"Wishcycling" - The American Way of embracing environmentalism in the face of Climate Change?

The front page story in today's LA Times which had the sub-headline As recyclables market collapses, California faces hard choices is truly frustrating.

Three decades ago, around 1990, some of us thought we had put enough planning into management of the solid waste stream that recycling would become a successful ratepayer/taxpayer supported California industry employing thousands of workers.

Of course we didn't know at the time that Steve Jobs would introduce the first iPhone in 2007. And we didn't know, but should have, that people would be willing to pay $100± month for their "smart" phone service and payments on the phone but would go absolutely bonkers if someone suggested they pay an extra $30 a month to recycle their waste.

You have to acknowledge the creativity reflected in this quote:

    “The Chinese ban and everything else in the last couple of years made us realize we are living in a pretend world of ‘wishcycling,’” said Roland Geyer, an industrial ecology professor at UC Santa Barbara.

Wishcycling. What a clever reference to the "wishful thinking."

Sigh....

For a generation of American boys this fantasy about the American Way which would save humanity was first heard on the radio in 1942 and then came to TV (black and white) but somehow we never made this WWII propaganda into much of a reality.

Maybe Gavin Newsom can turn "wishcycling" into that recycling industry (which we thought we were creating in 1990) as part of...