Ted Steinberg's Down To Earth

we’re wasteful. In order to find solutions for our trash problem, we must first admit that we are

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

“Waste” is a short essay in which Wendell Berry critically analyzes the growing epidemic of trash that is polluting the nation’s land, waterways, and the air. Berry explains to the readers how the remnants of floods and litter that leave farmlands scattered with trash, makes more work for the farmers who have to rid their land of the trash before they can use it. Along with the floods, roads and highways also lead to a barrage of garbage from people who are too lazy or ignorant to take proper care of their garbage, which Berry claims leads to “. . . a constant precipitation of cans, bottles, the plastic-ware containers of fast food joints, soiled plastic diapers, and sometimes whole bags of garbage,” (Waste 1) along the edges of their fields. The garbage of the country continues to be a burden for everyone, whether it impacts them directly or not. Although it would be impossible to eliminate garbage completely from the country, the waste could be greatly reduced. Most of today’s trash is a consequence of the laziness of American society.

Former President John F. Kennedy said, “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” Leadership is a quality found in many characters of writer. In Neal Shusterman’s Unwind, Connor is a main character that found direction and became a great leader. Unwind is a story that takes place in future America. The unwinding process takes place from the ages of thirteen to eighteen. During this time, kids are able to be unwound and harvested for their body parts. Kids will not die but they will live in a divided state. Connor is one of the main characters in Unwind. From the moment Connor was introduced, he was a ticking time bomb that could explode at anytime. As the story progressed, however, he learned to control these emotions,

In Chapter two Edward Humes writes about New York in the 1890’s. He shares with us how the people of this time period handled the trash condition. He explains how the trash was so severe that pigs could dispose of garbage for eating purposed. People were using them like a part of a solution to get rid of trash little by little by letting the pigs eat the trash but at the same time using them as meat providers. He also mentions the different methods that people throughout the years came up with to dispose of trash and failed as proper solutions. Some of these methods we still use today, like burning trash, burying trash, even building more landfills. However as Humes says about landfills they eventually get filled up. The thing that surprised

“We throw out about 254 million tons of solid waste per year in America alone” for comparison that is about 1.27 million average sized blue whales. That is a ton of trash! But, as Americans we do not see all this trash. We barely even touch it. It is all pretty much taken care of for us. So the trash is sort of out of sight out of mind. Let me put this into some

The pie charts show how much each five types of garbage (including ‘other’) was wasted in America in 1990 and 2005. According to the two graphs, there are some changes in percentage of household wastes in the 15 years.

Today landfills are severely overflowing in many cities, causing mayors, governors, and other office holders to call for emergency meetings to find solutions. The amount of half-eaten meals thrown away from schools is a staggering high amount. Landfills overflowing is a problem that every single person in the USA has to come to terms with. The overflow is the direct cause from everyone, from schools, to business', homes, etc... Everyone must participate in the solution. In schools meals are served on trays that are made of plastics, Styrofoam, and even cardboards. Foods are being thrown out whole and at the end of the day many schools are guilty of throwing untouched

So what exactly explains this “trash bag enigma”? Why hasn’t a more environmental friendly – alternative became popular, when there seems to be a clear demand for such a product? Truthfully, these questions aren’t the easiest to answer; they require a deeper analysis on the waste industry as a whole and how this market operates. In this paper, I will outline and explain this enigma

(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).

The average resident produces seven and a half pounds of garbage every day that is buried down in landfills and litters lands costing a great amount of money. Nowadays, people face no more critical trouble than the need to save the weakening environment, mainly in urban areas, where solid wastes are uselessly dumped. It has been observed that cities have no controlled structure for garbage disposal. Each year, millions of dollars are spent picking up litter and more is thrown away in valuable materials that could be recycled. As humanity develops new technology and equipment, the level of waste increases every day. Due to the fact that there is a huge problem with garbage disposal, government representatives must contribute to resolving

Our Earth simply cannot handle all of the trash we are giving it. Each person produces four pounds of trash per day, which is much faster than we can get rid of it, and space for it is vanishing quickly. Almost every community has some method of getting rid of trash, and whether incinerating or burying the trash, it still is a huge problem. Everybody has been negatively affected by the overpopulation of trash whether from an illness related to pollution (like asthma, or cancer) or a loss of land to a landfill.

My main concern about waste disposal is toward poverty. In every society, for it to work effectively the waste disposal has to be handled properly. The lack of proper waste disposal can contribute for the underdevelopment of the community. For instance, in poorer community that does not have resources to dispose of the trash properly create a series of problems. For example, when there are a lot of trashes in a community, it will prevent investors to invest in a community, the housing market, schools and stores will decline, in consequence the houses will loose its value. This will create a ripple effect because people will start immigrating toward a better place where it is much cleaner. Families will try to move to a better place where their kids can have a better future. I ask myself who wants to live in a dirty environment? I hope nobody. That’s why I believe that the government should help the poorest communities about the ways to handle waste disposal, and better educate them about recycling.

Earth is the only planet of its kind. Its unique environment provides us with air and water that are vital for life. It is important that we better protect our environment to secure life for future generations. My essay first will analyze two essays, Heather Roger's, Gone Tomorrow: Hidden Life of Garbage, and Lars Eighner On Dumpster Diving. Both authors pose interesting arguments warranting solutions to our excessive waste. This essay supports Rogers’s position over Eighners position. I agree with Roger’s solution holding Corporate America and large companies accountable for the excessive waste from mass production. Although I agree with Rogers, my argument requires companies to create products and packaging that are echo-friendly and

In order to understand a problem, one must race it back to its roots. What is the cause of this urban waste crisis? Why has it reached this point where it is now considered such a big problem? The answer is fairly simple and logical; Population growth. The current human population of the planet in the year 2014 stands to around 7 billion (worldometers). This number is expected to increase by 50% by 2050 (UN, 2007). Almost half of those 7 billion people live in urban areas based on reports (United Nations Population Division, 2006). Now taking into