Analysis Of Junkyard Planet

Take a moment to imagine the realization that a young boy came to when two of his favorite movies had a large plotline that was somewhat based on the problems of trash. Wall-E, the famous Pixar movie, was based on a small robot that was left behind on Earth’s surface alone. His job was to clean the garbage that the human population left behind when they went into space to escape their problems. Toy Story 3, another Pixar movie, contained a scene with garbage that was vital to the plot, in which the characters are rescued from a trash furnace that was consuming literally tons of trash a minute. These two movies tried to make the American population aware of the ever growing trash situation, however, Americans quickly forgot about the Earth shattering situation that they are causing. The solution to the world’s trash problem is easy; people need to be educated on the problems of trash and given an easy way to fix it. People should be required to visit a landfill, educated on the severity of the trash problem, and should be rewarded for changing their habits to improve the problem.

Heather Roger claims our current garbage disposal methods are short term and etiquette. Rogers’s position is clear that we need to minimize the use of landfills and create better means to discard trash. In supporting Rogers’s environment views I think that we need to create a more economic and environmental friendly garbage disposal system. Heather Rogers and Lars Eighner both acknowledge the issue with society’s throwaway mentality. Eighner proves that we throw away perfectly working stuff, having survived off others discarded materials. Eighner argues against excessive waste we create but does not have any prospected solutions. Whereas Rogers acknowledges the obvious need to minimize our consumption of waste but argues the need

Among one of the most common themes in Trash is the demonization of money. It’s a widely held belief that money causes corruption and evil, and while this theme is central to the plot, towards the end the reader sees how this corruption goes beyond just the wealthy, but affects the poor as well. One of the most standout quotes in the book is “to steal is to rise, and to rise with your foot on the face of the poor is natural law.” (p224, paragraph 1) This quote poetically states what many may believe to be “survival of the fittest;” it screams of desperation to survive, so much so they would sell out their own people just for a bit of extra money. While this speaks great volumes

In today’s society, there is an abundance of waste. This is clear in observing how people live, we often throw out items because we want something better. Lars Eighner, author of "On Dumpster Diving," writes about his experiences being homeless and how he survived on the waste of others. This provides insight on how the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure," is true. Jeremy Seifert, who directed the documentary Dive!, also talks about how he survives off of other people's waste, but this was a decision he made. As they tell of their experiences, Seifert and Eighner both come to the conclusion that society is wasteful. While both individuals provided good information, I believe Seifert presented the better argument. Both of

Recycling doesn’t affect people that much, but it does affect wildlife and animals. Like the six pack rings, soda comes in, fish get caught in it and they die. Another thing is plastic bags get thrown into the ocean and turtles mistake it for jellyfish, eat it and die. Would you believe me if I told you that glass, aluminum, paper and plastic are not A report from the Federal Highway Administration shows that 80 percent of the asphalt that is removed each year during widening and resurfacing is reused. Recycling has been around for thousands of years, but we still need to recycle even though people thought of this a long time ago. A consequence is the New York City Landfill. The New york city landfill contains 2.9 billion cubic feet of trash. The new york city landfill can be seen from space. The new york landfill is one of the only things that can be seen from space. Another consequence is that farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota are just now starting to recycle. Minnesota and Wisconsin farms produce 60 million to 80 million pounds of plastic every year, but until now they had no way to get rid of it besides throwing

America’s biggest export trash items are scrap paper and metal which the Chinese buy, make products out of, then sell them back to America resulting in an enormous profit, and creating a cycle because we throw it out again. America, the country that once made things for the world, is now China’s trash compactor. Furthermore, due to China’s skyrocketing economic growth, the Chinese are facing a major challenge in terms of waste. China, the world’s second-largest economy, is also the number-one waste producer. Almost more than 430,000 tons of waste is generated every day in China. China produces around 300 million tons of waste a year; most of it comes from cities. Currently, Chinese urban waste management services generally collect unsorted municipal solid waste to be disposed of in landfills or waste incinerators around of the city or further out into the countryside. China is open to the idea of waste recovery and of trying to reduce the impact of their waste on the

The society we live in is disposable we feel more than comfortable throwing away or removing things we use from cans, to shoes, and even plastic bottles because we feel as though it’s easier to throw them out then to fix them then reuse them. This process of renewal then reusing has been given a name; its name is “recycling”. The base word of recycle is cycle which according to Webster’s dictionary means to “a set of events or actions that happen again and again in the same order: a repeating series of events or actions.” While reading Garbology I learned the real reason why so much trash exists on our planet which is affecting our living conditions. Our planet is so “trashed” as a result undereducated people not pondering over where their trash ends up, allowing them to

Light needs to be shed on the reality of the recycling process as to where all of our trash

The author proves the falsehood of the long known assumption that plastic is a threat to our planet. By citing the research done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the author convinces his readers that not only are plastic bags not harmful as people think, but also beneficial. This surprises his audience and shows them how exaggerated the cries of environmentalists, which gets the readers wondering what else have they falsely believed in and what other information are paper-bags advocates hiding from them, and that pulls them into the argument and intrigues them further. Additionally, Summers lists the harmful consequences of using reusable bags by presenting research results and observations. This alarms the audience and raises concern in their

From that “. . . cheese with a spot of mold” to that “. . . half jar of peanut butter” (64). Furthermore, I think that if people read this essay they may realize that some of the stuff they call trash is actually not trash at all. This essay personally made me become more thankful that I don’t have to dumpster dive just to be able to eat. Likewise, I began to understand that I and others “throw away perfectly good stuff” that really shouldn’t be in the trash (64). By making an effort to reduce my waste, I will reduce my ecological footprint on the earth and ultimately leave more resources for further

In one year, the United States exports almost 50 million tons of plastic, metal and other scraps that came from consumers. These scraps are sold for 40 billion dollars to various countries including China. Adam Minter’s Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade depicts the story of the scraps that American discard and where they are off to after they are out of our sight. His book is a both a plea to Americans for their attention towards factories the benefits and the consequences of our consumption but also a memoir of his personal experience traveling the “Junkyard Planet”.

The first source that is being used for research is the book, Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade by Adam Minter. This source contains the necessary amount of information needed to answer the guiding questions. The author of this source provides detailed information about the topic of plastic pollution and poverty in China that are not only supported by statistics obtained by institutions, but from the actual experiences of the author as well. The first guiding research question, which questions the root of the problem of plastic pollution and poverty in China is addressed by the source. According to Minter, who spoke to the owner of a Chinese plastics business, came to the conclusion that, “No doubt, a lack of government regulation played a role,” (Minter).

It makes sense that recycling can help people, but it can give false hope. How is it effective, when just the U.S. alone produces 250 million tons of trash each year. It is sort of saying that it is okay to make a lot of trash, because it can  be made up by recycling. It may save some resources, but is very expensive to pay for.

Even though he puts himself in the spotlight with his credibility of his actions and not just sympathy for readers, he also puts readers in the same spot light show by making readers question their “recycling practices”. Minter clears the air for those may not realized the difference and the confusion that a consumer may come across with living sustainable or are simply just living under the term suitable, convenience. For insistence, “ Consumers are well informed that recycling is beneficial to the environment: however, the environmental costs of recycling (e.g used in recycling facilities) are less salient” (Minter, 252). I myself never even thought beyond the recycling procedure, I believed that just by tossing my water bottle in the nearest

American citizens throw away millions of tons of garbage each year, and this trash has to go somewhere. While there are projects underway to clean and reuse this refuse most of it gets dumped into huge landfills. These landfills are disgusting festering blisters on our country's landscape. But people continue to consume and throw away more and more in the name of convenience. As they see it, when things get old, throw it away and get a new one. They blame the government for the trash problem, but the truth blame should be placed on themselves.