Originally posted to MySpace, May 18, 2009   After spending the past 18 years in Germany, I recently returned home to my native Amarillo. I am readjusting to life here and have been pleased to notice some things which became second nature to me overseas. One is the practice of taking your own bags to the grocery store to put your items in. The other is drop-off points for recyclable materials. One thing I miss, however, is a means of recycling glass containers such as beer and wine bottles. I was surprised to learn that Amarillo used to have a program for returning glass but that it was canceled in 2002. Perhaps this is a result of our reliance on lightweight, easily disposable containers made of plastic and aluminum. In Germany, beverages come mostly in cartons or bottles. The bottles of glass or plastic are recyclable, and a mandatory deposit imposed in 2004 encourages consumers to return them for recycling. That year, Germany recycled over 2.1 million tons of glass. Those ...

 Originally posted to MySpace, April 7, 2009 After spending the past 18 years living in Germany, I have returned home to the States. To my amazement—and sometimes my dismay—I have noticed some things about my native land that remind me of my former country of residence. At German grocery stores in the early 90's, you generally took your own cloth bag to put groceries in and you bagged the items yourself. Now, major supermarkets offer you a choice of paper or plastic bags, and they occasionally have baggers on hand who will offer their services to you. Here in the States, stores are only just now discovering how to cut costs and help the environment by offering their customers bags made of cloth. What a novel idea: the customer brings their own reusable bags with them! I won't even try to recall the last time I saw a grocery store employee whose sole task was to bag items and carry the sacks to your car for you. I can't wait to see what other things the U.S. and Euro...