Ramblings from a greenhorn about our green efforts...

When I was a kid I had a few chores: make my bed (rarely happened), mow the lawn (only completed after nagging), help with never ending home improvements (would have rather slept in those Saturday mornings), and so on... But probably the worst was garbage duty. Every Monday night, one of O'Brien brothers had to collect the 9 garbage cans around the house and sort them for recycling and trash. And every Monday night that it was my turn I tried to spend extra time on my homework, go to bed early, find an educational program on TV, or some other excuse... Recycling stunk (usually literally). What was the point of saving a few pieces of paper and rinsing out some old stinky milk cartons? Back in the mid 90s it seemed that only a few products were made of just 10% recyclable paper, holes in the Ozone didn't make it any less rainy in (my home) western Washington, and Al Gore was just a internet inventing vice president (sans an Oscar and Peace Prize).

Fast forward to summer ought-8, and I am a recycling lovin' fool. This spring I decided to 'go green' at my apartment in MPLS. So when I got to Clearwater, my mind was already in high-'green'-gear. This place (including the BWCA) is the type of place worth going green for. The lakes and critters are very deserving of our green efforts...

But anyway, we here at Clearwater have recently updated our recycling efforts. While we've been recycling for years, now it is going to be easier. That is, we added recycling bins at nearly every cabin, bed and breakfast, screen and bunk houses, and outfitting areas. So now, rather than walking the paper, plastic, glass, cans, et al. over to the recycling van, we will come to you.

We're trying to do our part to keep our waste down, and we appreciate your help when you come visit. Bear with us as we continue to become more efficient; we still need a few more bins (so if you now a guy...).

And thanks Mom and Dad for getting me 'excited' about recycling.

(editors note: that really is Will, sans his beard)