Oh The Letters!

Every time I uncover an environmental injustice I like to fire off a friendly letter. A letter here. A letter there. The letters are now being fired-off weekly. My fingers are tired...

I have written to Horizon Organics about their use of #5 plastic to package their cream cheese. Not recyclable. Not the safest choice. Horizon Organics wrote back. The answer was canned and was probably not heard as a suggestion to anyone with power in the company.

In the spirit of Fake Plastic Fish and her quest to have Brita recycle their filters in the US just like they do in the EU, I emailed Kenmore asking how I should recycle their water filters. I was told to make a service appointment to "fix my problem.

The fresh little Gruppie in me did call to make a service appointment. I asked to have a repair person come into my home to tell me how to recycle my filter. That went over like a load of bricks.

My latest writing campaign has been more locally focused. Recycling and properly disposing of waste can be tough to adhere to in my little town. Case in point, having to drive thirty minutes total just to recycle a phonebook.

Now, I do realize that my town officials have more important things on their mind than phone books...taxes, safety, budgets, marathon town meetings. But phone books are the only tip of the iceberg. While the town has certainly made improvements to benefit the earth recently, I would love to see them go further.

My first written response from a town official was very brief and he completely dismissed me. Serious downer. Since that first response, the rest of the emails have been very different. The officials have been very receptive and have wanted more information about what other issues I saw. The latest person to reply stated that he would like to talk further about starting a committee and included a phone number. Score!

Hubby joked with me that when I finally get in front of these people in charge I may surprise them a bit. Most people who meet me in real life are expecting a woman with a greying ponytail and Berks. Watch out world. Us smokin' hot gruppies will keep you guessing.