There's Gotta Be An End

As I look around in my day-to-day life I'm amazed at all the waste we Americans generate every day. Just your average fast food joint is an environmental killing field, with tray after tray of paper wrappers thrown away. And then look all around — plastic bags, product packaging, Happy Meal toys, and the carnage goes on.

Okay, I use my canvas bags at the store and recycle all my cardboard, chipboard, and other packaging material. But even I, the great environmental pariah, goeth through a lot of trash.

Ultimately, this crap ends up in landfills where it is piled high, packed, and covered with dirt. Then, more land is ripped apart for another landfill. Meanwhile, all this crap starts to decay and it generates methane gas, a bad global warming gas that goes into the atmosphere and holds a lot of heat.

All the while, happy American couples continue to make babies because a) sex is pleasurable, and b) babies are cute. So we create thousands and thousands of little super-consumers who, in turn, go through a lot of disposable diapers and throwaway wrappings.

Common sense would tell us that this cycle cannot go on forever. We are throwing more plastic, rubber, plastic foam, and other crap away at a faster rate than it can decay. And when it does decay it puts more global warming gases in the atmosphere, and at the same time we are making more and more children.

My point is that we are living a lifestyle that cannot go on indefinitely. So, the things we are doing to keep ourselves comfortable will, eventually, hurt those little babies we made. The next generation may not get to live as comfortably as us because, well, we've already screwed the place up.

Really, this isn't fair. Throwaway plates and paper items are convenient, but a big waste. Maybe someone will create products that are rapidly biodegradable — then we can just keep on being lazy. I did see a spoon once made of corn syrup -- completely biodegradable and nonharmful to the environment. Very cool.

Todd

"The artist formerly known as Goose"