Ken Burns’ World War II series showed Americans recycling wood, cans, glass, rubber, etc., to support our troops. Today we are at war, but throw away most materials rather than recycle.

A trip to any refuse transfer station reveals tons of useful unsorted materials that are trucked to a landfill and buried. Every new landfill makes us more dependent on foreign products. America is awash in a sea of Chinese products and OPEC petroleum. We lead the world in energy consumption and must maintain a costly military presence to keep it that way.

Our politicians have adopted trade policies that result in our economic bondage, and the dollar is the weakest it has ever been against other currencies.

A recycling effort equal to the WWII period could reduce our energy consumption by 30 percent and give us a chance to recover from our dependence on foreign oil. Reduced consumption of new goods would improve our trade deficits with other nations.

We must regain the freedom and independence that greedy corporations and our own government have taken from us.

It doesn’t matter who is elected president, if the person holding the office is beholden to international moneychangers that don’t believe in God or country.

Pete Scobby
Newport, Wash.

Question: Do you make an extra effort to recycle? Do you think recycling will be a key issue for national politics in the future?

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