Letter to the editor: Garbage!

By MYRTLE LARSON

 Myrtle Larson was approximately 80 years old and lived on 16th Avenue near 28th Street when she wrote this letter. The new Garbage Transfer Station was never built. 

“Over fifty years ago I took a course in Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. The professor who taught the course was Dr. I. William Geiger. He was very special. He was a dedicated conservationist and environmentalist. He taught us that waste materials could be transformed into useful products. One such product is methanol which could be used for energy to run automobiles. We asked him why methanol was not being produced then and he said, “Oh, I suppose it is easier just to drill a hole in the ground and pump the oil out.” And, of course, he taught us that waste could be transformed into fertilizer to return to the soil. And so, we have been pumping out our precious deposits of fossil fuel at an alarming rate—not only for gasoline but for myriads of other things. It is difficult to look around and find something that does not have some relationship with fossil fuels. I have been practicing Dr. Geiger”™s teaching for nigh onto a half century.… Read the rest “Letter to the editor: Garbage!”