Dump Day...Recycle Day...

From Jim: The white Ford pickup is loaded with trash and recycling stuff. We recycyle what we can and it's fun to see if the stuff gets enough money to pay the landfill fee for the stuff we can't. The solid waste stream that's produced by our economy is down right scary and a real shame. Our "land fill" is called Mt. Trashmore because it long ago stopped filling and started climbing. It's plainly visible from Hwy 99 as it shines in it's black plastic tarp and tire splendor. Scientists say the contents will take about 100 thousand years to break down. Let's see, we've been a nation for a couple of hundred years and our trash grows by leaps and bounds every year. Hmmm, maybe we can have a whole mountain range. Over packaging, toss-away diapers, plastics of all kinds, and so on and so on. I worry about it some. It's not just the land issue, of course. It's the almost certainty that the by-products of our waste will find their way into the water. Ultimately the chemical compounds that we've created that resist biodegradation will go to the sea. We have no right to despoil this place for all of the other living things. They have as much right to be here as we do. We are the only species that knowingly poisons itself. I sure hope there will be a strong enough wakeup call soon enough to not really crash this ecosystem we require along with the other critters. We can do better and it's about time we got on with doing just that. That'll do for this rant.