Just Not Worth the Effort

Reduce, reuse, recycle: obviously, right? Nein. From little blue bins in Fortune 500 office buildings to handmade signs in pre-school, this lesson is passed down as an absolute truth—but not everyone is buying it. Even in the midst of Harvard’s new environmental initiatives, such as Green Allston, the Green Cup, and other eco-friendly programs, not everybody is gung-ho about the environment.

Reasons for anti-Green and Green-neutral thinking abound, starting with plain and simple dendrophobia. “I hate trees,” Frances I. Martel ’09 declares. “I’d rather not look at them.” For Martel, it all boils down to aesthetics: “I’m not a fan of the green and the brown.”

While Martel does believe in the importance of environmental awareness, when it gets down to the wire, people are more significant than trees. “The rights of human beings are more important,” says Martel.

But Martel’s thinking is more apathetic than active. “I don’t go out of my way to recycle,” says Martel, but she’s not dumping cans and bottles into the trash, either.

Similarly, Zachary V. Smith ’09 says, “I wouldn’t go out of my way” to separate trash from recyclables. “It is more convenient to put everything is a big black trash bag,” Smith adds.

Likewise, Patrick M. McKee ’07 isn’t an anti-environmentalist, but isn’t overly conscientious. “I was brought up to do some things, like turn off the lights, but I don’t turn off my computer at night, and my room doesn’t recycle,” says McKee.

His reasoning? “One person can’t make a difference.” Especially when you’re lazy.