Lessons at the Landfill

In the words of Fritjof Capra “shallow ecology is anthropocentric or human-centered. It views humans as above or outside of nature, as the source of all values.” As a typical trash producing citizen of the state of Colorado I subconsciously followed this “shallow ecology” thought process. I was completely oblivious as to where and how my trash was disposed of. I subconsciously thought that it was not my job to take care of the earth but rather the earths own duty. This exhibited Capra’s ideas of how us, humans view ourselves outside of nature. My ignorance created a distorted vision of a typical junkyard in which a couple of dump trucks casually emptied their waste. The “ecoilliteracy” that occurred due to a lack of schooling is what is continuing this collective destruction of the earth. The image above was the most shocking to me since it showed both the sheer volume of trash that we citizens collectively contribute and how our society focuses more on maintaining our detrimental “human-centered” lifestyle rather than changing it. The picture is of a typical landfill in the background consisting of large quantities of garbage. In the foreground is the cargo haul of a semi-truck being emptied out by a hydraulic. At first glance, I thought that this was an amazing unique contraption but upon further thought I realized that this was a disappointing example of how our society functions. This showed that we have created an epidemic by which traditional means of emptying our trash is simply not enough to remove our waste. I was perplexed at how there could be such a high demand to eliminate trash, that it was necessary for Waste Management to create a hydraulic that empties out trash at a much higher rate so that they can pick up many more loads to dump it. The amazing issue is that if we put the same amount of effort that was used in the design process of the machine, into reducing waste by reusing and recycling, we could make a positive impact on the planets health rather than continuing our nasty habits. Unfortunately as Capra discussed us humans refuse to view ourselves as part of nature and instead view ourselves above it.

-George Apregan