Experiment

I have been thinking about how the environmental wackos claim that everything put into land fields takes 1,000 years to degrade, deteriorate, dissolve, break down or whatever crazy word they use. Diapers, Kleenex, condoms, printer cartridges, Styrofoam, everything takes 1,000 years. I don't understand how they figure this as none of these things have been around very long. Some like the printer cartridges have been around roughly 30 years. (At least the ones we are talking about in current use by business and schools.)

My experiment is to see if it takes 1,000 years or less for Styrofoam to degrade. I say less. I base this on previous observations. While duck hunting I observed a Styrofoam cup on the ground. I saw it again 3 weeks later and it was starting to fall apart. I'm betting it will take less than a thousand years to degrade. Just in case I will start exercising, not smoke, eat only healthy food, and avoid trans fats so that I can live forever and see this experiment to a conclusion.

I had planned to start my experiment roughly ten days ago but I couldn't find any damn Styrofoam. At least one person did not put their Styrofoam in a land field, but instead threw it on the street and it blew into my yard. Now I have the material I need for my experiment.

I have one piece exposed to the sun and air. I buried the other. Understand these are thick pieces from some type of boxing material. I say it will take a month or more because of their thickness, approximately 3 inches thick. I will let you know.

When I finish this experiment I will move on to the stir sticks that people use for coffee. They may take a thousand years. We have been warned not to use those as they will also destroy the planet.

A. C. Smithson

7-24-10 follow-up to experiment. Unlike liberals I can tell the truth (and I know the difference between truth and fantasy). The Styrofoam exposed to the elements deteriorated to the depth of approx 1/32 of an inch. The one buried was soft and spongy (I don't know what that would have lead to. I plan to continue the experiment using cups as that is what they claims takes a thousand years to break down.