So what are we doing in that vein? What major steps are manufacturers, retailers, consumers, and goverments doing? How much longer are we going to continue to just make more and more garbage? When will "disposable" become a curse word? When will we stop making things that will be with us for the next few hundreds or thousands of years?
We do not have the land or water resources to allocate to garbage. We simply have to stop making it. If a product cannot later be reused, recycled, or composted, why is it being made? Why has no one talked about the concept of solid waste elimination? Not reduction--elimination. I concede and understand that such a change could take up to four 4 generations to fully implement (Teldyn will be a great grandad). But why haven't I heard our leaders talking about how to get to that point?
I've heard that 70% of our landfills could be recycled or reused. I don't understand why we aren't doing it. What are we waiting for? Where do we think this crap is going? We know we have no where to put it. We know we're poisoning ourselves, and we keep doing it. I'm at a loss. I'm frustrated and confused. I feel helpless.
Today, on July 20, 2009, 40 years after we first walked on the moon, I wonder how we are dealing with the challenges we now face. Is preserving our planet and life as we know it not enough to inspire us into action? In 1969, scientists collaborated and succeeded in getting us to another world. We were racing towards a bright, new future. Now I fear we're stagnating in swirling garbage. Where is our bright future?
1 comment:
I admit I haven't thought about it as rigorously as you have, at least not recently. I would imagine that there needs to be a concerted and comprehensive effort to raise awareness of these kinds of problems as well as incentives created to prevent continued production of solid waste that is destined only to be stored or dumped.
I would guess that if companies were faced with economic incentives to stop producing solid waste AND processes were developed that could economically use waste products and recover the raw materials, that might significantly mitigate the problems if not eliminate them.
Aluminum and steel have been recycled for decades. The energy requirements for melting the used material are far less than the energy required to initially retrieve them from ores and purify them. Therefore, it makes economic sense to do it. I remember my chemistry teacher in high school talking about industrial processes that created real wealth. With today's understanding of chemistry, material sciences and ecological imperatives, I would think new processes can be found to deal with a great deal of what is currently classified as "waste."
Republicans are easily seduced by the notion of lower taxes and incentives that promote innovation. I think the Obama administration could make significant progress in this regard as well as steal some opposition thunder by getting in front of the issue. Not only would it blunt and mute the cries of "Socialism" from the right, but having a program to "Retrieve the Earth" as well as explore other worlds could spur real economic growth and a pragmatic idealism, if that phrase makes sense.
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