A Monument to Consumption

  Our "Going Green" class recently visited the Bethlehem city landfill. 
Unlike sausage making, this is a process we wanted to know about.

  A huge tarpaulin lays beneath the trash, and the runoff is managed as sewage
is managed. Wells are sunk all around it to monitor leakage, and methane- that gas
that makes a certain outer planet so blue, is recaptured and converted to electricity.

These hardy students braved wind and rain on the trash mountain's top
and noted the steady work of urban paristalsis, as trucks wound their
way up and dumped their loads, only to drive back down and wind their way
up again.

Imagine if this work suddenly CEASED.