Analysis Of Slavoj Zizek : Ecology, Garbage And The Environment

In order for environmental change to happen society needs to see the significance of trash. To make sense of that recall a time were you forgot to take the trash out and days later were reminded by the rotten stench? Now multiply the stench of that 1 bag 2 million times. To help you further understand let’s put this in mathematical terms. Let’s say on average 1 garbage bag weighs 20Lbs. that equates to 1bag=20lbs x 2,000,000 = 40 million putrid bags. This equation has opened my eyes. Rogers’s argument that Landfills should be in public places is a good one. Society is sheltered from Landfills: so they are out of sight therefore out of mind. If we can’t see the pollution we can’t change our carbon foot print.

Undoubtedly, as we are stepping towards advancement with technology every day, we are getting exposed to more pollution levels in our life. Water, air and earth, in all these forms of society we are experiencing rapidly growing pollutions. In water, we are experiencing a huge number of unwanted disposals of all sorts from the cruise ships or any private boat. A lot of people now a days doesn't have any idea where to dispose proper wastes. For example, if we go to a grocery store like Walmart or Target, we see big trashcans with it's purpose written on it. There are certain trashcans that are only meant for plastic disposing while some of them are for recyclable objects. People need to educate themselves with this basic things. Not only these, if we look at the bigger picture, in third world countries, earth or soil pollution is one of the major environmental problems. People throwing garbages everywhere on the side of streets, urinating on the side of the street, spitting everywhere are the major habits people are having over the years.

The average U.S. citizen emits about four pounds of municipal solid waste each day. While this number may seem insignificant, think about approximately four pounds multiplied by our current population of about 318.9 million, or the population of Earth, 7.125 billion. With this in mind, think about all of the other detrimental effects we are causing to our planet. Most humans are not concerned for our planet, nor do we care about other species inhabiting Earth, which may lead us to consider other ways of living, such as Nash’s idea of an island civilization.

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

People are constantly throwing trash outside their window when they are driving down the street or throwing trash on the ground when they are walking. As minor as littering is, there are long term effects. Trash that ends up in the storm drains, eventually make it’s way into the ocean. Once the trash is in the ocean, it can eventually make its way into a whales blowhole, or can be consumed by an animal; which could harm them. Also, trash that makes it’s way into lakes and oceans is very difficult to remove. If you cannot remove the trash, how are you going to prevent these animals from getting

ou can only have so much good before it is all gone. Resource depletion is the biggest environmental issues known to man. As humans we’re using what we have to live, but we use more than we give out. Through science, we’re finally starting to understand that people are using too much of the resources and altering the face of the earth. If we’re not careful, these problems can’t be fixed.

In the film The Examined Life, a compelling documentary directed by Astra Taylor, eight powerful philosophers meander around places that are particularly special to them, as well as their ideas. Issues discussed range from cosmopolitanism to truth, and each philosopher is given 10 minutes to share their thoughts. Although not enough time to really connect with the philosophers, some concrete points are made. Slajov Zizek discusses ecology and our idealization of nature, and the critical importance and implications of how we live as humans in unison with the environment. Slajov Zizek is filmed at a trash dump, very significant to the argument he is about to make.

In the span of 50 years, the population of humans on this planet have reached all-time highs and continue to rise and with this rise comes the effects of overpopulation. The planet cannot sustain so many people during such a short span of time. Not only is there a loss of space for new generations of humans to live on, but there has been an excessive use of natural resources before there is a chance to replenish them such as food, natural gases, and water. The problem of overpopulation seems to truly encompasses all other aspects of the factors leading to the sixth mass extinction such as habitat loss and global warming. The population must be feed and because of this, million upon millions of acres of land once inhabited by a whole ecosystem have been converted to farmland to provide food for the growing population. In addition, the increase in leads to an increase in waste and therein arises a problem: where to put the waste. In the United States alone, “4.39 pounds of trash per day and up to 56 tons of trash per year are created by the average person” Landfills seemed to be the perfect solution for this problem, however, over the years, “landfill managers have been emphasizing just how quickly they are running out of space. The more people there are on the planet, the more waste is being produced. Some of this waste is quite toxic, and even landfills which are

        The reason in which my project is important from an ecological perspective is, when picking up trash that lies around, it lessens the amount up trash that pollutes our water and air. Some trash is going into landfills or recycling. Although the majority of waste is spreading itself around

He shows how both points of view have sound foundations as well as unavoidable flaws, mostly economic and environmental in nature. He states that nothing short of “a changed culture” will solve the world’s waste issues (264).

We have become a very wasteful society where it seems as if everything is disposable; as a society, we need to be conscious of just how much waste we produce and what we are able to do to reduce that amount to protect our environment.

Many of animals in our environment are being harmed from our wastes, like turtles in the sea being trapped on beer can plastic rings. Recycling wastes should be a thing that everyone does to prevent many things like this from happening. There are people out there who recycle everything they can, and there are those who can’t even bother to look if they’re throwing their trash in the right bin. People all over the world constantly debate whether recycling is or is not beneficial to the environment. With the climate changing rapidly and natural disasters becoming worse, people should be more aware of the dangers that global warming can bring. Even a little help can do good for the environment; we should help by recycling more. Those who recycle help reduce pollution caused by waste, save energy and create jobs for those in need.

Carelessness and laziness are two common factors that contribute to littering. We have a piece of trash in our hands and a trash can is in site, yet we decide to just throw it on the ground. Littering has become second nature even if it is unintentional. We assume that the trash we throw will eventually disappear into thin air and it won’t affect our surroundings. Little do we know that every little piece of trash thrown out the window all adds up. That small piece becomes a pile of trash that ends up clogging storm drains, contaminating water and endangering wildlife. According to McWhorter, “Sustainability involves conserving resources to prevent their depletion, protecting ecological processes, and eliminating waste and pollution, so as to ensure that our society’s pratices can continue and our civilization can endure” (p. 394).

It says that many people buy products which they throw out, after a short period of time, even if it has nothing wrong with it. It also says that people throw things out without using it properly. "

(Amaral). The lack of proper disposal of trash is contributing to the existing problem of plastic pollution. Without changing our habits, the garbage patch will only continue to grow (Kostigen).