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Sky Scrapers to Sprawl: Garbage Knows No “City Limits”

Zoe Stein

Sky Scrapers to Sprawl: Garbage Knows No “City Limits”

I was warned that it would be hot and that it would be humid but this did not faze me. I’m a New Yorker who spends August in Arizona and July in New York. In fact, I found this weather warning to be almost amusing. I was also told I would experience mass transit in a whole new dimension and witness unprecedented levels of density. I was sure that those who told me this believed it to be true, as they had never commuted from Brooklyn to Westchester at the climax of Friday peak hours.

And I was correct. Yes it was hot and I was perpetually sweaty but this was truly not a big deal. Their subway (MTR) was a bit packed, I’ll admit, but it was too efficient for me to be bothered by it’s subtle likeness to a sardine can.

What no one had prepared me for however (and I do not think they could have) was the mental metabolism of what wicked problems look like on the ground. Particularly trash, and very literally, what trash looked like on the ground. I went into this study abroad understanding that sustainability problems possessed a significant degree of both environmental degradation and urgency. I understood that one of the metrics we use to evaluate that is the question “can the harm being caused be undone?” This was not new material. But no amount of lectures, textbooks, and readings on international millennial goals could prepare me for the intense environmental neglect I would be seeing.

My group was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take wonderful field trips across the city. We went to conservation sites, land restoration sites, and even landfills. A photo I chose to include here is of a container at a waste facility that is overflowing with bottle pump caps. I chose this photo because this moment on the trip was very significant for me. I could not help but stare at this vast container that was so filled with tops. I remember wondering where all the bottles that these tops went with were and why they were not here. I remember thinking about how much more space would be needed if they were. And I remember thinking that it smelled surprisingly nice despite being located in the middle of a dump, due to the trace amounts of perfumey substances that still remained. I remember wondering if they would be toxic if they got into the water. I stood here staring at this pile for long enough to briefly lose my group. A friend came over to me a few moments later bringing me out of my head and back into the moment.

It’s been three months since my trip and the imagery has remained unchanged – lots of trash. Despite the hours and hours of beautiful hiking and exploration, the first image that comes to mind when I reminisce on my travels is the tremendous amounts of trash I saw on street corners, in the water, behind buildings, everywhere.

I love cities. I grew up in cities and I believe in cities. I think they will be a key player in our efforts to live sustainably with an ever-increasing human population. But they cannot exist like this, producing an ever-increasing amount of waste that serves no alternative function other than being waste. The production of such epic amounts of waste should be looked upon as criminal activity. But I want to be clear. This is not a “Hong Kong Problem” this is a people problem. I saw this issue manifest in Hong Kong because I was being taught to look for it. But they certainly are not alone! We are all responsible.

Returning home to NY after this trip and then to Phoenix made me reevaluate the lifecycle of my possessions. Was I creating less waste in the US than abroad? If not, where was the trash? Why didn’t I see it? And as I pondered these questions in the car as my mother drove me to JFK for my flight back to Phoenix, she pointed into the distance at a golf course I had never really taken the time to notice. It said “TRUMP” in huge letters across one of the mounds concealing a sand pit. “Did you know that that’s a landfill?” she asked me. My face contorted as my brain mulled over this new information.

Space is a luxury one does not appreciate until it is lost. Hong Kong’s trash was visible because they didn’t have the space to hide it. But none of us really have that kind of space. Space is part of “the commons.” It should be viewed as a public good and used to the benefit of the many, not the few. We need our cities. But we need them to mimic our natural systems and not be at odds with them. Our cities are as alive as the people that live in them. They, like us, operate within the limits of a finite planet. Regardless of whether we are looking at Phoenix, Manhattan or Hong Kong, the idea that we can continue to consume at the level in which we do is, for lack of a better term, trash.