one word...ok, two words

I'm consistently having visions of landfill, especially when I see brand new plastic products...sometimes I experience a mental zip through the product's life to where it will rest indefinitely. Sweet and Sour landfill, you are an eternal home of decomposition. We beg of you an impossible process...and hide our collective irresponsibility well.

Although I hate to admit it, I often feel a similar sensation when I meet a baby; wondering upon the tiny soul's lifelong waste burden (while thinking how damn cute and alien s/he looks.) As of now the average American tosses up to 4.6 pounds of trash each day, over 1400lbs. a year. If a pretty baby lives to 74 and makes quota that's almost 52 short tons of refuse. That to me is completely stunning!

We can "green up" as individuals and make conscientious decisions about the way we live and consume and also pass these values to the youth we love and hope they embrace a new ethic and still we have a terrible problem to contend with as a culture/society. We are drowning in our own trash and thoughtlessly killing off grand ecosystems as well as tiny sections of our communities. The global push to 'americanize' (a force more powerful than gravity itself) grows our problem with exponential magnitude.

The chattering child in me says shoot it! Blast it into outer space. Let's make a trash halo that spins with mother earth, it would be like a defense system for when the alien ships finally make their attack....or better yet crash it into the moon. Lets make the moon a tRaSh SaTeLLitE (read with frenetic goofiness.)

The mindful ecologist (I'm trying to conjure) says lets discover a way to reuse everything! And then let's notch it up and reclaim all the areas our descendants destroyed. Let's right the wrong because we are a smart animal that has the magnificent ability to adapt.

The nihilist sits back, snickers and laughs while pointing at his doomsday watch. Can you ebay that yet?

Individual angst indeed. Change starts with me though! Maybe for earth day this year I will begin to mindfully live as if I might make it to 74. I can hone in on even better lifestyle choices and perhaps I can contemplate a promise for each earth day I have left. May I live out all my promises.

Doesn't landfill look so innocuous in .gif?

Baby too.