• @[email protected]
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    235 months ago

    Did people at some point really believe that taking out all our trash out of sight and tossing them somewhere else would “save the planet”?

    • @[email protected]
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      255 months ago

      It does help in a pretty big way - every piece of trash in landfill is one less in the ocean.

      Plus landfills will be literal goldmines in 50 years as we development advanced recycling technologies and robots.

      • @[email protected]
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        165 months ago

        On the other hand, landfills leak contaminants to the soil and water, produce a lot of methane, and probably other things too. I’d also argue that they give a illusion of a problem solved, and lead people and companies into not wanting to reduce trash production.

        • @odium
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          85 months ago

          There’s also the fact that a lot of your trash doesn’t go to landfills, but instead gets shipped to developing countries where they often dump it into Wall-E style open air trash mountains.

        • @[email protected]
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          65 months ago

          When I was a kid, it was “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle”. The order was quite intentional.

          Nobody ever talks about the first two anymore. Probably because they are wildly anti-consumption and thus bad for business.

          I went on vacation recently. Visited Houston, Austin, and Dallas by EV. I was, and still am, amazed that the giant gas stations along the highway (Buc-ees, Road Ranger) are still using Styrofoam cups at the soda fountain. I can’t believe those are even still being made.

    • @[email protected]
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      95 months ago

      Much like recycling, these environmental campaigns are just green washing so that the companies, specific the petroleum companies, that are actually destroying the earth are never threatened. Even as the earth is destroyed and society breaks down, their last quarter will still be profitable.