<p>My husband and I are orphans in Texas.&nbsp; His parents spend 1/2 of their time in Nadym, RU and the other 1/2 in St. Petersburg.&nbsp; My mother lives in Germany.&nbsp; She is a Texan, but moved to Germany a couple of years ago.&nbsp; Right now, I am at her home in a tiny village outside of Gangelt, just about 5 minutes from the Netherlands and Belgium.&nbsp; Pictuesque doesn't even begin to describe the perfectly manicured lawns, chubby cows and agriculture.&nbsp; There simply isn't any rubbish on the street.&nbsp;</p> <p>On our way home from a shopping excursion in Maastricht yesterday,&nbsp;(lovely, but the shops close on Sunday-I am such a heathen!) my mother grilled me on recycling.&nbsp; "So, you've figured out where the wet paper goes? Do you know what goes in the yellow bag?"&nbsp;</p> <p>I think she has about 7 little bins, each a different category and subcategory.&nbsp; "I can't remember, Mom, so my strategy is always to focus on making less trash when I am at your place."</p> <p>Certainly, in my case, it is laziness.&nbsp; I don't want to learn an entire system, only to use it 2 or 3 times per year. But, I did notice when I set up my own recycling at home in Houston (much less complex albeit much less convenient) my behavior was simmilar.</p> <p>Thinking about where things come from and how difficult it is to find stuff and then transform it, the first time around, or the second&nbsp;can compel people (me) to use less. Can't that translate into the hydrocarbon arena?&nbsp; I think it can!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>