We're green. We're as green as can be when it comes to doing our share to help save the planet with our online newspaper, NSBNEWS.net. There are no wasted trees. No messy inks. No plastic sleeves. No littering the lawn or driveway. There's no gas fumes because there's no automobile delivery. And you can burn calories clicking on the keyboard and enriching your mind with all of our continuous local news coverage right here in Southeast Volusia and from around the world.
We are 21st century and proud of it.
And each day, more of you are discovering us. That is very exciting.
We can all do our fair share to conserve resources by using less, reusing items for other things and sorting out trash.
It really is true that one person's trash is another's treasure. One of the coolest things we saw in covering the first-ever Green Fair at Riverside Park on Sunday was a booth that featured bird houses with roofs made from bent license plates. And they were bent down like real roofs so birds can't get cut landing on them.
Conserving the environment may seem like something new, but actually it is something that has been preached and practiced for decades by groups like Green Peace.
I remember when I was a kid back in the 1960s, I would see those commercials on TV where the American Indian is standing and people drive by and throw trash at his feet. The camera would pan to his cheek with a single tear running down. At least that's how I remember it.
And just think: When I was a kid, you could make some cash before and after school tossing newspapers into people's yards while riding your bicycle. Today, it's different.
Even as newspapers are dying, Daytona Beach's Mighty Metro is delivered by people in automobiles and managers in sport utility vehicles.
This might not be politically correct, but if New Smyrna Beach and other local communities were serious about recycling, they would do something about all of the free shoppers, so-called freebie weekly newspapers and other junk in plastic sleeves that get thrown on our driveways, porches and lawns unsolicited.
Many of these are not allowed in gated communities such as Sugar Mill. They should be required to deliver by subscription (meaning the customer specifically requests it).
This in no way would interfere with rights to a free press. That's what home subscriptions are all about -- the customer pays for delivery or with some freebies, the customer specifically requests it.
Politicians could do more by sending their informational packets online through Web sites or e-mail. State Rep. Dorothy Hukill and Congressman Tom Feeney both send NSBNEWS.net their press releases via e-mail and through their Web sites. New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Oak Hill, Volusia County and Volusia County Schools are getting much-more Web savvy.
Every bit helps to conserve materials and encourage recycling. We at NSBNEWS.net are pleased to do our share -- we're green and proud of it.