The Sound and The Fury

I would be lying if I said I didn't have a moment where I leaped over the coffee table (replay it in your mind in slo-mo) to stop my mom from opening a SunChips bag because I knew the sound could wake the baby from her nap.  Unfortunately it seems too many people have had this experience, and SunChips announced it is discontinuing it's compostable bag.  This is such depressing news!  And while part of me gets it (there was a whole facebook page dedicated to how noisy it was!) the other part finds it infuriating.  We really can't live with a noisy bag to lessen pollution?

Back when Phoebe was only a few weeks old I was desperate for sleep.  I was reading everything I could on getting a baby to sleep longer or more often.  At the time I was averaging four to five hours a night and would spend my waking hours wondering if someone could actually die from lack of sleep.  I came across something, somewhere, and once I read it I had a complete paradigm shift.  It basically boiled down to:  What makes you think you deserve eight hours of sleep?

Hold on.  But...I do!  I'm...so sleepy....(tears, tears and more tears)...(dry the tears)...(think about it)...

That statement truly changed me.  We, and by "We" maybe I mean "People living in 2010" or maybe I mean "Americans" believe we have the right to certain things.  Like I have the right for my Internet connection to be fast or I have the right to not have my Trader Joe's stop selling that one product I love.  But the truth is these are all conveniences.  And once we get out of the mind set that we deserve our lives to as easy as possible, the easier it becomes to deal with life's annoyances.

[Side note: I was watching the movie "Summer Place" on Friday.  It was made in the 50's and a woman in the film keeps referring to her toilet as "my convenience."  I love it!!]

While shopping at one of my favorite stores, Green and Greener (http://store.green-and-greener.com/servlet/StoreFront), the owner told me about Fresh Kills Landfill.  I had never heard of it.  But apparently it is the largest man made structure that can be seen from outer space.  So I guess we have to make a choice; either keep filling the landfills, or wake your sleeping baby because you needed a salty snack.

totally depressing environmental fact:

Opened as a "temporary landfill" in 1947, The Fresh Kills Landfill covers 2200 acres, can be seen with the naked eye from space and is taller then the Statue of Liberty, at a height of 225 ft. It is situated on the western shore of Staten Island and is made up of four sections which contain fifty plus years of landfill, mostly in the form of household waste. The waste disposed at the Fresh Kills Landfill and the decomposition products of this waste contain numerous chemicals. The chemicals can enter into the environment in a variety of ways: releases into the air from barge unloading and garbage trucks unloading; the cement crushing trucks releases chemical dust into the air; and into the local groundwater by leaching.