#TrashandZeroWaste
#DADS
We arrived to the Denver Arapahoe Disposal site or DADS for short, in the late morning. It was one of those picturesque days where you couldn't find a cloud in the sky - something I am not used to in Connecticut. The contrast between the sky and the garbage wasteland was enormous. The emotion I felt was more of a disbelief than a disgust. I couldn't even wrap my head around the amount of trash that was being dumped every day. And what was even more repulsive was the copious piles of would-be recycling blanketing the landscape. How was this possible, isn't Colorado a very eco-friendly state? It didn't seem that way at all. There seemed to be contrast everywhere I looked. There was a light tangible breeze on the top of the landfill that brought a cool temperature to the hot day. The breeze was almost refreshing, keeping away any odor that remained among the thrown away materials. Here I was at the top of a giant, real life metaphor of the overconsumption in the area and yet I was physically charmed - the wind was cool, there wasn't any smell, and the day was perfect. This made it hard to grasp the injustice all around us. Not to mention we had an air conditioned bus! It felt like we were being taken through DADS as potential investors, not people who wanted to see and feel the real-life problem in our community.
My photo touches on the wealth of contrasts we encountered on that day. The beautiful cloudless sky sits on-top the desolate 'landfill', which should properly be renamed 'giant trash heap'. In fact renaming a landfill to something like 'trashfill' would probably raise awareness by itself. The second contrast is one that can only be explained by the picture taker and that is the fact that the photo was being taken from the air conditioned tour bus. It was almost as if we were just as ignorant as the people who throw away recycling. There wasn't enough time to sit down and think about problem our generation must face eventually. The black and white instagram effect gives the photo a third and powerful element - one of regression. I feel society hasn't progressed with waste management in the last century. I couldn't believe that in the modern day and age we were still throwing away recycling in vast quantities. Environmentalist David Orr suggests that "the planet does not need more successful people". He instead calls for "more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of every kind" (Orr 12). These are the people we must depend on to save the environment - not because they are extraordinary thinkers but rather simple ones. Simple thinkers with powerful consciences. Maybe we instead need to redefine 'success' in our society. Should wealth be the leading factor of what makes a person successful? Absolutely not.
We arrived to the Denver Arapahoe Disposal site or DADS for short, in the late morning. It was one of those picturesque days where you couldn't find a cloud in the sky - something I am not used to in Connecticut. The contrast between the sky and the garbage wasteland was enormous. The emotion I felt was more of a disbelief than a disgust. I couldn't even wrap my head around the amount of trash that was being dumped every day. And what was even more repulsive was the copious piles of would-be recycling blanketing the landscape. How was this possible, isn't Colorado a very eco-friendly state? It didn't seem that way at all. There seemed to be contrast everywhere I looked. There was a light tangible breeze on the top of the landfill that brought a cool temperature to the hot day. The breeze was almost refreshing, keeping away any odor that remained among the thrown away materials. Here I was at the top of a giant, real life metaphor of the overconsumption in the area and yet I was physically charmed - the wind was cool, there wasn't any smell, and the day was perfect. This made it hard to grasp the injustice all around us. Not to mention we had an air conditioned bus! It felt like we were being taken through DADS as potential investors, not people who wanted to see and feel the real-life problem in our community.
My photo touches on the wealth of contrasts we encountered on that day. The beautiful cloudless sky sits on-top the desolate 'landfill', which should properly be renamed 'giant trash heap'. In fact renaming a landfill to something like 'trashfill' would probably raise awareness by itself. The second contrast is one that can only be explained by the picture taker and that is the fact that the photo was being taken from the air conditioned tour bus. It was almost as if we were just as ignorant as the people who throw away recycling. There wasn't enough time to sit down and think about problem our generation must face eventually. The black and white instagram effect gives the photo a third and powerful element - one of regression. I feel society hasn't progressed with waste management in the last century. I couldn't believe that in the modern day and age we were still throwing away recycling in vast quantities. Environmentalist David Orr suggests that "the planet does not need more successful people". He instead calls for "more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of every kind" (Orr 12). These are the people we must depend on to save the environment - not because they are extraordinary thinkers but rather simple ones. Simple thinkers with powerful consciences. Maybe we instead need to redefine 'success' in our society. Should wealth be the leading factor of what makes a person successful? Absolutely not.
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