The British generate a little less than ten tons of carbon per person each year; in the United States the number is about twice that.*

It is heartening to know that even in the smallest Cotswold villages people are expected to recycle and to segregate different sorts of waste.  Epicurus, of course, had to dispose of no packaging, but were he alive today he would, for instance, applaud the idea of abolishing the plastic bag and reducing the amount of gunk to be added to landfills.  That is the ethical attitude.   Many Americans regard this as “interference” and an assault on their right to do anything they like with the their world.

*New Yorker February 25th 2008