Dear Earth,
I abhor. I loathe. I abominate. I detest the fact that a handful of people—men in suits, sipping overpriced lattes—get to pass a policy that quietly slithers into law and somehow ends up telling me what bin to throw my banana peel into.
But… sigh… here’s the brutal paradox: without policy, our economy, our politics, society, even the very air we breathe, would be absolutely drowning in corruption. Like, actual chaos. Wild West. Anarchy. Think Mad Max but with overflowing compost bins.
Recently, I went to the UC Berkeley aNova Hacks event in San Francisco—vibes were unmatched, and the themes? Climate crisis, societal good, design excellence. Basically, my alley. One presentation absolutely fried my brain in the best way. Someone—some actual genius group—announced that there aren’t just 5 R’s in waste management.
No. There are 12.
Yes, twelve.
You heard me.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? Child’s play. Now we have to Rethink, Refuse, Redesign, Repair, Refurbish, Remanufacture, Repurpose, Recover, and yes, still Recycle—with a sprinkle of Responsibility and Rot on top.
If you already found it a struggle to separate trash from recyclables, the 12 R’s will make you question every item in your fridge, closet, and soul. Like, are my broken headphones recyclable? Should I repurpose this spaghetti jar? Is this the right moment to “Rethink” my entire life?
Cue: my beloved eco-warrior family member. The type who makes sure every scrap of paper, every veggie stem, every greasy takeout box is going exactly where it belongs—compost, landfill, recycling, you name it. Total green queen. But guess what? They still got fined. Yep. Fined. For trying to do the right thing. Turns out, even good intentions get wrecked without knowing the policy.
Only after the fine did they realize: wow, maybe we should’ve read the trash disposal rules instead of just guessing based on vibes.
And that’s the thing. Policy feels like a cage, until you realize it’s also the one thing keeping the hyenas out. It’s frustrating, it’s annoying, it’s a brain workout. But it’s also… weirdly necessary.
So next time someone tells you to “just recycle,” you can politely (or dramatically) inform them that the R’s have multiplied and we are now playing 4D chess with our leftovers.
Policy sucks. But the planet? Still kinda matters.
Peace. Love. Earth.,
Jessica Ngok 🌎
Letters To Earth 