| What's Under the City on a Hill |
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| Environment - Environment |
| Written by Kate Kew |
| Sunday, 12 July 2009 07:47 |
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Jesus told his followers that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Although neither his intended nor historical context, this statement is certainly true of the communities that have sprouted prominently atop the infamous trash heaps of places like Calcutta and Mexico City. These, of course, are not the only cities that have sprung up on top of garbage.
Jesus told his followers that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Although neither his intended nor historical context, this statement is certainly true of the communities that have sprouted prominently atop the infamous trash heaps of places like Calcutta and Mexico City. These, of course, are not the only cities that have sprung up on top of garbage. Man has a habit of building on the past, both figuratively and literally. Some societies just do a better job of concealing the sordid aspect of this than others. With common enough frequency, there are stirs in the news media over the findings of previous civilization beneath a new gargantuan construction project. The archaeological excitement generated over shards of a colonial chamber pot elevate that object to an historical importance its users would never have imagined possible. Regardless of the complexity or relative simplicity of cultures, they all leave behind debris from their work and play, giving archaeologists and anthropologists clues for piecing together a picture from the past. Sometimes, however, the decoding efforts come up against an impasse. There are many mounds around the globe that still stymie historians' interpretation efforts. Which leads to the question of how our own culture's mounds, known as landfills, will fare by the pen of future historians. Preserved scraps of printed material and broken bits of house wares should be fairly easily understood but what will the interpretation be of the enormous deposits of fetid plastic-skinned paper products that are sure to be found there? What conclusions will they draw about the foundation upon which they built their cities - the bizarre foundation of adult diapers? It is hard to believe, but almost 10% of household garbage today is made up of diapers. In that figure, according to some sources, adult diapers outnumber baby diapers by more than 2 to 1. While this may come as a bit of a surprise, it starts to make sense when considering the demographic shift that is changing our nation as most baby boomers head into the senior years. Diapers of all sorts contribute to the third largest source of landfill content and it is not hard to see that as life expectancy rises and the population ages, the increase of adult diapers will require much more of this disposal space. According to some estimates, when given the right conditions (or perhaps what might be called the wrong conditions), adult diapers can take anywhere from 200 to 500 years to completely disintegrate in a landfill. Oxygen is a necessary ingredient for decomposition and when rubbish is oxygen starved, landfill contents are preserved instead of broken down. As part of managing the overtly unpleasant qualities of landfills, many sites receive a daily six inch layer of soil spread over newly dumped material. This addition of soil ironically restricts oxygen from getting on with its necessary business. Other measures are carefully taken to keep water, an efficient oxidizing agent, out of landfills to help avoid toxins leaching into surrounding land and waters. All this adds up to what is called the "dry tomb effect", in essence the mummification of refuse. This mummification will enable future excavators to carefully examine a reasonably well preserved array of disposable incontinence products in their effort to decipher history. Considering the nature of its content's bulk, it is appropriate that the name" brownfield" is the official ecology term for an abandoned landfill site. As cities' expansion needs are felt over the years, what was once a collection of undesirable acres will be given a new life and developers' plans will help citizens forget the unsavory origins of these mounds. Jettisoned adult diapers, broken mix masters and old box springs will form the underpinnings of exciting new community centers and history will once again be overwritten by cities set on hills. About the Author: Our author: Ms. Kate Kew has been giving care to those with incontinence for many years. She is now directing the support team for a major U.S.-based online retailer that sells Incontinence Supplies and Adult Diapers, where she is also building a web knowledgebase to educate and give support to adults who are struggling with incontinence. Please use and add to this internet library: Depending On Adult Diapers. |