Earth Day has come and gone and perhaps the only people to even remember it were elementary school students and citizens of foreign countries who have proven they care more about the environment than the United States.

With all of our technological advances, it's unacceptable how we've missed the boat as far as recycling is concerned. Waste disposal does, after all, cost our country around $40 billion a year. Instead of trying to solve pollution problems and help the environment, our government is looking to exploit natural resources in Alaska and harvest oil. Corporations also seem to be more concerned with making money through recycling than saving the environment.

Nations such as Japan have put the United States to shame when it comes to helping the environment as they have taken steps to help the environment by seeking to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that would help reduce the amount of gas emissions released into the atmosphere. The United States refused to ratify it.

The media hasn't done much either to promote Earth Day or, in general, solutions to keep the environment clean.

With all the separation involved with recycling, it often becomes too much for the average lazy American to handle, especially since recycling isn't immediately gratifying.

The benefits of recycling can take years and this isn't exactly appealing to the self-centered society we live in.

Our society needs to get in a recycling mindset in order to improve the state of the environment for future generations. It all starts with just doing a little bit extra - picking up that one piece of garbage we see lying around, making the effort to separate the cans from the plastics and glass or even driving an environmentally friendly car.

Earth Day can benefit everyone if only we make a conscious effort to keep the environment clean. While many of us have missed this year's Earth Day, this shouldn't prevent anyone from doing their part by recycling during the other 364 days of the year.