L.A. Zero Waste planning

So the city of L.A. has been in the process of making a zero waste plan for the last year.You can learn more at www.zerowaste.lacity.org.
They have had a lot of public meetings, I think they have caught on to the idea of participatory planning and also hope that by inviting so much public input that they can avoid some future problems.
At last night's meeting bottled water was provided. People complained but even the woman who first brought it up was drinking it. All around, people were drinking the bottled water the city had provided. I felt on high moral ground with my reusable bottle.
But all in all, these meetings seem to bring in the converted and we are all bitching about how we need to do more but the fact is that we need to get to the people who can't even figure out recycling 101. I can give up packaging and recycle religously but that doesn't have the same kind of impact as getting the millions of people in this city to simply bring their own bags to the store, carry a reusable water bottle and properly recycle at home. Simple steps made by millions add up to a lot. I don't like to preach or make people feel bad. I'd rather practice moderation in my consumption habits and do my little part.

Zero Waste is a long way off but so much of what we need to do is so simple. I save money and waste by always making my coffee at home. Having coffee at a coffee shop is a special treat. I've come to really value the occassional cappucino and I am mindful of it. Would putting Starbucks out of business be such a bad thing? Just think of all of those plastic frappucino cups, dome lids and straws piling up in landfills. I would be happy to see a world in which we felt we no longer needed such things.