Not “reading, writing and ‘rithmetic” but reduce, reuse and—most notably—recycling. The Boston Globe has an article reporting that Massachusetts recycling rates are stagnant, and relatively low. A rather timely report given the effort by numerous organizations to get Beacon Hill to update the bottle bill.

Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to give a little more attention to the other two R’s, especially purchasing products with post-consumer content which have been minimally downcycled. A fleece sweatshirt made of soda bottles is nicer than one made from Texas crude,
but a bottle made from a bottle made from a bottle ad infitnitum is finer.