5 Days Till Earth Day

*5*

Retail by Norm Feuti, dist. by King Features Syndicate

Although the doctor's office where I work is typical (I guess) in size, it is owned by a large hospital system. Everything we do has to go through the system which I like to refer to affectionately as "The System", like "The Borg." Making changes in The System takes time and decisions must go through all the right channels. I'm not complaining; it's a very successful and high quality hospital system.

Our office (and probably our System) clearly does not consider the environment in it's decisions. It freely uses paper plates, styrofoam cups, and plastic wear for all food/drink related activities. One of the physicians and I discussed that we would like to begin, at the very least, a recycling program in the office... but how? Who would remove the recycled products? What physical set up could be developed? I admit that when an easy solution didn't appear we sort of dropped the issue.

Well, I decided to put my money where my mouth is. I emailed our practice manager with my idea to eliminate all but the necessary (cups for patients to swallow pills, cups for patients to pee in, etc.) disposable goods and substitute these with real plates, cups, and cutlery that could be washed and reused. We do, in fact, have this set up in the RH office because I brought in our family's old plates, bowls, and utensils when we bought a new set of dinnerware some years ago. I use these items all the time. My coworkers? They use the disposable stuff. I mentioned to my manager that not only would this save our practice money but that it would reflect well on our practice if we started our own green revolution*, and what better time than for Earth Day 2009?

I'm happy to say that she thought it was a great idea and that she'd look into what services the Borg, I mean the System has in place, if any. I'll let you know if my efforts pay off.

Ghandhi said for us "...to be the change you wish to see in the world" and I hope I can do that. It should be successful... according to Winston Churchill, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else." :-)

(*green revolution is a term that originally meant a transformation of agriculture, first used in 1968. These days this term has come to mean environmentally savvy lifestyle changes.)