We became environmental engineers and have devoted our careers to finding ways to minimize adverse environmental impacts created by our fellow citizens in their routine daily lives. Solid waste generation and the management (or, in too many cases, mismanagement) of such wastes have become two of the most visible negative impacts of humans on earth over the past 100 years, particularly since populations have been growing in urban centers (where solid waste is usually referred to as municipal solid waste (MSW)). For example, by 1920, more Americans lived in cities than in rural areas for the first time in US history. Worldwide, by 2008, an equal number of people lived in both urban and rural areas (about 3.4 billion in each). The trend towards population increase in general, and urbanization in particular, is projected to continue, such that about 6.3 billion people (69% of the world’s population) will be living in urban areas by 2050.

中文翻译：

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长期护理垃圾填埋场的重要性

我们成为了环境工程师，并致力于我们的事业，以寻求最大程度地减少我们的同胞在日常生活中造成的不利环境影响的方法。在过去的100年中，固体废物的产生以及对此类废物的管理（或在许多情况下管理不善）已成为人类对地球最明显的负面影响中的两个，特别是因为城市中心（固体废物人口在不断增长）废物通常称为城市固体废物（MSW）。例如，到1920年，在美国历史上，居住在城市的美国人多于居住在农村地区的美国人。到2008年，全世界在城市和农村地区居住的人口数量均相等（每个人口约34亿）。总体而言，人口增长趋势，特别是城市化趋势预计将继续，大约为6。