Word: grass
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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People say the grass is always greener on the other side, but nobody thought they meant the Radcliffe Quad...
...study comparing the U.S. with other nations, its pile of disposable diapers, melon rinds, grass clippings, plastic hamburger boxes, broken mattresses and discarded tires came to 1,547 lbs. for every man, woman and child in the country. Only Australians came close to producing as much waste: a prodigious 1,498 lbs. per person. The average West German or Japanese threw away about half as much. But even the U.S. figure pales next to that of California, where some calculations have the average citizen throwing away 2,555 lbs. a year. Says Attorney Jill Ratner, who is active in environmental...
...large part, the garbage crisis is a cultural crisis. The development of a throwaway, convenience culture helped create this mess; a real solution may require cultural change. For example, more than 20% of U.S. garbage comprises grass clippings and leaves stuffed into plastic bags and left for collection. Householders should simply leave that grass on their lawns or rake - it into a mulch pile, ignoring and thus revising the cultural demand for a golf green-neat lawn. Another cultural change would be required to get Americans to recycle 50% of their trash, as Japanese do. Cultural change is notoriously slow...
...field without grass is an eyesore," wrote the Roman poet Ovid, "so is a tree without leaves, so is a head without hair." For centuries, bald and balding men have winced at such unkind references to their predicament. Conditioned to regard hairlessness as a male curse second only to impotence, they have historically taken drastic measures to undo their baldness. Some have pretended to own hair, bewigging their shining pates with nylon or natural locks; others have recycled what little thatching they have left, combing a few camouflaging strands across their brows or having "plugs" transplanted from one part...
...outlandish trends and popular revolutions, California often sets the agenda for the rest of the U.S. The 1978 passage of the state's Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes by nearly 60%, sparked a nationwide taxpayer rebellion. Now Californians may be in the vanguard once again. A powerful grass-roots revolt against painfully high car-insurance rates is roiling the state where people live to drive...