From the time when you were a small child, you were probably taught the virtues of recycling: paper, plastic, aluminum; you did your part to save the Earth. But a growing number of voices are concerned that recycling may harm the environment by expending more resources than simple trash. Before you decide whether to toss that plastic bottle in the blue bin, what should you consider?
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Should We Recycle?
It just makes good sense ...
Assuming all products from this point on are made purely from naturally occurring resources, it stands to reason that, at some point in the future, all naturally occurring resources will have been used. We live on a finite world with only finite resources after all. At that point, finding the materials necessary to manufacture additional products will have to come from previously manufactured products. There will be no pure resources left.
All in all, it makes good sense to build into the manufacturing cycle the reuse of previously used resources. It seems it would be better to use what is already at hand rather than the trouble of scouting additional resources in nature, extraction, refinement, etc. It's my belief that, in the future, our landfills will be seen as the gold mines of those generations. Perhaps, we ought to mature enough to see our waste as a goldmine now and save much of the natural environment for future generations to enjoy. It is only arrogance for current generations to lay claim to anything and everything available to them and deny less of an extraordinary world to our children. We are not owners of the planet, but rather guardians of it. Consumption of natural resources with abandon is madness or, in the least, criminal.
- Naumadd
September 12, 2008 3:46PM
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