Wishful thinking: saving polar bears with coffee cups
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In a weary state, I lumbered into a local doughnut shop and purchased 16 ounces of black liquid. The barista handed me a warm disposable cup with a plastic lid. I could already feel the pressure from my headache subsiding. I left the doughnut shop. While walking down a busy SW Broadway in Portland, OR, I repeatedly burned my mouth as I hastily engulfed my scalding drink until I was left with an empty container. I came to a full stop.
I was frozen, standing on the sidewalk with my arm bent at a sharp right angle a temporary paralysis only broken by my eyes as they glanced from left to right. I stared at the three separate receptacles in front of me and then back to the empty coffee cup with black plastic lid and cardboard sleeve in my hand. The receptacles were labeled: trash, recycle and compost in friendly, reassuring font. But my mind was in torment, wrestling with a grave moral dilemma; Where the hell do I put my c