Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. This year’s topic is “The Power of We.”

The Power of We is a celebration of people working together to make a positive difference in the world, either for their own communities or for people they will never meet half way around the world.

— blogactionday.org

A wonderful example of a community working together toward positive change is Madison, WI. This community is known for its proclivity toward sustainable living. Madison was the first in the nation to have a curbside recycling program when it began collecting newspapers in 1968. Recycling has been mandatory in Madison since 1989, and the city can refuse to pick up trash from households that put recyclable materials in their garbage bins. The city developed the first climate protection plan in Wisconsin in 2002. And, in September 2005, Madison switched from dual- to single-stream curbside recycling collection using rolling carts. The City of Madison is also the only municipal recycling program (that this writer knows of) that allows residents to recycle the lids and caps from their plastic bottles. Madison also began accepting polystyrene (Styrofoam) for recycling at a city drop-off location in March 2012. The city joined with Uniek Manufacturing in nearby Waunakee, WI, in a program to recycle polystyrene packaging material. Uniek makes picture frames from recycled polystyrene. The City of Madison website is designed to keep the community aware of all that Madison has to offer, including extensive recycling information. Needless to say, the Power of We is alive and well in Madison.

Sustainability is the ability to meet our needs without compromising the needs of future generations.

— The City of Madison