Letters to the Editor: How did we get in this mess?

How did we get in this mess?

To the Editor,

Planet warming, extinction of plants and animals, rising ocean levels, plastics that will last for decades and then break into poisonous microbes in the air, soil, and water. The lists of dangerous changes go on and on. What often looked like progress in the American way of life in the 60′s, now looks like massive environmental mistakes. A first step in perhaps changing our ways of living is acknowledging those intentional or accidental global mistakes.

A new book in the Middleboro Public Library called “Throwaway Nation, the Ugly Truth About American Garbage” gives an impressive review of our past and present behaviors. Hopefully we can change our ways.

A case in point...

Each U.S. citizen now produces about 1,606 pounds of garbage a year on average. 55 percent of our garbage ends up in landfills; this is twice as much as each U.S. citizen produced in 1960. The land of four planets the size of the earth would be needed for landfills if the undeveloped countries of the earth created waste at the same rate as we do in the U.S.

It is more than time for us to “reduce, reuse, recycle.”

Jeff Stevens

Sustainable Middleboro, 3R study Group, Green Energy Committee