We used to have a trash can on both the Mac and Windows.  This was a neat idea; a place for discarded items to go before they are really deleted so you can get them back if you have to.

Then, Microsoft decided to “go green” and renamed it to “Recycle Bin”.  Since this was a system object, you couldn’t rename it back to “Trash”.  Fortunately, in windows 7, they have lifted this restriction, so my desktop is no longer polluted by Microsoft propaganda – I have a trash can again.  Of course, all the dialogs related to discard confirmations and such still reference “Recycle Bin”.  They should get the verbiage from the object they are relating to, as if you rename the object, there is now room for confusion as the dialogs and the object do not match.  But I digress…

Why does this irritate me?  Or perhaps you didn’t even ask because the weirdest things irritate me and now you’re used to it.  It’s quite simple: Other than aluminum cans, recycling does not work.  Sorry to burst your bubble, if you happen to think it’s really groovy.  Recycling is a “feel good” waste of time and money which we do because it seems like it ought to be a good thing do do, but we ignore that for the most part it pollutes more than not recycling.

“Save a tree” is pointless.  Paper comes from trees planted in farms by paper producers.  Nobody is carving up the rainforests for this.  If we buy and use less paper, they’ll plant less trees.  It’s simple supply and demand.  Trees are a GOOD thing, we want to encourage people to plant more of them.

Plastic recycling: The recycling process itself introduces more toxic products into our environment than making new plastic does.

Did you ever wonder why nobody will pay you for used paper and so forth, but they will pay you for aluminum cans?  That’s because recycling aluminum actually makes sense and is a good idea.  Most other recycling is government subsidized wasting of time, money, and in many cases is harmful to the environment.

So, the bottom line?  Count me out.  I’m not playing the game.  Companies like Microsoft pushing their sociological agenda via my desktop (or any means, actually) is unwanted and annoying.