The Treadmill Of Production

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.

The bizarre economy that we live in has affected us in many ways than our simple mind can fathom. After World War II there was massive push in innovation. Human were gifted with inventions like the Airplane, color T.V., polyvinyl cups, and precooked dinners. Nevertheless, these “gifts” came at an enormous cost. That cost was pushed onto the environment and people living in that environment. “The Market Economy” by Marge Piercy illustrates the movement in American aimed at bring attention to a global problem as well as an effort to save the planet along with the people living on it.

21st century industrialization has a global impact by creating ecological and societal imbalances stemming from its nature to enervate resources and manual labor. The start of industrialization was a way to implement efficiency into mass production, ultimately creating opportunities for jobs and maximizing profit gains for companies. In today’s world, its toll on the environment and the way it shapes society becomes increasingly apparent and irreversible. Therefore, as society acknowledges these effects, changes have been made to address these issues.

The earth is slowly dying do to the spread of harmful contaminants such as pesticides, garbage, and non biodegradable objects. They are present in the air, ocean, and ecosystem causing harm to both humans and animals. While most of the general population recognizes that pollution is an issue, no measures have/ are being taken to prevent it. Waste is continuously being poured into water sources and the ocean even though it kills animals and continues to poison humans. It is also being spread throughout the environment by ways of ignorance and laziness from humans. Because animals inhabit more of the world than humans do, they are the most impacted by pollution. Many animals have had to relocate, been killed, or have gone extinct due to the contagion

More than half of the human population knows what pollution is but we are still not ready to face it's damaging consequences. Pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate the natural surroundings; which brings about changes that affect our normal lifestyles adversely. Pollution comes in many forms and no matter where you live, you've probably seen some form of it. Some litter of NYC city streets to the smog that lingers ov0er LA to the plastic trash that floats in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the visible signs of pollution are more than evident. The main reason for a why pollution has gotten too out of control is that our desire for more “stuff” has led to our old stuff being thrown away at an alarming and unnecessary rate. As humans we have impacted the environment in so many different ways. The 3 main pollutants i will be talking to you about is water, air, and soil pollutions since these are the three main ones that are affecting not only us as humans but our planet that we live on.. These three main pollutants have affected the environment in many different ways such as climate change and even habitat destruction towards our planet and is in need to be taking some Extreme Measures and actions in order to decrease the pollution to our home.

Society is a ferocious circle that continues to spin out of control. During one’s existence the speed in which society spins is self-inflicted and continues to surge. No matter where one exists within societies circle, one must realize they influence the vicious tug-of-war between supply and demand cycles. Greedy Americans cause issues for manufactures, big business, and the environment. Manufactures struggle with meeting government demands while maximizing production output. After all, consumer products generate mass revenue for business and the government. Society neglects to consider the environment as long as manufactures continues to provide. This type of behavior represents a win for consumers and Uncle Sam. Manufacturing businesses

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

Paul Hawken addresses the effects of industrialization in the world today. He depicts that the environment is degraded by the economic systems who aimlessly utilizes resources for unintended purposes while at the same time releasing toxic chemicals into the environment. The economic system does not adopt the natural cycle of activities whereby wastes turn out to be food to some microorganisms in the environment. According to Paul Hawken, the economic system has played a negative role in disrupting the natural cycle. In a natural cycle ecosystems, there are no wastes since everything is fully recycled (Bunker and Hawken, 1995). However, a closer look at the other side of the economic ecosystem, things are totally different since everything seems to take an artificial path. If the economic ecosystem mimicked the natural ecosystem, pollution would not be a huge problem as it is currently. Floods and landslides would not be rampant in the world. Just like the ozone layer would have been intact.

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.

While in Brave New World the idea of nature is destroyed to accommodate consumerism, in America nature itself is physically being destroyed as developers turn forests and fields into condos and parking lots. As Americans consume an excess amount of materials, a need for the production of these products is required. Thus, this leads to the detriments of overproduction, which according to Greentumble leads to “pollutant emissions”, “deforestation”, and “climate change.” Another negative effect of consumerism on the environment is the whooping 12 million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year, forming gigantic waste patches. Lastly, the destruction of the environment is obviously a factor that can destroy society because we get our resources primarily from the environment.

Additionally, I came to realize that people don’t fully understand, or simply don’t care about the repercussions of what their actions may or have caused to the surrounding ecosystem. The desire for wealth has made individuals numb to the extent of their actions, as long as their actions are beneficial for themselves. By this I mean that individuals will essentially destroy the planet in order to get rich, without thinking about what their actions will cause to the local ecosystem. This search for raw materials in many ways is a double-edged sword, by this I mean that the gold rush has made California into what it is today, but it has also caused irreducible damage to the environment. This means of using raw materials can be applied to any location, in which individuals have no other means to provide for their family, whether their occupation is drilling for oil, mining for ore, or deforesting for farming. It saddens me to watch most of the world to search for wealth, rather than preserving the environment for future generations. Moreover, I understand why people in developing countries destroy the local environment for money, but when the natural recourses ultimately diminish, what will they be left with? The way the environment is currently being destructed makes me think of WALL-E, the Earth looked after all the natural recourses were gone and how no life could even be sustained, aside from a

The environment is suffering from abuse. There are overflowing landfills, unsanitary water, and streets towering with trash. There is not anyone to blame for this abuse but mankind. The environment is home to animals, America’s children, and loved ones. Why would anyone in their right mind do harm to such a place? The actions of the people could harm not only the generation on earth now but all the generations to follow. The environment is easily damaged however it is even more easily saved. Plastic bottles and aluminum cans can easily be melted and reused instead of being thrown away. Paper, saving trees, can be reused at recycling plants as well. Acid rain, illnesses, and lowered crop production are all side effects of air pollution. By recycling, less products need to be made in factories which cuts down on the amount of pollution caused by factories. Recycling is a vital factor in preserving and supporting the earth. In order to have a healthy atmosphere there needs to be a common preservation practice in action. That common preservation is simply a mandatory recycling policy.

In Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, the two authors take into great detail by explaining the “cradle-to-grave” manufacturing system. The system explains every step of a product’s life from the creation to the disposal of the product. It is important to learn about this system because in order for a company to track and take responsibility of their hazardous waste . The system itself explained where products are created and the mass production goes into this system without enough consideration to human health and the environment. McDonough and Braungart promote for a new framework where companies take into consideration on every step of a product’s lifestyle. In the authors’ observations that human industry should co-exist with nature by designing products that are in a way non-toxic, biodegradable, or recyclable without loss of material quality. With this in mind, a common type of consumer product such as a plastic bottle that could be redesigned to be healthier for humans, environmental friendly, and create less pollution towards our planet. The two ways that plastic bottles can become more “intelligently designed” is by changing how plastic bottles are manufactured in these industries and removing chemical ingredients that are harmful to human and environmental health.

They’re doing their job.” However, working at a job does not justify or excuse the inadequate working conditions, with no benefits for the workers. With no healthcare coverage, accident prone working conditions, and retaliations against justice, there is a distinct hierarchy between the working class and the owners. The functionalist perspective solely focuses on profitability, rather than recognizing the social conflict of hierarchy of working conditions in a conflict perspective. The continuous manufacturing of products from Wal-Mart also contributes to the treadmill theory of society, where the company is churning out ideas and material arrangements that have enormous implications for the environment (Gould 38). Although the capitalist thinking may benefit the company, it can also be presented as neglect and disrespect towards the environment. As shown in the documentary “True Cost,” Americans throw away 82 pounds of textile waste per year, which sits at nondegradable landfills, while releasing chemical

One positive implication capitalism has to the natural environment is industrial ecology, a system of chain production and consumption, serving to the lowest environmental impacts in a most environmentally sustainable economy as the main goal of operation (Richards & Pearson, 1998). The Companies in a like to operate in such way because of four major reasons. The most important factor is known as the corporate well-being, for it is determined by higher profits and growth provided by innovations in an industry. Profits are increased from recognizing the production ineffiency costs that comes from wasted inputs and energy losses; this allowing cost savings to increase and ineffiency to decrease. compliance with cleaner technology alternatives such as ones that produce less waste and less energy will provide long term savings which are both beneficial to the environment and the business at hand. A real world example freight company changes their salvaged driving equipment to hybrid vehicles. Money is temporarily lost, but the gasoline and maintenances cost savings will compensate in a long run period of time.