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Too much stuff.

Can we solve our addiction to consumerism?

By Chip Colwell.

One freezing cold morning, I drove past the outer edge of Denver,

past Buckley Air Force Base,

past the suburban neighborhoods huddle at the edge of the Great Plains.

I saw rising from the prairie several low bumps lifting from the horizon like icebergs.

As I got close to them, I saw they were encircled by barbed wire and knew I had reached my destination.

I pulled into the Denver Arapahoe disposal site,

cutely known as dads.

I was part of a tour arranged by a local reporter.

Ten people gathered around our guide, Doc Nairo, a dad's manager, middle-aged with a studious

geeky demeanor.

Niro began by telling us that Dads is open 24 hours a day, six days a week.

Every day, 800 trucks arrive, culminating in about 2 million tons of refuse a year.

We watch the trucks pulling into the way station.

It just doesn't slow down," Nairo said.

Truck after truck.

Climbing into a van, Nairo took us to an area where a new cell was being

constructed, the foundation for a new mountain of trash.

...