Burn it or bury it. In most places around the world, that’s what we do with our garbage. Pretty grim choices. Burning garbage releases dangerous gasses and dust, which contribute to pollution of the air, land, and water, not to mention global warming. While burying it leads to more pollution of the ground and water. And to make matters worse, tons of garbage – most of it plastic – ends up in the ocean.
The Earth Is Growing
We think of islands as being fixed in size, but some do grow. On the Big Island of Hawaii, Kilauea volcano erupted almost continuously from 1983 to 2018. For 35 years, lava poured out, and some of it reached the ocean, which caused the island to grow fresh land. Between 1983 and 2002, the island’s landmass grew by 542 acres.
Space Junk
Humans are natural travelers. We evolved into modern humans almost 200,000 years ago. In the last 50,000 years we have traveled across the earth and now live almost everywhere except for Antarctica. If environmental problems on earth continue to increase, one day we may need to find a new home in space. Image by: NASA