It's Our Fault

No, the birds won’t eat it! No, it will NOT grow into a fruit tree. And NO, it won’t biodegrade in a few weeks and add nutrients to the soil.

Haven’t you been paying attention?

Very few of us remember cooking over coal or wood stoves. Before I became a teen, the house where I grew up used coal. Coal to heat the apartment, coal to cook. The only non-coal generated item was the lighting system in the building. At least that was electric.

In the 1700s, people were able to toss their garbage in the street and the “garbage trucks” would come around and collect it. The garbage had to be stored in paper bags which were placed in metal "garbage cans", then picked up by the garbage man and was taken to previously dug holes away from the population and dumped.

Often, the trucks were too full and had to bypass many houses. Private homeowners and landlords decided that if the city could bury garbage, so could they. What could be burned, was burned (fruit peels, paper, boxes, etc.) in the coal or wood stoves. Like other houses in the area, we had gotten used to burning our waste. What we couldn’t burn, was either buried or tossed in the metal can for the “garbage” man.

In the 1950s, while people were still recovering from the effects of WWII, factories were introduced to “mass production”. The job industry was bouncing back, and the employment rate was now on an upswing. Unfortunately, so was material waste which led to more garbage disposal, which also let to a new term called “littering.”

Another thing that didn’t help the littering was the movies being produced in Hollywood. Most depicted either rough, tough cowboys who littered the streets of “Laredo” (and such) with their cigar butts. And let’s not forget the rebellious teens from that era (James Dean, and the like) who tossed their cigarettes, empty soda or beer bottles in the streets.

We’ve seen movies where half eaten fruit is tossed from a fancy convertible to land on the side of the road.

Newspapers, while thrown in a garbage can, get picked up by the wind and blown throughout the neighborhood.

It didn’t matter what the item was, once the user was finished with it, it was thrown out and whether it landed on the street or a landfill, no one cared – as long as it didn’t remain in their homes and make the rooms smell.

So, now, here we are in the 21st century and trying to figure out a way to unload ourselves from all the garbage that was collected throughout the years. I can assure you that I won’t see that in my lifetime.

Am I sinical? Nope, just realistic.

While those of you who used disposable diapers in the last 30-40 years, did you know that they have NOT YET degraded? It takes approximately 450 years for these supposedly great inventions to decompose.

Hmm! So, you love your plastic water bottle! So convenient to tote your water wherever you go, right? Ok, so we all know and understand that water has no expiration date, but the plastic bottle does! Yes, I said the plastic bottle has an expiration date! Just look at it. It’s printed on it. But despite its expiration date, did you also know that will take that same bottle anywhere from 100-1000 years to disintegrate? Yeah, that’s what I thought. You didn’t know. And why such a drastic difference in times? Depends on how you dispose of it. If it’s buried in a landfill, it will take much longer than if it’s left out in the sun where it’s more susceptible to suns UV rays.

My family has gotten in the habit of using washable, reusable, mesh bags when we buy our produce. No matter that the store might have a sign up saying those green plastic bags are biodegradable; they are still plastic bags and will still only decompose at its own rate of speed. Oh, and those plastic bags that the supermarket puts your groceries in? How about waiting 10-20 YEARS for that to decompose?

How about paper and cardboard? They’re made of wood, right? Not so fast! Paper, again, depending on how it’s disposed of can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to decompose and cardboard, about three months.

You know, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look up this information and act accordingly. Just be more conscientious of what you buy and how it’s disposed of. Check with your city or county and find out how often they do control burns to eliminate the garbage they collect. If their answer isn’t satisfactory to you, it doesn’t hurt to write to your state officials.

THIS IS OUR EARTH AND WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF IT – if not for ourselves, then for our future generations.

Before I forget, let’s get back to that orange peel. It will take 2 years for it to decompose.

And please don’t even think of tossing your cigarette out the window of your car. Each butt takes ten years to decompose.

I worry about future generations.

As I said before, I know I’ll never see a clean environment. I’m already over seventy years old and it’s a bit too late for my generation and maybe even a bit too late for the generation of my grandchildren. But it definitely is NOT too late for my great grandchildren.

Let’s see if we can clean up the earth and make it a better, cleaner place to live.

After all, the earth is OURS to nurture and protect.