Waste Madness

I enjoy eating out and try to stick with places that use real china and silverware, like Waffle House or the Chinese buffet.

On occasion, I will eat at a fast food joint and it's a total guiltfest because I'm looking at all the waste going into the landfill. Part of me is saying, "I gotta completely avoid these types of restaurants," and another part of me is saying, "Everyone else is doing it, why fight it?" The worst offender is the Chick-Fil-A chain, you know, that Christian organization. My oldest daughter loves their food so we often go there for father-daughter time. But when I see all the empty waste on the tray, and when I look around at everyone else's tray, I am appalled. And yes, I'm ashamed of myself for patronizing such an anti-Earth establishment. But it's like an addiction because I know I will go back there — the food is wonderful, and I love their carrot salad. So, yes, I'm a hypocrite — I am the first to admit it. But unlike many religious types, I can smell my own shit.

At home, even though I live a relatively simple lifestyle and recycle whatever I can, my family and I still generate a lot of waste. Just look at all the food packaging! Some of the wrappers and boxes and crap can be recycled, but most of it can't. So, even an enviro-conscious family produces a lot of waste. And if I am producing THIS MUCH WASTE just imagine the waste that the typical American super-consumer creates. It is overwhelming.

So, where does the waste go?

All the plastic wrapping and containers end up in the landfill. Some landfills have liners, so they are basically a giant crap bowl. Others do not, and chemicals from the waste seep into our ecosystem.

All the cups, shrinkwraps, McDonalds toys, and everything else slowly deteriorates. This massive decay creates a lot of heat, and it also creates methane gas, which is one of the worst global warming gasses because of its ability to hold heat. Some of the methane is sucked from landfills and used for "green" energy, but most of it goes into the upper atmosphere, where it traps heat and makes our warming planet even hotter.

This begs the question ....

As our population continues to explode, and as millions more people are discarding millions more tons of crap, will we at some point reach a breaking point? Or can we just go on this way forever? I know the religious folks just think God will zap them out of their shoes, but does anyone else worry about this? I sure do.

We all can help ...

I once met a super recycling guy. He and his wife only threw out one small bag of garbage a month. The rest of it was either recycled, mulched, or they bought items with minimal or no wrapping to begin with. That is a good role model for us all.

I do need to make more of a commitment to shop at farmer's markets, however even these places put your produce in paper bags. So, the ideal solution is to visit a local farmer's market and bring your own bags or boxes. This is something I needed to do better at.

And finally ....

For those of you who are still using plastic bags at the supermarket, my gosh. BRING YOUR OWN! Just about every store is now selling reusable bags, yet most people STILL aren't bothering to use them. It's like people are not willing to take the minimal extra effort to bring their bags from home. Americans are a shameful lot. I mean, really.