Moral Dilemmas

I suppose that everyone wonders about everyday things, and I'm no exception. But sometimes my ponderings breach the moral realm, and I find myself troubled by questions that I cannot satisfactorily answer. Yet these are questions I find myself asking virtually every day of my life. A few examples:

Is it better for the environment to discard a tissue in the toilet or a waste basket? That is, should I have a water treatment facility address the issue, or a public landfill?

While on the subject of the environment, is it really better to recyle? Has anyone factored in waste and transportation and sorting facilities and the cost of remanufacturing? I must admit to an aversion to throwing away cans, bottles or paper, but when I recycle, I do wonder if we all haven't been duped by a feel-good environmental campaign.

And for that matter, at the grocery store: Paper or plastic? Should I further plunder the world's limited supply of petroleum to save a tree, or vice versa?

But my agonizing isn't limited to environmental issues. Some questions are clearly more profound. I wonder, is it moral to read Sports Illustrated when there are so many better things I could be doing with my time? To watch movies? To read the newspaper?

And I wonder, is it right that I should live in such relative comfort, when so much of the world's population is starving? Should I sell all I have and give to the poor? Should I be a voluntary peasant?

It goes on and on. Every day. Countless decisions. And I can't seem to dismiss the moral implications of these everyday actions.

So many things for me to wonder.