Green is In

I can't open a magazine or a newspaper these days without seeing countless references to green living, recycling, etc. Green is all the rage these days. Will it last? When I moved here from Germany, I had to rethink (=meaning back-track) my recycling habits. Every shopping trip yielded numerous plastic bags and I soon didn't know what to do with all of them. In Germany, people have always taken their own shopping bags to the store and if they needed plastic bags, they had to pay for them. Charging Germans for something is a sure way to get their attention.
Recycling and reusing materials is also in our genes. My frugal, depression-era mother went so far as to recycle Christmas wrapping paper from one year to the next. I will never forget that I had to open my gift so carefully that I didn't damage the paper too much. Then, before next Christmas, my mother ironed the gift wrap and the ribbons, too!
I applaud all efforts to recycle plastic, metal, and paper, but my pet peeve is litter. In this area, the U.S. could take an example from Europe. When the snow subsided, I was shocked to see how much litter had accumulated alongside the Pittsburgh roads. Why can't these people take their trash home with them? It shouldn't require the efforts and time of volunteers to keep the roadsides clean. Whenever we go somewhere, we take all our trash home with us to discard there. Why can't everybody do that?