HEATHER WOKUSCH

Maybe it was the waitress in Folsom who refused to serve me juice in a paper cup because "It tastes better in plastic." Or it was the line of single-passenger SUVs  revving their motors outside a fastfood window near Sunrise.

Returning home to Sacramento after years working abroad I've come to the inescapable conclusion that our disposable lifestyle could make us disposable.

We've gotten used to living like there's no tomorrow, and at the rate we're going, there may not be. Almost 70 billion beverage containers have been trashed in the US so far this year alone, yet recycling rates are dropping. Gas-guzzling SUVs enjoy generous tax breaks, but clean-burning hybrids don't. US power and chlorine plants belch out a full 150 tons of mercury per year, and it's all perfectly legal.

But recklessness comes at a high price. The EPA estimates that 159 million Americans, over half of the population, live in areas where the air is dangerous to breathe. Pollution-related illnesses are soaring across the country, and a full 8% of US childbearing-age women have so much mercury in their blood that their future kids could have lowered mental functioning and motor skills.

Of course, California hasn't escaped the crisis. The state already houses 9 out of the 25 US cities worst affected by short-term particle air pollution; in the Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Truckee area, that pollution puts at risk almost 180,000 people for asthma, over 62,000 for chronic bronchitis and over 500,000 for cardiovascular disease.

California is also reeling under federal budget cuts for environmental programs, yet the administration's fiscal year 2006 budget unbelievably slashes an additional 46% of the state's EPA funding for water quality programs. 46%! The potential repercussions for Sacramento are staggering.

And folks living near any of California's more than 100 Superfund National Priorities List of hazardous sites, such as McClellan Air Force Base or the Sacramento Army Depot, can kiss support goodbye. The Superfund's financial resources have dried up since the administration stopped making polluters pay, and cleanups have all but ground to a halt.

But protecting our national security involves more than color-coded warning signals, just as patriotism requires more than weenie roasts and fireworks on the 4th. Honoring our nation means having the courage to look at our consumption and waste - and then taking the responsibility to set a new and sustainable course.

Our kids deserve no less.