So, the crazy environmentalist tell us to “recycle” and “care about our planet” and “love the trees” and everyone else just calls them hippies and continues sipping from their plastic water bottle that will no doubt be thrown in the trash, not recycling bin.

Moving to Manhattan from Sacramento, Calif. one of the first things I asked when driving around was “where are their recycling bins?”. I continue to notice the lack of recycling and general concern for the environment here which, considering how close we are to so many farming communities, seems we should care a little more.

According to sacbee.com 85 percent of Californians recycle in 2014 while kskor.org reports only 36 percent of Kansans do. You can argue that it’s because Kansas is more conservative and California is more liberal, you could argue that people there just grow up caring about “being green” more than most places, but in the end none of that matters. It comes down to polluting the earth — the only planet we know of that supports life, the only one we have. Greenwaste.com estimates that each person generates 1.5 tons of solid waste a year, 70 percent of which is recyclable, yet only 30 percent is recycled. California made a goal to have 75 percent of their population recycling and in their effort to do so they exceeded the goal by 10 percent.

If the effort is made people will respond and we can better the planet that supports all life we know. By requiring every home in Kansas to have a recycling bin we could drastically improve our environment and save resources. If they all had the means to recycle and were educated on the consequences of not, and benefits of an act that requires so little effort, we could make the planet a better place now and for years to come.