Ignorant Waste of Beauty

Callyn Gonzalez

Trash and Zero Waste

Megan Kelly

September 15, 2013

Our trip to DADS was both eye opening and informative for me. As we drove up to the landfill, there were dozens of containers labeled with all of the different wastes that the site stored. Continuing through the area, there were rolling hills to the left that had a light layer of grass attempting to grow on top of them. These were all filled with trash and no longer as lush as they originally looked. I was enlightened as I realized how much space the products we use take up in places that were once so gorgeous and now are nothing more than a dump. It dawned on me that this once beautiful piece of land was being ruined by our lack of effort in conservation. 

The image I posted reflects my frustration about the overuse of landfills as opposed to sending such items through recycling or composting them. The area surrounding the landfill is beautiful and serene, but unfortunately, this perfect view is desecrated by the large mountain of trash in front of it. The trucks bring in pounds and pounds of trash everyday, adding to the collection. Although the trash is hidden, doing this is not going to help our society minimize the toll we are taking on the earth and its resources. Eventually, we will run out of land and waste will have taken everything over. Perfectly good, untouched land, is being used to harbor our wastes and the beautiful scenery is being destroyed by trucks and dumping garbage. The picture I chose depicts this by showing both the good and bad views of the landfill and how they conflict with one another. Finding a balance between nature and human activity seems almost impossible at this point.

I appreciate having the opportunity to go on this trip because I have more first person evidence and a greater understanding of what happens to our trash once we dispose of it. Seeing how bad things really are gave me drive and motivation to not only recycle but use my newfound knowledge to encourage others to reduce their trash creation. The problem behind all of this misuse of land is the awareness that most people lack about how their actions affect the environment. It surprised me how much I was unaware of in regards to disposal and recycling of the large amounts of waste we produce everyday. If people were more aware of how their ignorance is running down nature, they may be more likely to think twice before continuing these thoughtless actions. One of the most important subjects in school is environmental awareness and knowledge about how our earth works. It is important that this education is not only required but also spread around in order to help maintain the earths lasting beauty and ability to continue functioning. If I have such minuscule knowledge of the severe damage caused by our waste, I can only imagine how little those who are less invested than I know about conservation and reducing wastes. David Orr explains that, “[T]he environmental crisis originates with the inability to think about ecological patterns, systems of causation, and the long-term effects of human actions” (Orr, 2). People are unaware of the harm they are doing and thus nothing will change or improve due to this ignorance. If people were more educated on not only how to handle waste but also how to reduce how much waste they are making, the future of our environment would look much brighter. Reducing the need for dumps such as DADS would surely lead to maintaining the beauty of our environment and living on a healthier planet overall.