”Our can’s smaller than your can, our can’s smaller than your’s… our can’s
smaller ‘cause you’re a pack o’ wastrels, our can’s smaller than yours!”
Can you imagine an eight-year-old dissing his rival about
the size of the rival’s family garbage can? Why not? My imaginary sing-songer
could have been looking at the Federal Energy Information Administration’s
Kid’s Page (www.eia.doe.gov/kids),
where, after surfing to the page covering Energy and Garbage, he learned that
the average American generates more than four pounds of waste each and every
day. Three quarters of a ton per year, over twice that produced by kids in
France and Germany, over three times that of Chinese children.
And what about those little Indians who lived in the cliffs
at Mesa Verde? They simply pushed their garbage off the cliff, we’re told. But
at Spruce Tree House, the third largest Mesa Verde dwelling and home to around
80 people, the cliff wasn’t much of a cliff; it was more of an embankment. When
I toured Spruce Tree House this spring, I didn’t notice any archaeological
trash heaps. It shouldn’t take anyone long to figure out that the Anasazi dumped
precious little down that embankment; nearly all of what did get literally “thrown
away” was carried off by ravens and earthworms. Could you imagine a suburban
block of American households pushing their 350 pounds of garbage down into the
street each day?
Not all families generate waste equally, and now it shows. A
few years ago everyone in Petaluma had the same size garbage can: huge. Then
some free-market enviros on our City Council asked why the
reducer-reuser-recyclers should be paying the same rate as the dumpers? Why
should the material conservatives be subsidizing the waste of their liberally
consuming neighbors? So the City divided household garbage receptacles into
three sizes (tall, grande, and venti?) Those who found ways to reduce their
waste stream could now reduce their garbage bill. As you drive along a Petaluma
street, take note of who has the smallest cans; that is a mark worthy of honor
and respect.
But we can’t afford to rely on spontaneous eco-enlightenment
of adults or peer pressure among their children. Mass
wasting is expensive, and unsustainable. Good landfill sites are scarce. It
takes a lot of oil to make and use things only once, and more oil to haul it
away; and we know what stupid things Americans do to maintain their oil habit.
We need to make it easier for people to keep stuff out of the dump.
A fundamentalist education should be started in kindergarten
and continued every year through grade school -- fundamentals like: where does
our food and water come from, and at what ecological cost; where is the “away” we throw things away to; how to avoid over-packaged
products; how to compost garden waste. (I’ll stop short of sponsoring squadrons
of green-shirted eco-youth who patrol neighborhoods and blow good-natured razzberrys
at large garbage cans, trophy homes, and brontosauran SUVs.)
Some action must be taken at a national level, like
eliminating the subsidies that hide consumers from the full cost of waste. Shifting
funding of military and covert actions for regime change in oil-rich nations (e.g.
Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela) to an oil consumption tax makes so much sense, but
few politicians have the courage to suggest it, much less champion the cause.
Local governments can influence what goes to the dump by
their choice of waste haulers. Petaluma is about to renew its garbage hauling
contract; it’s a fine opportunity to stem the flow of waste. The City Council
should follow the sustainability principles that guided its choice of wetlands
for treating and recycling the City’s wastewater. The firm chosen should have
an excellent record for supporting innovative recycling and composting,
including community involvement and education. The firm shouldn’t own and profit
from the landfill operation, a clear conflicting interest. Above all, the
selection process should be open, and the evaluations based on the track
records of the firms in other localities. Before we buy it, let’s open up the can and
sniff.