Submitted by Chantelle Tibbs
Alright, so let's keep it real. Everyone knows San Francisco is a green city. Even the way the words SAN and FRANCISCO roll off the tongue sound green. (If green could make a sound, that is). I knew this before I even moved to this fine city, but what I wasn't aware of was what shade of green San Francisco truly is.
Bright, neon, fluorescent, deep, brilliant green!
Let me walk you through a day at one of our many, independently owned cafes: You will notice that the signs above the napkins read, "Napkins are Made of Trees." Once you sluggishly grab one or two napkins, you will notice that the sign above the "plastic" cutlery reads, "Do Not Use In Hot Drinks. Will Melt."
So now that you are past the napkins and the environmentally, biodegradable (maybe even edible) melting forks and knives, we come to the straws. They don't exist. And if they do, and you ask for one, the entire place may have to take time from whatever book they are reading or email they are about to write and cut their eyes at you just so you know better next time.
You may think I'm exaggerating, but I kid you not. My mother was a victim of this stare when she came to visit a few months back. My mother likes straws because she doesn't like to touch her lips to a glass other people have drunken from, even if it was washed. She also requires that we use a spoon to get the shredded cheese from her fridge so it doesn't mold. She's a good woman though, I swear.
But wait, I'm not finished. We haven't gotten to the trash. When I first moved here from Los Angeles (whose shade of green pales in comparison to SF), my landlord had to sit my roomie and me down for a stern talking to. We thought maybe we were too loud or we did something else wrong. That's when she pointed to our trash cans and proceeded to tell us that we produced a lot of waste. We had no idea how to compost, and we were confusing recycling for trash.
You see in SF you get a trash bin that is black and the size of a tater tot—this is for trash. The second biggest bin you get is green, and that's for compost. And the biggest can you get is a blue one for recycling. If you want an extra or bigger trash bin, you have to pay much more, and that's how San Francisco forces you to be green. If you, by any chance, decide to get lazy or take receptacle revenge, you will wake up to a very large note on all bins with threatening letters warning you to “NEVER MIX THE TRASH WITH COMPOST AND RECYCLING AGAIN... OR ELSE!”
Needless to say, I love my city. I really do. I think SF is very clever in the way that it puts people in a position to make the right choice and only the right choice because the wrong choice is pretty much impossible (or really expensive). I am now a proud composter. I reuse my shopping bags so I can get five cents apiece (ten cents each for the plastic—woo hoo!). I know my trash from recycling. I'm too cool for napkins, my forks never melt and my straws don't exist!
Photo Caption: San Francisco resident Chantelle Tibbs learned to go green in her adopted city (Photo courtesy of Nori and Sulima Rodriguez).
