Earth Aid: Recycling

Thanks to years of education about recycling and high-profile documentaries such as An Inconvenient Truth, the vast majority of the population by now knows the repercussions of our disposable society and the millions of pounds of trash we throw away every day. In this short instructional video, host Ed Begley Jr. walks viewers through a series of statistics regarding garbage and recycling. ("Recycling" is one of two programs being released on DVD for the first time by View Video. The other is "Water Conservation.") But the accuracy of his statistics is questionable, as this program is more than a decade old—made stunningly clear when Begley mentions that half of our cities will have exhausted their land fills by the early '90s. He goes on to explain that "simple, everyday steps we can take add up to make a huge difference in improving the environment," steps that include using recycling areas, re-using foil and bags; pre-cycling by choosing glass over plastic and using already recycled products; and building your own compost pile. There is nothing new or noteworthy here, except the attractive packaging, making this a good bet only for schools or other organizations looking for a brief tool to educate the masses.