Letters From Linden
By JACK LINDEN
Guadalupe County is again faced with the controversy of having a landfill located in the eastern part of the county. The landfill company is assuring county residents that it will be environmentally friendly – that precautions are being made to protect the groundwater from possible landfill seepage. But questions remain. Who is this landfill for? Austin? Bexar County? Why is it being built in Guadalupe County? Are we the dumping ground for larger communities around us?
But a more important question is – why are we so wasteful that we need to continue building landfills? What are we and our governments doing to reduce the amount of waste that we produce?
What about the newspaper that you read daily? Do you bundle it and take it to the church and school drop-offs? If you truly believe in helping your local community, what better way than to drop your newspapers and other printed material in the containers that are provided by the local institutions.
Those aluminum wrappings and aluminum cans can be recycled. You say it is not worth it to take the cans and aluminum products down to a recycle station. Several in your local community will accept your donations and the money is given to worthwhile organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. Ask some of the recycle locations how you can help your local community.
Why hasn’t your city government passed ordinances that require recycling? Having lived in a large city where it was required, it became a habit to just separate materials into bins. Even the very small town where I came from has legislated recycling. Our elected officials have an obligation to lead us to make this community a more habitable place to live.
Many things could be done so that our children will inherit the earth that is not cluttered by the debris that we leave behind. Too many people talk about being good stewards of the earth but fail to do anything about it. We have long since passed the time when people believed that corporations and companies cared for the environment. I remember seeing soap suds blowing off the Ohio River, polluted by residue from Proctor and Gamble. Lake Erie was declared a dead lake, caused by acid rain from coal powered electrical plants and steel mills. Falling into the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. was cause for an immediate run to a hospital to be decontaminated. These are just a few examples of the pollution that was rampant until the federal and local governments took action.
State, county and city governments can legislate and make us better stewards of our environment. Sometimes it is necessary for the governments to have our best interests at heart. We have seen some cities require the use of reusable shopping bags, rather than plastic. We have seen these same entities put environmentally friendly waste cans on street corners where citizens can recycle waste material. It would behoove our own city government to do the same. Separate containers on corners would help, as would common collection sites.
City governments can provide for public disposal of recyclable material but it is up to us to implement it. We are the ones who can begin the process of recycling our waste products. We can ask the city to help, but, ultimately, it is up to you and me to keep this big “blue marble” an enjoyable place to live and a place for our children to enjoy. If you believe that it is morally right to help your neighbor, then start by helping to save the earth. It is your neighbor’s just as it is yours.
