Value or Price- What is the cost?

Oscar Wilde once defined a cynic as, “knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.”  Today I am cynical since we have not adequately addressed both the price and value of pollution.   I have decades of experience of establishing all types of recycling and environmental protection programs in a subsidized disposal culture.   

I call myself a resource management expert recovering from my title 30 years ago as a waste planner.  Today’s climate crisis challenges me to propose more with less.  It is simple: the problem of consuming must be tempered by conserving.

Assisting in the design, implementation and promotion of recycling in the 1970’s gives me some unique insight on the unintended consequences of having a plan or failing to do so.  Climate mitigation will happen in bountiful ways, however, reduction is key.

As we learned in solid waste management the chasing arrow  is not just reduce, reuse, recycling however marketing, collection and recovery.  Earth Day 1970 was a marketing disaster since people collecting newspapers for example found out that flooding the waste paper scrap market depressed the value. 

I have had a profound influence on the value of research since my father’s career was as an Congressional research lawyer who assisted in the legislation of many health care and social security bills.  Tax law is another thing my father explored assisting both the Senate Finance Committee and also the House Ways and Means Committee where he eventually became a staff member.

When my Dad died a few years back I found out about the enormous (⅓-½) waste in healthcare.  Ironically my past expertise was now being challenged in another tragic loss of American capital. 

Bottom line, we have to act now. Later is too late, so whatever we are going to save, we better start saving now