I did not know what to expect on our way to the landfill… I
always knew our trash goes somewhere, but wasn’t sure where exactly. Now I know
how much trash goes into one pile, how much could have been recycled, how long
it may take to fill the landfill, and that blew my mind! It made me sad to
think all the trash just gets piled up, and that all people live in a world
where trash gets produced everyday as if it isn’t a problem, and that I am one
of those people. Now every time I throw a piece of trash away I know where it
ends up, and I feel a little guilty. This photograph illustrates my experience
at the landfill in the sense that this piece of trash could have been mine, and
that I contribute to the landfill everyday, along with children and students
all over, specifically shown in this children’s game/study cards. Children are
not educated as to where their trash goes, so therefore they are kind of
tricked into producing trash, but not like adults or businesses are educated
very much either. Each piece of
trash adds up to create the pile of trash in the background. We as a human race
are responsible for reducing our carbon footprint and the amount of trash we
send to the landfill everyday. We can do this by recycling when possible,
buying items with less packaging material, or even just not buying what is
unnecessary.
I
was however really impressed with how Waste Management pulls the gas out of
current, finished land fills to provide energy to local homes and/or
businesses. I believe there is a way to convert trash into renewable energy, it
just has to be discovered. This trip made me think twice about what I’m
throwing away and how I could spread the message to others to care about where
their trash goes as well. And just like Orr quoted Wiesel in Earth In Mind, the problem with
education is “[i]t emphasizes theories instead of values, concepts rather than
human beings, abstraction rather than consciousness, answers instead of
questions, ideology and efficiency rather than conscience” (8). As a child in
elementary school, I don’t remember receiving much information on the waste
stream, and I wish for the next generations to come to be greener than the ones
before them. Education is key, and we need to value the importance of it
between young kids, especially relating to trash and where it goes: they may
have the solutions to all of our problems.
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