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It's the sort of alarmist, posturing, polarizing language chosen by the OP which often tempts me to dismiss all environmental concerns as rubbish.
Fortunately, on most days, reason overrules this, but the OP presents a picture of an overly-impressionable youngster in the thrall of a professional politician (such as Al Gore) who uses cuddly polar-bear commercials as an appeal for a bigger bureaucracy to "solve" a "problem" for which no practical solution has yet been devised (but they surely need a bigger budget and staff, and immediately!)
And please don't waste our time, and your breath by citing the "teachings" of environmental fanatics/"experts" who have every reason to beat their drums because it puts more power, prestige, and tax dollars, in their hands.
The man who shaped much of my formative years was an early environmentalist; his personal effects included many sets of the early "endangered species" stamps issued by the National Wildlife Federation as long ago as the 1940's. He was to live into his nineties, and to see many of the basic measures championed by those with a concept of what was, and was not practical, adopted. But he ha little time for an environmental movement hijacked for political purpose by aging radicals, and playing upon the fears of children -- both natural and overgrown.
Alarmist? I provided facts about 700,000 tons of trash. I didn't mention anything about politics in my post you did.
A long time ago I read that all the garbage the US will create for next 500 years could be put in a landfill 5 miles square by 500' high. Or maybe 5000' or 5 miles, I forget. Not an insurmountable problem I would think.
And more basically, we can never run out of room to put garbage. It comes from the Earth to begin with. It's already here in its pre-garbage form.
That's true most of it comes from the earth but most of it is synthetic man made creations like plastic that never breaks down.
We have turned this planet into nothing but a big sewer. All our waste, industrial and otherwise, is thrown into the environment with nary a care. We have:
Dumped C02 into the atmosphere that is changing its very composition,
massive garbage patches floating in the oceans,
chemicals polluting our drinking water because of fracking and other industrial uses,
chemical compounds present in all parts and on all levels of the ecosystem, from fish to cows,
manmade products like plastics and styrofoam that will not degrade for thousands of years
mandmade disasters like nuclear power accidents that will leaved its mark for millenia to come,
oil spills, toxic waste, illegal dumping, etc every day and every hour, and
Rampant destruction of the natural environment.
All of this can be slowed or halted if society wants it to happen, but shortsightedness and for the glory of increasing profits a few cents these actions are being stymied. We are leaving it to the future generations to deal with these issues and to fix our gluttony. Maybe they will succeed; maybe not.
The way I see it, the planet may become a ecological waste land, but one thing that the human race is very good at is surviving. If the planets last inhabitants are humans, rats and jellyfish, well rats and jellyfish will be turned to edible delights and our waste into dessert.
With all the damage we are doing to this planet how long before humans won't be able to live anymore? I would say under 100 years for sure.
I read we produce 700,000 tons of trash a DAY That is a staggering amount of trash! And with everything being packaged in plastic that never breaks down?
Seriously how much trash can this planet take? How much of that trash is leeching into surrounding soil and affecting water and air quality too?
And people say the world isn't overpopulated.
Within the lifetime of most people on this forum. Some European governments have analyzed the situation, and are preparing for food riots by 2040, due to the collapse of agriculture in southern Europe.
You're worried about trash? What about fracking, and other oil extraction methods, that cause toxic chemicals to leach into the water supply? The very same water supply that, in some regions, residents will be increasingly dependent upon, as those regions desertify? The same water supply that some farmers are already tapping into, to keep their farms going through extended drought periods? Would you want to buy vegetables grown with water that has chemical waste leeched into it? That may be happening in California sooner, rather than later.
While human beings are certainly altering the global ecosystem - and changing the climate, despite the drivel advanced by the denialists - it would take a concerted intentional effort to render the planet uninhabitable. Even if every nuclear weapon on the planet were launched with a deliberate effort to cause maximum death and destruction, it would not render the Earth uninhabitable (though it would kill billions and cause dramatic climatic changes, to say nothing of completely annihilating civilization).
All this is not to say, however, that we shouldn't act with an eye towards long-term conservation of resources.
That's true most of it comes from the earth but most of it is synthetic man made creations like plastic that never breaks down.
Good point, but synthetics are made from petroleum and natural gas. These too never break down. And natural gas, if it escapes unburned is a terrible green house gas.
The lot of Man is better today than ever even though there are 10 billion of us (or is it 6?). Worldwide, we have never been better fed, housed or clothed. There are still places where people live in squalor and degradation but these are due to Man's own failings, not Nature's parsimony.
And all this has been accomplished while Man has improved the environment. The environment is being abused less and less every day and is becoming more habitable for all life. The OP has misread events.
The earth has taken and survived millions of years of abuse and survived. Collisions with comets. Massive climate change. Shifting and colliding continents. On a universal scale the demise of humankind hardly registers.
One great source of trash is hospitals, nursing homes.
I work in a LTC/Rehab facility and I'm shocked at all the trash generated in one day in that place, and none of it is recycled. I asked the Director of Nurses why none of it gets recycled? It's contaminated!
Someone exits the facility, bedpan, urinal, wash basins, toiletries: into the trash it goes! G-tube bottles: into the trash! In our Vent-Trac unit, they replace all the tubing every single night, into the trash, none of it recycled! We're urged to dispose of gloves after we leave a room, put on a new pair for the next room. Into the trash!
And this is just a Long Term Care/Rehab facility, and at a Hospital, I can only image the waste every day!
Just because it's contaminated, in some way, it can't be recycled?
We have many concerns, the least of which is trash. And that's scary when you considered our huge trash problem.
In America alone we flush billions of gallons of fresh drinking water down our toilets every day, and nobody seems to care.
We use pressure and chemicals to "crack" our foundation in order to extract fuel needed to power our vehicles. How stupid is that!
Take a look at what's happening in western New York after residents living on the shoreline gave mankind the power authority to "adjust" the level of Lake Ontario in order to improve their boating pleasure during the summer months. They now watch helplessly as the crashing waves consume their homes and property.
The list goes on.
I don't believe our trash will destroy us in 100 years, but our stupidity might by the year 3017.
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