Landfills
I believe that landfills are a major problem. This could lead to problems in the environment. Examples would be pollution into groundwater and surrounding lakes or rivers. This could cause marine organism depletions. I think that recycling would be great alternative. Although it wouldn’t get rid of landfills completely, it would definitely cut down on the amount of garbage in them.
7 Replies
Emily, I agree 100% with you when you say that landfills are a major health problem to the Earth. Also, I think recycling would be a great alternative. In addition, things that cannot be biodegratable will harm the Earth, so I agree with your concerns.
Emily , I also agree with you on this topic. It is becoming a big problem. One thing that I think we should do is to get everyone to recycle, like Danica pointed out. Great post.
pahs-EmilyF wrote:
I believe that landfills are a major problem. This could lead to problems in the environment. Examples would be pollution into groundwater and surrounding lakes or rivers. This could cause marine organism depletions. I think that recycling would be great alternative. Although it wouldn’t get rid of landfills completely, it would definitely cut down on the amount of garbage in them.
Recycling would definitely decrease the amount of things we put in landfills, but most people don't even know what to recycle. We need to inform people on what we can and cannot recycle, and then maybe this wouldn't even be that big of a problem anymore. Also, I don't know if it's just me, but haven't you noticed that now ANYTHING you buy is completely wrapped in plastic or anything else that isn't even necessary? I swear it took longer to make the plastic covering a pack of pencils than the pencil itself.
And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: "Look at this Godawful mess. ~Art Buchwald, 1970"
I found that while searching google, I don't even remember what I was searching but it is so true. Man created so much stuff just to preserve things but after he was done preserving it he just threw it out. People complain because there is no natural beauty left it the world, that's because we destroyed it with all of our "needs". Our need to save things, our need watch tv, our need to drive expensive cars. We don't need any of those things, we just want them and in the process we lose touch with what necessities are and what frivolous wants are.
You guys are right about reducing the amount of waste we dump in landfills. It definately harms the earth. However, I'm not completely sure that recycling could be the best alternative. In Mr. Hayden's 8th grade Earth Science class last year, we had a debate on whether we should recycle or not. I was on the side that was against recycling, and I found that although recycling seems like such a good thing to do, it may be harmful to the environment. The factories that recycle the old material put out harmful air pollutants. The trucks that have to haul the materials put off carbon dioxide.
There were other things that I can't recall right now, but it really opened my eyes, and I finally thought about whether recycling actually was okay for the environment. There are other alternatives as well, like incineration, and the covering of landfills, so that they don't put toxic chemicals in the air.
pahs-MileaS wrote:
You guys are right about reducing the amount of waste we dump in landfills. It definately harms the earth. However, I'm not completely sure that recycling could be the best alternative. In Mr. Hayden's 8th grade Earth Science class last year, we had a debate on whether we should recycle or not. I was on the side that was against recycling, and I found that although recycling seems like such a good thing to do, it may be harmful to the environment. The factories that recycle the old material put out harmful air pollutants. The trucks that have to haul the materials put off carbon dioxide.
There were other things that I can't recall right now, but it really opened my eyes, and I finally thought about whether recycling actually was okay for the environment. There are other alternatives as well, like incineration, and the covering of landfills, so that they don't put toxic chemicals in the air.
I think those harmful affects that recycling has on the environment are greatly outweighed by the positive though. And both of those problems could be fixed (especially the trucks) if people would become more aware of what's happening around them or request better leadership from their government. Then we could work to make that process even better and cleaner.
Yeah we really need to find another way to take care of this problem...but what could we possibly do? Recycling won't take care of everything. People just dump their waste, and that can't continue. Certain liquids and juices from the material can seep through the ground into the groundwater, poisoning our source. This is definitely a threat.
DanicaF
Dec 10, 2007 at 10:52 AM