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Electric vehicles should be seen as a matter of national security
Given the fact that diesel prices are skyrocketing and we may about to see mass shortages, we need to start demanding electrification for the sake of economic stability.
The technology has become so much cheaper it's absolutely insane what US automotive and oil companies have been doing to stifle this advance.
Eating beef is a great way to prove that you don't care about the environment
Beef is by far the most environmentally costly food most people can put on their plate, which is why choosing it over alternatives is such a telling signal. Per gram of protein, beef produces many times the greenhouse gas emissions of chicken, eggs, or legumes, mostly from cattle methane and from the forest cleared for pasture and feed. It also demands far more land and water than almost any other common food. These facts are widely published and easy to find, and cheaper, lower-impact options are available in nearly every grocery store. So when someone keeps choosing beef anyway, they are showing that the environmental cost isn’t a factor in their decision. Nobody has to be perfect, but picking the highest-impact option when better ones are easy to reach is a pretty clear statement of priorities.
Eating beef is a great way to prove that you don't care about the environment
Rule 6: Beef is by far the most environmentally costly food most people can put on their plate, which is why choosing it over alternatives is such a telling signal. Per gram of protein, beef produces many times the greenhouse gas emissions of chicken, eggs, or legumes, mostly from cattle methane and from the forest cleared for pasture and feed. It also demands far more land and water than almost any other common food. These facts are widely published and easy to find, and cheaper, lower-impact options are available in nearly every grocery store. So when someone keeps choosing beef anyway, they are showing that the environmental cost isn’t a factor in their decision. Nobody has to be perfect, but picking the highest-impact option when better ones are easy to reach is a pretty clear statement of priorities.
[OC] Bottles and cans with a deposit are recycled much more often than those without
Reading this fairly. All ten deposit states are shown, not just the best ones. Their reported rates vary widely: Massachusetts is at 33%, Oregon (10¢) at 88%. Every state figure is above the 26% national non-deposit figure, but the measures and years differ, so this is not a like-for-like comparison (see below).
Different measures and years. Most state bars are calendar-year 2025 redemption rates for containers covered by each state’s deposit law; Hawaii’s is fiscal year 2024–25, and Iowa’s hatched bar is a 2022 recovery rate. The bottom two bars are 2021 U.S. recycling rates cited in CRI’s August 2026 release, and “not on deposit” includes non-deposit drinks sold inside deposit states. The bottom bars show the national gap between deposit and non-deposit containers; the state bars add context. None of this gives an Illinois-specific rate.
Connecticut rose from 65% to 92% in a year, following upgrades that included more return locations and a deposit increase from 5¢ to 10¢ in January 2024. CRI cautions that cross-border returns, claims of over-redemption by some distributors, and beverage sales that CRI estimates exceed what distributors report could all inflate the reported rate.
Iowa (hatched) is CRI’s 2022 “recovery rate,” which counts curbside and drop-off recycling as well as deposit redemptions, so it isn’t directly comparable to the redemption rates.
Sources
- Data: Container Recycling Institute (CRI), press release, Aug. 3, 2026. Source of all state rates, Iowa’s 2022 figure, the 2021 national 64% and 26% recycling rates, and the Connecticut caveats. CRI is a nonprofit that advocates for deposit-return laws.
- Official program pages (used for deposit amounts, not for the rates): Connecticut DEEP, Bottle Bill FAQ (10¢ deposit since Jan. 1, 2024); Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, Bottle Bill (OLCC administers Oregon’s 10¢ program).
- Independent reporting that cross-checks CRI’s 2025 figures (based on CRI’s data, not separate datasets): Resource Recycling, Aug. 5, 2026; Waste Dive, 2026; Hartford Business Journal, 2026 (also notes New York’s 5¢ deposit); Waste Dive, 2025 (Michigan and Oregon at 10¢).

