Chapter 4 talked mostly about the history of landfills. He began discussing about Waste Management Inc, the hottest investment prospect in the country. In 2004, America decided to create power plants that had the ability to convert landfill gas to electricity. Beneficial as they are, they do not get rid of landfills, but instead are dependent on trash in order to function. For many years, residence around the San Gabriel Valley protested against the production of power plants. In some ways, I feel that processing trash into a gasoline substitute for cars is not such a bad idea. Sure, transporting trash to the deserts through trains seems expensive, but shouldn't we put that aside and look at the benefits? We could actually put an end to this crisis. This could maintain our trash, refrain us from finding gas or oil from different resources, and could also make us a lot of money. Power plants could reduce the volume of trash by 95 percent. It has the ability to absorb 100 million tons of garbage. Its a shame because we didn't even bother because landfills sounded cheaper. For now it seems that "contingency plans became [our] only plans"(Humes 96). I really don't understand how people during 1983 organized strikes that stood against the production of power plants, but are okay with our mountainous Puente Hills. Why aren't we finding solutions for this? We've reached the point where Puente Hills is looking at closing down for good. Where are we going to put our now? We can't put it behind our ears and just wait for someone else to figure out what to do with this. We need to work together.
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