Did people at some point really believe that taking out all our trash out of sight and tossing them somewhere else would "save the planet"?
It does help in a pretty big way - every piece of trash in landfill is one less in the ocean.
Plus landfills will be literal goldmines in 50 years as we development advanced recycling technologies and robots.
On the other hand, landfills leak contaminants to the soil and water, produce a lot of methane, and probably other things too. I'd also argue that they give a illusion of a problem solved, and lead people and companies into not wanting to reduce trash production.
Much like recycling, these environmental campaigns are just green washing so that the companies, specific the petroleum companies, that are actually destroying the earth are never threatened. Even as the earth is destroyed and society breaks down, their last quarter will still be profitable.
Did people at some point really believe that taking out all our trash out of sight and tossing them somewhere else would "save the planet"?
It does help in a pretty big way - every piece of trash in landfill is one less in the ocean.
Plus landfills will be literal goldmines in 50 years as we development advanced recycling technologies and robots.
On the other hand, landfills leak contaminants to the soil and water, produce a lot of methane, and probably other things too. I'd also argue that they give a illusion of a problem solved, and lead people and companies into not wanting to reduce trash production.
Much like recycling, these environmental campaigns are just green washing so that the companies, specific the petroleum companies, that are actually destroying the earth are never threatened. Even as the earth is destroyed and society breaks down, their last quarter will still be profitable.