Shock,
grief, and understanding were three dominating emotions that I felt upon
visiting DADS. I have never really stopped to examine the amount of trash that
I create everyday, and kept it out of my mind as I lugged trash bags out to the
alley every week since childhood, not stopping to really think about where it
went after being devoured by the giant mouth of the garbage truck. Seeing a
whole society’s trash in one place concentrated the feelings that I
experienced, and it was disconcerting to see mountains of trash piling up in
every direction. The huge garbage trucks seemed small and unimportant in
comparison to the mountains of packed trash which they stood upon. Flocks of
birds perching on fences strewn with bits of trash took flight as our bus
approached, and as I watched them fly away I noticed with dismay that the only
thing for miles was dirt, trash, and the few species that called the dump home.
What a poor life, I thought, as they squawked off in the distance, in search of
some edible piece of trash that would fuel their little lives just enough to
find the next bits of scrap food. Their small white feathers contributed to the
mess of the dump, and they lay clinging to whatever they could hold onto. I
came across a lone plant in the piles of dirt, seemingly mourning a friend who
had succumbed to the hardships of the dump. Even a rugged plant like this can’t
survive the unsheltered heat, low water, and lack of nutrients found in the
dump. A plastic bag wedged itself into the branches of tree, fluttering in the
wind with the feathers of past birds. A plastic Mucho Nacho bag lay in a state
of limbo, destined to remain on this earth generations after I have left. The
dump trucks can be seen in the distance, slowly yet continuously building up
the heaps of trash that surrounded the area. This was the scene I captured with
my image; one of life and death, new to used, and of unsustainable practice.
If trash output remains the same in Arapaho County, the
dump is predicted to reach capacity in about 128 years. Although this seems
like it is far out of the future, is it really? It is out of reach of any of
our lifetimes, yes, but the problem of trash will be even more prevalent by the
time our grandchildren come around. Does it really seem fair to pass them a
problem they had no part in creating? Lester Brown of the World Watch Institute
gives a compellingly simple and clear definition of sustainability: “A
sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without diminishing the
prospects of future generations.” (Capra, 4)
The way we are living is clearly not sustainable, and the 7 pounds of
trash generated each day by the average American makes me want to change my
habits, and then others, if not for my own sake for the sake of generations of
all beings to come. The birds and the plants who live there don’t deserve this,
the ecosystem that was destroyed in order to construct mountains of trash
didn’t deserve this, and the people to come in the future don’t deserve it
either. Hopefully by the time my grandchildren are around DADS will be safe
enough to be used as sledding hills and a new range of hills to explore, but
until that day comes, I vow to myself to be more environmentally aware and
strive to make choices that will positively effect the world instead of just my
convenience. As a start, I found myself
sorting through my recycling today to make sure that everything in it was in
the correct place, as I did not want to contaminate the rest of the recycling
bin. I got my hands a little dirty, but felt good knowing that I am more aware
of my actions now.
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