How much time do I have?

摘要

A sign on the bulletin board over my desk reads: 'so many clocks, so little time', a humorous reference to the way we experience time when we're hurrying. Einstein showed us that time is a relative quantity, and science has also led us to think about enormous expanses of time, such as light-years and geological eras. These concepts truly tax our limited human ability to comprehend the notion of time. Those of us in solid waste management have recognized the need to think in terms of several decades when we design landfills, post-closure plans, gas and leachate monitoring systems, and long-term liability contracts. We pride ourselves on our ability to consider and anticipate the consequences of our activities long into the future — a trait not always shared by some of our acquaintances, who may not look much beyond next month, the next tax increase, or the next election.