You can make a difference.

Consumers, if you don&8217;t like how

a business treats the environment, it does make a difference if you mention it. For instance, if a place uses styrofoam, it doesn&8217;t hurt to say something in a kind and friendly way. Maybe the place will change. Quite often, merchants like to hear feedback from customers, rather than losing future business to the competition.

America might not be as green as the United Kingdom, but little by little, person by person, this country lurches slowly in the direction of being more part of the solution and less part of the problem (even though it remains way behind where it should be.)

It will be interesting to see how voters stand on the issue of the environment in the 2008 elections. As lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. once said: &8220;The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment.&8221; In other words, every product out there comes from the world around us in some way. If we don&8217;t take care of the environment, the economy someday will suffer for it.

Let&8217;s hope that in 2008, Albert Lea and southern Minnesota can take major steps to becoming more friendly to the environment. Recycle, reduce, reuse.