interesting. As the author mentions at the end of the article, one can relate this piece back to some articles that we read about earlier in the semester, particularly because it shows how committed Germans are to environmentalism. I think that should be the main point and takeaway of the article, not this idea that Germans are somehow more complicated or more absurd than anyone else. This simply serves to build the German people as an "Other" that is supposedly so different from ourselves. I honestly think that they have the right idea. If we are to stem the tide of ecological destruction, then we must begin in our daily lives, such as with recycling. I am by no means saying that recycling will solve all of our problems, but it definitely can't hurt and can be quite beneficial. This also saves more time in the long run, as sanitation workers do not have to labor to sort out everyone's trash and recycling, which can also save money. I think that it would be great if U.S. citizens and residents could take a page from the German book when it comes to our garbage and be more conscientious about what we throw out and what we reuse and recycle.