I hear this argument over and over again: “Why should I bother recycling? China is poisoning the planet.” It’s like reverse-whataboutism. I find it really lazy and a pointless attitude. The argument generalizes to: “Why do anything good when bad exists in the world?”

Cleanliness is its own reward. I can tell you if I lived in stink-town where 100% of everyone else’s house was a festering mess, I would keep mine clean.