LETTER- Ask the right questions, please  Thanks to the Hook for
updating us on the floundering state of recycling efforts
["(Re)cycle of life," February 8 cover story]. Now we have a
good excuse to give in to the midwinter doldrums. Recycling used
to be our one verifiable, personalized environmental victory. It
was an achievement reminding us of other possibilities.  Or
maybe not. Costs are tallied, and the illusion is tainted. The
numbers are scandalous. The Hook's writer is irked. It shouldn't
cost money to save the Earth. Unlike lunar landing programs, the
Earth should reimburse us for our efforts. Could be a lingering
notion left over from an ancestral pioneer mentality– Earth as
product value, Earth as uncommodified treasure.  Writers of
exposés such as this one carry on the tradition. They aren't too
curious about the poor market for glass. Or the profitlessness
of plastic. They understand which questions not to ask. They
know exactly where the boundaries are and who they can pick on.
They play by estab