Q: Hey Aarde,

My husband has decided he doesn't believe in global warming and refuses to recycle. What do I do?!

— Possibly Single?

A: Hi Possibly Single,

Leave him!

I'm kidding, I'm kidding. In our current day and age, I'm not surprised that you have encountered this situation. From the industrial revolution to the Sears mail-order catalog, from the plastic revolution to the single-use marketing campaigns of the 1970s, we've watched a monster cycle that gratifies the instant use of an item specifically designed to become obsolete in a shorter and shorter timeframe. This has resulted in a throwaway society to the deepest core of our communities.

Throw in utter confusion on the clarity of our American recycling system, and we find ourselves disillusioned with the misuse of the earth that we are here to protect! I'd be remiss not to mention that manufacturers are combining materials that cannot be sorted. A recent NPR article gave an example of a Pringles can, which consists of a paper label, a cardboard tube, and an aluminum liner—all of which are recyclable, but only when separated from each other. Who in the galaxy is going to spend hours ripping those layers apart? No one who's existed within the last six decades, that's for sure. (There’s a slight possibility they would if they existed before the Great Depression, as those survivors had a different outlook on value.)

I'd love to blame your husband's conclusion as the problem, and you might be surprised to hear that I stand in unison with his confusion and disbelief in the system we operate within. First, the recycling symbol of chasing arrows with a seemingly arbitrary number does not automatically mean it's a recyclable product. And second, the recycling bin is not a portal into another universe; the trash doesn't magically become an iPhone when we recycle it. And since there are no federal regulations mandating any recycling consistency across the United States of America, we find ourselves a country swimming in garbage.

And not just any garbage—dirty garbage. So dirty that China told us to kick rocks as it is no longer cost-effective for them to buy, sort, and clean our garbage to recycle or repurpose into their manufactured goods that they sell back to us. Simply put, we find ourselves a nation in dire need of more viable resources and regulations on the non-recyclable packaging and production of the manufacturers—since that's who the mass-scale culprit is.

As far as global warming is concerned, we are atoms vibrationally pressed together into a realm that is only real as long as we say it is. Time and space—or for the further willing, time-space—might be dead. What is still alive is the environmental cycles that our planet projects—millennia of warming and cooling cycles, progress, and extinction. The earth is factually getting warmer within the confines of our human existence. Go to your husband with an open mind; perhaps you're pigeonholing him into a canceled version of "unbeliever" when, in fact, you should be celebrating his bravery for taking an unpopular stance that humans are not as individually critical, imperative, or impactful as we like to believe. It comes off as slightly narcissistic or even grossly anthropocentric when we should be looking at it from the geocentric perspective. (See “Anthropocentrism as the Scapegoat of the Environmental Crisis: a Review” by Laÿna Droz.) My statement does not imply that individuals aren't responsible for their ecological footprint but that the focus should shift toward corporations that are producing a plethora of garbage that we can't recycle.

Look, I'm sure your life partner has some balancing qualities. You shouldn't lose your love for someone because he is desperately trying to make sense of a nonsensical paradigm. Honestly, it should make you love him more. Ask your husband to expand on his understanding thus far.

I'm a solution-based, self-identified gal. Therefore, I will conclude with some suggestions to ease your potential guilt from staying in a partnership with your non-recycling husband. Purchase goods from local vendors at the farmers markets, shop local, and purchase glass or other containers you can reuse. Set aside time to buy dried food items in bulk and allot the time to prepare your weekly meals. Use companies such as Ridwell to dispose of the items you cannot repurpose. Join petitions at the city, state, and federal levels of government, creating mandates for civilians and giant manufacturers to live responsibly.  

The bulk of the weight should fall on the manufacturers to use sortable, compostable materials in their packaging. We live in a world where the wealthiest people are keeping us afraid that our every move is destroying our shot at happiness. The most affluent are producing and perpetuating at a level far beyond your husband's capability to make a dent. The most significant way we can make a noticeable shift in the trajectory of our globe is to stand united and demand that our government holds corporations accountable!

Do you have a burning question you need advice about? Reach out via email to jdaarde@gmail.com or on via Instagram handle ‘aarde_writes.’