Throughout every day life, I don’t
think most of us place enough importance on what is thrown away. We go through our day without the realizing
that most of what we do creates trash; which has to go somewhere. American culture
focuses on new beginnings, when we should be looking to our past to fix the
future. I believe we should realize our
roots in the fact that Earth and humans have had an intense, spiritual
connection. We use the Earth for all of
its wonders, and therefore we are a part of the Earth.
The emotions that I had throughout
our visit to the landfill were those of shock and regret mixed with a drive for
a cleaner world. Initially driving up to the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site I
thought the surroundings seemed clean and natural with big hills covered in a
little grass. At first, I saw almost no
trash. That soon changed when I saw the
picture above. The picture shows that
the hills consist of trash. The mere thought of those hills being completely
made up of trash seemed impossible in my mind.
Before our trip to DADS, I realized all trash had to go somewhere; I had
never actually visualized this problem.
Although you may have a good understanding of something, sometimes it
just is not real until you see it in person for yourself. We learned that there
is eighty-five thousand to ten thousand tons of trash per day at DADS; within
this enormity seventy-five percent could have been recycled. I think this picture embodies the emotions
that go with realizing something is not what it seems. The hill with dirt on it looks normal and
natural, but when you see what is really underneath it (trash) you get a better
understanding of how the world really is. Seeing all of that trash in person,
and up close makes the problem of pollution real and live.
While reading Capra, the quote
that stood out to me the most had to do with ecological awareness, and coming
to the realization that we are a part of this earth too (we don’t just run
it). “Ultimately, deep ecological
awareness is spiritual or religious awareness.
When the concept of the human spirit is understood as the mode of
consciousness in which the individual feels a sense of belonging, of
connectedness, to the cosmos as a whole, it becomes clear that ecological
awareness is spiritual in its deepest essence.”
I love how Capra relates ecological awareness to spirituality; it makes
the issues of pollution so much more human and real. I think this quote hits home for every human
being. My hopes for the Earth are of
health for its many wonders; for if we all disrespect it, it may all disappear.
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