Do We Have a Throw Away Society

Do we have a throw-away society?
A Swedish proverb says “don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water”. The sad story is that most of us today are throwing away so much, it is very likely that there will be no resources in the future. Many of our practices today are putting a lot of stress on future resources and we might soon find many of our needs unsatisfied because of our throw away attitude and careless practices. There are many reasons as to why we are subject to the jeopardy of a resource-deficient future. One of these is the constant demand for better lifestyles and standards of living. Another reason is our increased consumption of food, products and materials as well as our increased use of items that pollute our environment and make it unsafe for living.
Society nowadays seeks better lifestyles and standards. We live in a society where technological advances have erupted and where everybody seeks towards the latest items attempting to obtain a high standard of living. However, luxury wants never seem to come to an end. Whenever a new model appears in a market, the older possessions of the same product soon become unwanted and obsolete. As a result, many earlier acquired models are disposed of instead of being recycled, or given to needy people who probably find this accommodation useful. “A study commissioned by Environment Canada estimated that 81,000 tons of IT and telecom equipment were disposed of in 2002. Computers and monitors accounted for 70% of this total. The study projected that disposal of IT waste would increase to 91,000 tons in 2010.” This study was made in 2002, where technology was not as advanced as it is nowadays. The amount of disposed items in 2011 is definitely larger than it was in 2002, as technology has advanced rapidly within the last decade. Moreover, as society promotes better living standards, money is largely being spent on luxurious products such as modern phones, modern cars, and other modern equipment, instead of being spent on necessities such as food and shelter. People have been working tremendously for longer hours in order to ensure a high standard of living for themselves and their families. However, they unfortunately do not take into account the amount of money spent on unnecessary products which could have been spent on necessities. This results in a throw-away society, where money is being thrown away like a pebble being thrown on a huge sea causing big ripples. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/16-002-x/2008001/10539-eng.htm Consumption of products has been increasing every year. We live in a society where consumption is regarded as a positive way of life, leading to a healthy society. However, what society fails to realize is that the more we consume, the more products are being disposed or thrown away. This is due to the fact that we are being controlled by advertisements, which are mainly used in an attempt to increase profit, not to enhance the well-being of society. Because we’ve been told that disposing items instead of reusing them is better through advertisements, we find it difficult to make a decision towards such a subject. Single-time use items are increasing rapidly in markets, which encourages consumers to throw away such items after only one use, increasing literation. “According to EPA the average American produces 1600 pounds of garbage per year. Multiply that by 300 million and you can begin to imagine the amount of trash that is produced.” Moreover, we judge people according to how much they consume. Sadly, we are usually judged by how much we consume instead of being judged on how efficiently we consume items. This creates an incentive for people of high standards to consume much more than is needed, marking us as a throw-away society. Financially supported people purchase valuable items that they don’t actually need in an attempt to be judged as people of high standings within society. A person does not need more than a car to move from one place to the other and definitely does not need more than one phone to reach others. However, this is sorrowfully common in society nowadays.

http://publicagenda.org/whoturnedoutthelights/number-of-vehicles-per-household
According to the pie chart, 19.9% of households in the US, probably those of financially supported families, have three or more cars, which is definitely a waste of resources. Unfortunately, we live in a throw-away society where resources are less important than consumption and high living standards.
Our environment is being disturbed day after day. While society is living the present and not taking care about the future
We are being recognized as a throw-away society because we are unaware of the effects of our action that are adversely affecting our planet and causing a fast deterioration in resources. The modern world society values the present much more than the future. Sadly, we are only concerned about the present, while the future becomes more jeopardized, by the hour. The common disposal of efficiently-useful things in society has given rise to a throw-away society which has massive effects on individuals of the future. http://www.helium.com/items/1778659-why-we-consume-so-much