San Man's Dump Spot

"Across the Nation and around the world, trash is dumped metaphorically, upon trash." This quote, from Garbage Land, struck me rather hard. I felt like a light bulb just went on and I thought, wow that is really how it is. I don't think I have ever really payed attention to the location of landfills or even to their existence. Partially is due to my exposure to them. I have only seen one landfill, that I know of, and I drive past it every weekend. It runs parallel with US 31 and has a fake barn and label of "County Landfill." Sometimes when I drive past the landfill it will smell really bad but that's all I know about it. I think however, if I was forced to live next to one I would know a lot more though.
The fact that landfills are put in poor communities is disturbing. These folks already have their own problems, obviously. And then we put a landfill in their neighborhood; Great lets give them health problems! Oh wait! These people probably cannot afford health care or insurance. So that's a pretty big set back huh? But no, that's not all of their magnificent benefits. Lets also lower their property value. As if it wasn't hard enough to build a positive community in a lower-income area already, we will also throw our landfill in! Great, who is going to want to invest money into an area that has chronic health problems , stinks, and property value is down. And oh, hopefully all of these low- income folks can afford bottled water for drinking and their needs, because soon their ground water will be contaminated.
Personally I see this as a huge problem spiraling downward. I understand these towns may be payed money to accept the landfills. However this is only a short term solution obviously, if that! I hope as I continue my reading in Garbage Land and go through this experience in stats class that this will enlighten this issue.

If you have any interest in landfill leaks I suggesting searching around for information on them, it is very scary and shocking the information you find.