The Landfill Seen From Space

There are two man-made structures that have been seen from space without magnification.  The first is the Great Wall of China. The second was Fresh Kills Landfill. I strive to bring you accurate information, so I want to take a second to acknowledge that this fact has been debated. There are variables, such as how low you are in Earth’s orbit, how perfect the conditions are, and who you are asking. Having said that, let’s talk about Fresh Kills. In 1948 Fresh Kills Landfill was opened as what was intended to be a temporary landfill on Staten Island.  By 1955 Fresh Kills had grown so large, so fast, that it was the largest landfill in the world and it maintained that title until it’s closing in 2001. At its peak, Fresh Kills claimed 29,000 tons of trash per day. Fresh Kills sprawls over 2,200 acres of land and is a permanent home to 150 million tons of solid waste.  In 2008, a 30-year project to turn Fresh Kills Landfill into Freshkills Park was started. Today, people who live within a one-mile radius are 12% more susceptible to birth defects and have an increased prevalence of cancer. New York has spent little money to study these health issues despite earning millions of dollars per year on the methane gas that is vented from the landfill and used for energy.  Whether or not you could see Fresh Kills Landfill from space when it was open is irrelevant in my opinion. The raw data about the landfill itself is cause enough for concern.