American Consumerism And The United States Environmental Protection Agency Essay

During and since World War II the United States has produced millions of tons of toxic wastes during the manufacturing and processing of products. These hazards were often left abandoned and no one really paid attention to their effect on our environment. In the 1980s Congress established a Superfund Program. It was left for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to administer the superfund program, to find these hazardous sites, investigate and determine the worst ones, and then clean up those sites across the United States. Over 15,000 sites were identified and 1,400 were named to the National Priorities List (NPL). One of the towns was Picher Oklahoma named in the Tar Creek Superfund Site.

Companies are using environmentalism as a straw man for overconsumption. Coming straight out of writer Amy Westervelt’s article, “Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?”, Westervelt clearly sees through this ploy of emotional appeal, stating “American consumers

“Sustainability is a matter of long term development” (Fowler, J., Sept.24th), this is the simplest statement describes the word “sustainability” till the end of the third week lecture. After two weeks’ lecture classes and ESS lecture classes, the concept that “sustainability is not a certain technology or policy” (Introduction to Environment, Sustainability and Society, slide79) is founded in my mind. Mind Shift organization and professor Matthew Schnurr’s research taught me more specifically that sustainability is not only about the environment.

In order to preserve our resources, environmentalists use the concept of sustainable development-sustainable development is a development that satisfies our current needs without compromising the future availability of natural resources, or our future quality of life. Our consumption rates have risen significantly higher; according to the World Watch Institute, and their article The State of Consumption Today, the rate has gone up thirty-five percent, and we are now ecologically at risk. Nevertheless, who can we blame but

Author Derrick Jensen states in “Forget shorter showers,” that simple living will not solve the environmental problem. First, the water, energy, and waste used by industries and agriculture are far greater than the amount used by families. Next, switching to more green technology can still cause more damage than it is intended too. Finally, placing the blame on simple living people is not where the actual problem lies. Orion contributor Derrick Jensen argues, “Municipal waste accounts for only 3% of the total waste production in the united states” (341).

American author and journalist, Michael Pollan, in the article titled, “Why Bother?”, published in The New York Times Magazine, addresses the topic of environmental issues and argues that the phrase, “why bother?”, is what is keeping society from changing the ways citizens use up resources. His main focus of reasoning is supported by his idea that specialization has a significant role in reducing the average consumer’s chance of changing their lifestyle and also highlights that planting your own garden would be a task which in turn would benefit the consumer in many ways, while also decreasing their carbon footprint size. He concludes that these actions taking place could have a chain reaction that would spread these practices across the nation and lead to positive impacts on the environment.

As a nation, we have to look at what the future would be for our children, their children and the generations ahead. We can start with participating in recycle programs, investing in clean energy and ways to reduce destruction of our forests." Without Americans constant need to consume, the environment would have plenty of time to replenish the resources it provide us." "NIEHS Environmental Coloring Book." National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an official government website for Kids. 02 Apr. 2009 .

Environmental sustainability is the ability to be able to continue a certain process or use a certain resource indefinitely (Mason). For example, if you’re using a certain resource and you know it’s going to run out one day, that resource is unsustainable. Sustainability is important because a lot of the practices that we do in modern society from agriculture, to energy source, and even development, are completely depleting our resources. This practices were also made to accommodate our fast pace lifestyle, everything is built and made to be fast and cheap, nothing is made to last anymore. Many people are realizing the importance of being sustainable and the world is slowly changing to sustainable practices like Renewable energy and sustainable agriculture, while also changing the fast and easy mind set to a more “reusable” one. Brevard College has boarded the sustainable train of the world by making several additions to the school like solar panels, alternative transportation options, a Fair trade and organic Coffee shop, and several environmental based clubs. Although they are heading in the right direction, many changes still need to be made in order to achieve a well-developed sustainable campus.

“In Waste Not, Want Not” author Bill McKibben, makes several arguments about how wasteful Americans are. Throughout the essay McKibben provides facts that show the degree of how much waste is built up daily. The author emphasizes waste throughout the essay by giving the reader an idea of much plastic, aluminum, paper, lithium, and food are wasted daily. If humans do not come together to help reduce the amount of waste, eventually planet earth will not be able to provide a stable environment to sustain life. Life as we know it is slowly coming closer and closer to the end, and without a joint effort to protect the environment and limit waste the end of life will come sooner than expected.

The environment is important to protect considering that people live and breathe in the atmosphere it provides. Investing time in activities that protect the environment hasn’t always been a priority, but as greenhouse gas emissions, the use of energy, and other harmful impacts on the environment increased, individuals began to speak up on what should be done. As the world’s population continues to grow exponentially, the impacts society produces will in turn continue to increase unless something is done about it. Although the idea of an environmentally sustainable community has remained on the minds of the concerned public throughout the past decade, as companies and universities became more invested in the idea, new ways of taking action and implementing policies were developed and pursued.

(claim of value) The United States’ educational system does little to promote “green” living or to enforce environmentally-friendly policies within the school system. Within the local educational system that I am part of, this fact is apparent. Glen Allen has prepared me to start living a “green lifestyle” only by means that I have

Eden; it is a word that, for most, inspires thoughts of lush green trees, untarnished fruit, soft green grass, perfect blue skies, and harmony within nature. According to Judeo-Christian teachings, this is similar to the state in which the world began. It was an environment unspoiled by humans, unblemished by their pollution. Such a pristine utopia is often hard for a person to imagine today amongst the industrial smokestacks and their billowing gray clouds, between the rancid landfill mounds, and surrounded by stagnant pools of oil-slicked water.

A Conservationist Manifesto In A Conservationist Manifesto, Scott Russell Sanders argues that consumerism is a destructive force in the nation. He offers a solution: “As an antidote to this culture of consumption, extravagance, and waste that dominates America today, we need to imagine a culture of conservation.” Sanders encourages readers to think of a new way to exist in the natural world. Sanders enlightened my perspective on the mass amount of consumption that we suffer in America.

In “Curbing Overconsumption: Challenge for Ethically Responsible Engineering,” professor E.J. Woodhouse discusses the causes of the modern environmental crisis, particularly how engineers should be responsible for aiding the environment. At one point, he asks, ’if it is technically feasible to arrange consumption far more efficiently, as Paul Hawken, William McDonough, and an increasing variety of others claim, does that imply that the engineers who help arrange the wasteful approaches are violating certain ethical standards?’ (Woodhouse 24) Woodhouse claims that it is the ethical role of engineers to use their positions and resources to decrease the waste production of American overconsumption. Meanwhile, in “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World?” environmental professor Michael Maniates discusses the modern environmentalist movement, and in particular discusses its individualized aspects. Maniates’ argument revolves around evaluating the various failures of what he refers to as individualization of responsibility, which ‘embraces the notion that knotty issues of consumption, consumerism, power and responsibility can be resolved neatly and cleanly through enlightened, uncoordinated consumer choice.’ (Maniates 33). In the specific context of environmentalism, individualization of responsibility manifests as buying eco-friendly products instead of practicing some other form of environmentalism. Instead, Maniates believes that environmental issues stem

Our American society believes that forests in the United States are not managed sustainably. Yet, our forests are being managed for sustainability through sound application of science, commitment from individual landowners, and viable markets for products from the forests. Everything we do and everything we need to survive comes from the environment, so sustainability is what we as humans can do to make sure the environment is sustained well enough for future generations.