It's (almost) over

I have to say, teaching is very interesting. I've learned a lot. This is my second time through teaching a university course on Waste Management and Utilization. Very different from the first time, but part of that is that last year, the course was taught three times a week for 50 minutes, and this time I have one big three hour chunk of time in the evening. Keeping everyone's interest and attention for three hours at night is a bit of a challenge. Among other things, I tried using dvd's and video clips, guest speakers, and student presentations. And lots of short breaks. I also had a smaller class this year(32 versus 55 students), so that made it a bit nicer for discussions and marking!

I (of course) think Waste Management is a fascinating topic - we cover municipal landfills, and sewage sludge, and wastes from oil and gas, oil sands, coal combustion, manure, nuclear waste, electronic waste, you name it, we probably do it. It is fascinating (and sometimes kinda scary) to know details about all the wastes we generate in our society and what we do with them.

I guess one of my main objectives when teaching the course (besides teaching the basics) was to try to make the students think about all the philosophical aspects of waste management. The unfortunate aspect of living in our society is that we generate a lot of waste and it has to go somewhere. Everything boils down to a cost/benefit analysis if we are to continue our lifestyle. Oil extraction and upgrading so we can drive our cars generates a lot of waste. Burning coal so we can turn on the lights generates waste. Making fertilizer so the world has enough food generates waste. Flushing the toilet generates waste. All that poop has to go somewhere! Is it better to spread it on land and utilize the nutrients, or should we bury it away out of sight, out of mind in a landfill nobody wants so that it can potentially generate toxic leachate and methane gas for many decades? Tough questions. No good answers.

There are benefits and disadvantages to any option for waste management. The only sure thing is that we continue to generate waste at a phenomenal rate. Definitely food for thought as you toss out that disposable water bottle, turn on the computer, flush the toilet.