Bum
Information Number nine: So...let
me get this straight...thrown away plastic and rubber—both of which are
considered environmental contaminants and both of which, according to a great
many highly educated in-the-know authorities,
will also endure
and persist in the environment nearly forever....all these persistent
lumps and clots of scientifically contrived waste should now be
melted down, poured into rough sheets, colored to some theoretically pleasing
shade, cleverly textured, and shredded...then spread in residential gardens as a "safe" artificial
mulch? What are they thinking?!
Most 8th-graders
with anything over than a C-minus average and half an ounce of common sense
will tell you that's very close to the stupidest resource recycling
"solution" contrived by "experts" in years...if not
decades!
It bears
repeating: one group of
environmental experts tell us that those products are contaminants (they used
to be called "pollutants" but now that very accurate word is
considered too harsh) and that they'll be around for centuries...if the
huge piles don't catch on fire and further contaminate (pollute) the soil,
ground water, air and
ozone layer.
And yet,
another group...this time a gaggle of ill-advised "experts", decides
that those same persistent pollutants can be safely spread on home gardens and
public landscapes all across the country. Clearly, one of those two groups of
experts haven't even a clue...or are outright, shameless deceivers.
Look at
history: We used to believe that dumping millions of cubic meters of
human and industrial waste into open pits and landfills, or into the deep ocean was the
convenient solution that would never cause any problems for humans or
the environment. We used to believe (the "experts" told us
so...so it must've been true!) that DDT, the emulsifiable concentrate
Lindane, and the weed and brush killer, 2-4-5,T (later called agent orange)
were safe and convenient contrivances of the chemical industry to enhance our
ability to fight disease, feed an ever-hungrier world and rid us of noxious or
poisonous plant life. Add to that
list lead, mercury, nuclear waste, dioxins and no telling what else, and it
becomes abundantly clear that someone back then either lied to us...or
didn't know what they were talking about. Implying, in the process, that their
high-fallutin' education wasn't worth a plug nickle!
Now,
fortunately-but-a-lot-late, we know better—at least that's what the
current generation of experts are telling us. Now, as a result of all that mis-guided
and misinformed "expert" hokum, we're plagued by
physiological catastrophes and environmental disasters costing
all of us billions in toxic waste cleanups.
Yes...the
problem of what to do with all that second-hand rubber and plastic is a
pressing one. Of course, something ought to be done with all these
millions of tons of "waste" besides further contaminating
the planet, its soil, water and atmosphere. But sugar-coating and spreading the
stuff all across landscapes and in gardens is a far cry from the final,
safe solution to this particular problem.
The trouble
with more than a few "experts" literally overflowing our society is that whoever hired them neglected
to bring in a couple of the 8th-graders mentioned above to double-check the
theories, figures, plans and conclusions of those experts.
