Fans of recycling for Earth Day

Thursday is Earth Day and despite some recent controversy regarding the environmental movement, we're still fans.

While cap and trade, carbon credits and whether humans are responsible for global warming snags national headlines, most folks we know still do their best work by simply recycling.

No matter how small your carbon footprint, recycling combines old fashioned values of thrift with modern ideas about reusing materials.

When the pioneers first arrived in Carson Valley, manufactured items were worth their weight in gold and when there was packaging, in the form of a barrel or a can, it got reused, and maybe reused again.

Machinery was repaired anyway possible, sometimes with baling wire, sometimes with chewing gum. If they couldn't make something do, the pioneers did without.

Recycling today helps provide sources of plastic, paper, aluminum, glass and other things that take energy and materials to create.

We can think of no more conservative value than reducing waste. Reusing these materials saves money and materials that we may need some day.