Social change in a lifetime

摘要

Starting a recycling program in the late 1980s generally meant that an organization, like the city or county solid waste department, placed collection bins for separated materials at a convenient point. Material was brought back to the shop or central point and we kept working with different outlets to find someone to accept the recyclables. It's amazing how practices and markets have changed. Since the first aluminum cans were collected in Colorado, recycling has come a long way. Our national perspective on many other issues changed as well. After many protests, we no longer draft young men into the military. Perhaps we have not yet achieved full racial reconciliation, but we have eliminated Jim Crow laws from our land. Both issues were pushed by groups of people seeking change. Similarly, seat belt usage has become the norm, where only 50 years ago, most cars weren't made with that safety step in mind. In the '80s, a group of women who had lost children became angry, and now drinking and driving is no longer acceptable. Even in the Southeast, where tobacco remains a significant cash crop, smoking in restaurants and other public spaces is no longer allowed. Again, societal norms changed because select groups of people pushed.