Abstract:
America has a problem with its health. It has an unhealthy environment and unhealthy minds. The need for a change is long overdue. But there may be a way to restore both with one single solution. Our trash. In the past, our waste has been one of our greatest downfalls, our greatest shames. But it could become a valuable asset.It could be a way to restore our environment and minds. Detroit is one such city, with both unhealthy minds and unhealthy environments. Detroit is well known for its abandoned homes and its rising levels of depressed individuals. It is a city that is falling apart at the seams; each stitch, each home, falling into disrepair. There may not be a way to recover the structures or lives that were lost, but there may be ways to create new life from the ashes. Literally. Detroit has the largest trash incinerator in the world. It spits out 385,621 cubic yard of ash every year. But all this ash is dumped into a giant landfill, never to be thought of again. What if it had a different purpose? What if it could be used again as a way to restore the city? With small, miniature landfills this ash could be used to create topography and landscapes all over a city that is remarkably flat. It could change the everyday life into something to celebrate, rather than the continual depression Detroit suffers from. It would change the idea of what a landfill is so that walking through this city, this trash heap, had the same restorative, restful effects as walking through a forest. This landfill would become a positive force in the everyday life of the people of the community. A landfill does not have to be a smelly, rodent infested mountain that taints our earth and our lives. It does not have to take away from the earth but can give back. With a little rethinking, it could become a miraculous place to immerse ourselves into.