Getting Wasted

Braiden Albrecht-Reed

Land Filled

                I have always appreciated the outdoors and everything that nature provides. The sunsets in Colorado are wondrous, as is watching the seasons come and go four times a year. The blanket of snow on the mountains never disappoints the eye, and neither do Colorado peaches upon reaching any sane person’s taste buds. As constantly consuming humans often do, we greedily reap the benefits of what nature provides us but spend little time to reflect on the process. Visiting the landfill was a wake up call from that mechanical mindset. Surely by the 21^st century, the world’s most powerful nation would have an efficient and adapted waste program, right? Growing up, throwing away trash was a mindless action. It was as simple as putting your apple core in a bag and waiting for a car to pick it up the next Tuesday off the curb. In reality though, that garbage has an ultimate destination which most citizens take little care to ponder.

            I lived about 3 minutes from DADS until this past May and often asked my parents about the landfill when we drove by. They described some of the process, but I could never comprehend how those hills were made from trash when they looked so natural, or why anyone would foster the idea of accumulating trash on the ground in the first place. It was a bit heart wrenching to think about the use of simply filling such a large piece of land with trash in an area that I grew up loving. Upon arriving to the facility, learning about the lining of the bottom of the holes with materials provided me some comfort, as did the layering which takes place with dirt. Atleast people at the landfill are taking the right steps to ensure higher safety in the water below and for the land. But still, I could not help but feel a sense of disgust when looking around at the plethora of piles littering the ground.

            When we first arrived to the landfill, I was not sure what to expect. Even once the tour guide began explaining the different processes, it seemed to me that landfills are necessary for our society to thrive and are taken care of in a decent manner. Yet as my eyes opened to what lay around me, I could not help but feel something was out of place. Such a minute amount of people actually know where their garbage goes. I was torn between thinking the landfill is an effective place which plays a vital role in civilization and worrying about how completely blind and wasteful most Americans are with their trash. I did not come to a clear conclusion in respect to those thoughts, but I did come to this same realization that Orr did in that, “It makes far better sense to reshape ourselves to fit a finite planet than to attempt to reshape the planet to fit our infinite wants” (Orr 9). Whatever the answer is in regards to disposing of waste, it needs to arrive rapidly and mold around nature instead of against it.

            This photo illustrates many of my feelings toward the trip. I tried to frame the mountains in the background and contrast it with the mounds of garbage, but ironically four large dump trucks stuck in my way. The sky was a deep blue and the clouds were sweeping across colorful Colorado at a sluggish and whimsical pace. Contradicting this landscape stood the four dump trucks, either mindlessly dumping heaps of trash, or hurriedly on their way out to acquire more. When it came to sounds, birds and crickets did not provide that soothing, serenading chant which some Colorado residents have become accustomed to. The air filled with sound waves originating from machines and the clang of trash tumbling down into the depths of the landfill. A large flock of birds flew nearby and the sky remained blue, yet none of it seemed organic.

            As I described my picture, I realized it had many different symbolic pieces-blue sky, trash, mountains, and hefty trucks. Soon though, I began to notice the reflection. Three panels of windows from the bus stuck out and yes, a silhouette of my head. It put into a clear visual that I’m a part of this landfill as much as anyone else, yet it still took careful observation and reflection to notice.