[GreenYes] Columnist Goes Looney

[RicAnthony@no.address]

Columnist Goes Looney 
J.M.  Huls 
_michael@no.address (mailto:michael@no.address)  
Re:  Tarheel Looney Tunes, Waste Age 9/06: North Carolina declares a 
moratorium on  reality; I vehemently oppose the columnistâs statements.  To the 
contrary, itâs about time that  someone took a stance against the wasteful practice 
of dumping of valuable  resources without question.  Notwithstanding the 
various issue of exporting and importing which are  very real and important, I have 
to salute the electeds in North Carolina (NC)  for taking a temporary stand 
against ill-advised approval of more dumps in favor  of assessing their 
options. Hopefully, their deliberations include zero waste as  an option. 
The columnist really does a disservice to serious  solution minded people 
everywhere by making it appear that declaring a  moratorium for 12 months is 
somehow beyond reality.  The columnist himself states that NC has  years of 
capacity left (âat least a third of the existing landfills in your  state will be 
full in less than eight yearsâ â meaning that two thirds have more  than eight 
years left) so why not take the time to consider the options?  If not now, 
when, perhaps when  everything is full? 
It sounds to me that the electeds in NC are  taking a commonsense approach by 
checking for icebergs rather than the past  âfull steam ahead and damn the 
torpedoesâ mentality that caused the Titanic  tragedy and which is causing so 
many problems for future generations who will  have to deal with the multitude 
of dumps that contribute air and water pollution  on a grand scale.   
As for money, selling out our future generations for  a short term profit as 
the columnist states (âNot a bad dealââ) is simply  ludicrous. We can still 
make money through other innovative means.  Mining our urban ore for value and 
still  retaining a franchise tax or fee will make just as much money as 
dumping in our  own and anyone elseâs backyard. 
For the question that âwhat is wrong with  [building bigger dumps]?   Future 
generations will say what took us so long to ban this wasteful and  totally 
unnecessary practice.  Weâve  already legislated air emissions and water 
emissions (cannot dump in the air or  water), so what is wrong with us when we dump 
our matter on and in the land? One  estimate Iâve seen for the cost of cleaning 
up all current and legacy dumps will  be greater than our gross national 
product.   It takes time and planning to  create a new reality, and what a better 
time than now to put a hold, even just  12 months, on more dumps while we 
rationally figure out what really needs to be  done?  North Carolina, if rationale 
 thinking is called a âmoratorium on reality,â then make me a Tarheel!   
Let me restate the columnistâs opening  question:  What would you do if you  
were an elected official in [North Carolina]?  Would you pander to the 
disposal  industry to build more polluting and wasteful facilities or would you put a 
 moratorium for only one year on siting new landfills while you assess the  
stateâs options?  I say it is more  important to think about our children and 
the environment, and that means more  thinking outside the box.  Zero  waste to 
landfill!  [And donât think  it cannot be done as over 2,000 companies alone 
in California have done it, and  many communities are taking steps to curb 
their waste to the maximum extent  practicable.]   

Ricanthony@no.address
RichardAnthonyAssociates.com
San Diego,  California




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