3 R's

No litter at this gorgeous old castle

The 3 Rs:
Reduce.
Reuse.
Recycle.

It's a big deal in Spain (although nearly impossible for them to pronounce.) The Spanish are very conscious of their ecological footprint. Instead of giving you 37 unnecessary plastic bags, grocery stores give you one, maybe two, and cram all of your items in. Instead of turning on the lights, the classrooms are equipped with big windows that provide all natural light. You never leave the water running, you always turn off a light even if you're coming right back into the room, you always turn the heat down (or off) when you leave the house. And you always recycle.

Nothing is easier in my village than in America. Navaleno has one chain grocery store that is only open for about 5 hours a day (in the morning for a few hours and then in the afternoon for a few hours,) and that's only weekdays -- I have yet to discover the weekend hours (which may not even exist.) Buying food and exchanging simple pleasantries are more difficult for me than at home, naturally, because of the language barrier. But there is one thing that is very simple here: recycling.

Now let's be real. In America, I don't recycle. Frankly I was born before the big green movement got in full swing and I wasn't raised to be super conscious of things like that. I don't know what items go in which colored bins, I don't even know where you're supposed to take things to be recycled. Is it like the trash, do you leave it outside on Thursdays? Or do you have to drop it off somewhere? It's a bit of extra effort that I never put forth, in addition to my skepticism about the merit of the system and the amount of energy used to complete it. But now that I'm in Spain I recycle everything. Paper, plastic, you name it and I know a colored bin that you can put it in. It's only a short walk away from my home (well it's a short walk from everywhere.. it's a village) and there's nothing complicated to it.

In Cabrejas, we did an activity about recycling using pictures of items and pretend bins.

It's good to be green folks, and I think it's time to get on the green train. (The green one is for glass, by the way.)