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Changes In American Culture

Decent Essays

In modern western society, ‘bigger is always better’. We consume in excess with little regard of the environment. “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don't like.” (Milchan & Fincher, 1999). This has become the motto of modern American society. We are convinced we need a lot of what we consume, when really these things aren’t a necessity. If each American took some time and really evaluated what their actual needs were and scaled their wants back, we could really impact the global ecosystem immensely; take for instance infomercials, laughable exaggerations of “struggles” in modern society. Having trouble winding up your water hose? Buy another hose that is a slightly different shape. American attitudes will not change unless we stop the feeding frenzy that is hyper-consumerism and start focusing on what we can do to make our world better. …show more content…

Richart "Rishi" Sowa is a perfect example of living in such a way that you give back instead of take from society. Richart is a British artist that has built a sustainable living habitation. He uses recyclable materials from his environment, preventing them from being thrown in a landfill. Reusing is even better for the environment than recycling in that you can use the materials the way they are with no extra energy need to remanufacture it. A lot can be learned from Richart, he does not just do this as a novelty, he actually lives on his floating island. Filtering water and composting solid waste are just a few things he does to make his island

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