Stay with me here. Epiphany is defined as:

A sudden revelation of truth inspired by a seemingly trivial incident.

It has happened to you before... I hope. You just suddenly grasp something. It could be simple. It could be a solution to a math problem. It could be so deep you feel it right in your heart or it moves you to tears. Sometimes it just helps you understand something better. Sometimes it changes your whole life in unimaginable ways.

I am going to re-state a few obvious facts about recycling, and then I'm going to tell you what I mean by the "Tequila Effect" and how I am hoping it will change your life and mine.

And I want anyone living in Puerto Rico in particular to give me a few minutes of your time, because I do think something as simple as this can change your life.

Garbage. Anything we do not want goes into the trash. We do not want it in our homes, and we usually do not think of it after it is gone. Who wants to spend any more time than necessary on a dirty diaper, bag of stinky fish bones, or sour milk?

But we also don't want old cell phones or computers taking up space in our closets. We don't want old cars or parts in our yard. We don't want old clothes causing wrinkles in our stylish new fashions. And we are NOT wrong to think this way!

We just have a problem because of it. That's ok. Look at the changes that occurred just in the last 100 years, and we should be aware that we do have the ability to solve this problem.

If you want to find out about the Tequila Effect, you simply have to read on and give me enough time to help you find a new understanding. I know you want to click BACK. Do not do it. You can feel it in your heart that something will be learned here today.

We can recycle: glass, metal, paper/cardboard, clothing/textiles, organic material (compost), electronic equipment, etc. But we don't do that so well, especially in Puerto Rico. Next time you take the trash out, take 10 seconds to look into the bin and discover the huge mass of *stuff* of all types that goes in there everyday.

When we recycle we: reduce landfills, land/water/air pollution, save energy, reduce consumption of natural resources and electricity, help reduce or stabilize prices, create more affordable production materials for new technologies/products, provide opportunities for the poor, help save our breathable atmosphere, help save our dying oceans, and help avoid our planet turning to the one in the WALL-E movie: Trash everywhere. Life nowhere.

Here are a bunch of links to good introductory information. You can come back to this later if you want, or do your own searching on Google. For now, realize that if we wanted to, all we would have to do is basic sorting. That is it. We basically have to do NOTHING other than stop not-thinking about it. That's it!

After the links, I will tell you about the Tequila Effect.

• Intro to Plastic Recycling
• Intro to Glass Recycling
• Intro to Metal Recycling
• Intro to Paper Recycling
• Intro to Compost Recycling
• Intro to Clothing/Textiles Recycling
• Intro to Electronics Recycling

You should also know that you can actually make and/or save money by recycling or even discover a business opportunity. Check out the market prices for various recycled materials. This is not limited to *selling* recyclables. You can also get money saving charitable donation receipts when you give usable items to groups like the Salvation Army.

Now I want to tell you about the Tequila Effect. I am sure you are wondering how this could in any way relate to garbage or recycling, and frankly you may be quite bored with the discussion of all that by now. Here it is:

Some of you, as I have in my party days, may have had a bad experience with Tequila. Basically, by drinking too many shots you end up with alcohol poisoning. Specially you get pathetically drunk, throw up the entire contents of your stomach (to avoid death by poisoning), and then experience one of the worst hangovers imaginable for 24 to 72 hours. If you have avoided this experience, congratulations to you on being more mature and conservative with your alcohol consumption.

For those of you who have given yourself the misfortune of this experience, you might also be aware that your body becomes remarkably insistent on avoiding the drug (i.e. Tequila) ever again. A simple sniff of spilled tequila on a bar top could be enough to turn your stomach. You move away, plug your nose, or you vomit on whoever is near you. Chemotherapy patients have also reported similar physiological rejections of items even including a cup of coffee if they consumed it just prior to getting their chemo, which makes the body unimaginably sick. I.e. To kill the cancer, it takes quite a toll on the entire body. The body confuses the last item consumed as being the cause of the sickness. It then develops symptoms like nausea to help you avoid consuming it in significant quantities ever again. Use this to get a good sense of perspective.

When your body builds this new defense, you have one good option, and one bad one. The good option is to listen to your body and avoid Tequila. The bad option is to actually put a tremendous effort to *train* yourself to be able to accept Tequila into your system again. If you like drinking that much, you might have problems larger than not recycling.

The Tequila Effect I am talking about is building a massive resistance against anything that is not good for us, for any organism on this planet, or for the entire World itself and beyond.

The next time you go to toss an empty can into your all-in-one trash can that's going to end up in a landfill or burned or tossed onto the side of the road, give yourself the Tequila effect. Imagine how damn disgusting such an act is, when we have an easy option to do otherwise. The next time you look into an all-in-one public garbage bin and see items of all sorts that could be recycled or reused, imagine that you feel like getting physically sick. The smell can help you with that. Let your whole body reject this BS of persistent comfortable neglect we have.

Now you might think this is a bit excessive, right? Or way off on an unrelated tangent? You think Tequila poisons or kills you and chemo is only used for people trying to save their lives from cancer?! Comparing not-recycling to this is crazy, right? Well - you know that is not true. You know that the sickness you feel when not doing the right thing with recyclable trash is because you are not only killing yourself, you are helping to slowly kill your entire planet.

It's not your fault. You like most of the rest of us are aware of the basic issues, and just too distracted to do anything. But every time you see a piece of trash discarded and not recycled, you'll be reminded of the Tequila Effect, and it should make you sick to see it happen, or to be a part of it.

Train yourself to be sickened by trash. Train yourself to do at least a few things to improve your recycling behavior. Or suffer the Tequila Effect when you now suddenly realize what you are doing every time you toss those soda cans away indiscriminately.

Note to Puerto Rican's: You live in a country that was and has the ability to be an absolute paradise. But now it's dirty with trash, and even dirtier with bad attitudes about it. But this is a good thing. All major paradigm shifts or epiphanies happen at the lowest point. Born again Christians experiences are more likely to happen for desperate alcoholics than for those living in comfortable middle class happy families without any major issues. When you're at the bottom, the only way to move is up. If nothing you have been doing has been working (since you are at the bottom), only a big change is likely to move you in a new direction. The opportunity now exists for Puerto Rico to become a model of the world for its transition from trash filled Paradise to Eden-like Paradise. Like an alcoholic, the first step is admitting your have a problem.

Here is your target epiphany: Recycling is actually a very important issue vital to the entire Planet, and you DO have the ability to be a part of it, and you find it absolutely sickening not to do your part. It is as simple as a math problem, but hopefully far deeper and heart felt.

The Insider

Other cool stuff:

• Plastic Lumber Products - I've seen this being used for a large look off platform in Rincon (Congratulations to the Project Leaders there).
• Integrative thinking is the right approach, but needs government support to move it forward.