Most people don’t know or understand how bad it really is. It will take a lot of awareness and laws to make a national change. Most of our timeworn computers and devices end up in landfills, burners or are shipped to foreign continents. Kingsolver often emphasizes the limitations on natural resources and not recycling electronic waste continues to put restrictions to our resources. Because the electronics we use contain toxic chemicals and other dangerous heavy metals, when the e-waste is dumped into landfills, these toxic chemicals can seep in the soil and pollute our water supplies. This process is not only life threatening to the ecosystem and wildlife, but it’s also dangerous for people living in nearby communities (McGinnis, “Benefits of Recycling”). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has statistics approximating that more than 2,000,000 tons of old electronic appliances are not being properly disposed of each year. Between 2000 and 2007 about 500 million personal computers became outdated and were thrown out (McGinnis, “Benefits of Recycling”). When these toxic chemicals enter the troposphere, people and the environment are at risk. Different ideas have been mentioned regarding what to do with all this e-waste. Crazy ideas such as sending it up into space are mentioned, but an easy option is to send it to an e-waste recycle plant. This must be enforced by laws for people to consider this…
Depending on who you might ask, Chris McCandless was a searcher of life’s meaning, or he is nothing more than some unprepared nut that suffered a deserving fate in the Alaskan wilderness.. Those people don’t stop to think about him, they brush him off as an ordinary hitchhiker and think nothing more. Krakauer explains McCandless’s whole journey as well as who he was before the trip. I can see now that Chris McCandless is anything but a nut; he was a dreamer and wished to see what the world had to offer him. McCandless, if anything, is odd and Krakauer states it best that he could be a pilgrim (60)…
After reading the book “Into The Wild” there are many words that come to mind when describing Christopher McCandless. To Jon Krakauer Chris McCandless was rash, but Krakauer insists that McCandless “wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a sociopath, he wasn’t an outcast. McCandless was something else - although precisely what is hard to say. A pilgrim perhaps”(85). The real question still remains unanswered, what precisely was McCandless? Chris McCandless ultimately should be described as a romantic. Chris was a free spirit, he was a counterculture adventurer who escaped the shackles of prescribed society and lived for the moment. He ended his relationship with endless consumption and simply went out and experienced people and places for what they really…
The most important place in Chris McCandless’s life is quite possibly the place he died, the fateful Fairbanks bus number 142. The bus is situated in a clearing in the Alaskan wilderness, surrounded by tall trees, undisturbed by the advances of modern life. While the painting is based on an actual image of bus 142, the vast emptiness of the clearing around the bus symbolizes how alienated McCandless felt by his community for his atypical beliefs. The brush growing around the bus and in the corner of the clearing represents modern views trying to invade his personal set of values. In the background, the fir trees represent all the different people in McCandless’s life and how powerful their influences on him. The bigger trees are people like Jim Gallien and Wayne Westerberg, both…
There are many communities, groups and people spend their time advocating how plastic bags damage the environment. For instance, Californians Against Waste, a non-profit organization founded in 1977, strives to prevent pollution and protect California’s environment many years. They sponsored and help complete almost all of California’s predominant recycling legislations. Recently, they have succeeded in contributing in exposing the plastic bag ban in public. They will keep on preventing plastic bags pollution, and they want to make sure the ban will be effective in California State. Not only do people stop producing plastic bags will impact the economy, the pollution they produce will also affect the economy. California Agasint Waste concludes that single-use plastic bags cost taxpayers money to clean up. They state that California spends around $34.2 million to $107 million every year to prevent people from littering plastic bags into the waters (“The Problem with Plastic Bags”). It is weird that people spend the money producing plastic bags to earn more; at the same time, they spend money again dealing with their disposal. Such huge amount of money can be invested into other fields to make society better, such as inventing new materials to decompose plastic bags faster. However, people are indifferent to the disastrous effect. Overall, there are hundreds of groups gather together to…
With all of the gloomy things said about Murray, at the end of the day it’s not so bad. Sure we might not have much to do here but almost all of us are connected. The schools here feel like second homes unlike other schools. Sure you still have the occasional oppressor but most people I have meet are affable (except the customers I had to deal with when I worked at McDonald’s… You stink) To sum up this essay, everyone will view Murray differently. Everyone will have their own presupposition. People who say “dirty Murray” obviously haven't been down to East Chattanooga. That's why everything is ok, because it could be worse.…
Every moment in life is counted as a memory of something special weather it is a humiliating event or a relationship that lasted for a month. People die every day unexpectedly without doing the thing they most desire. However, a boy named Ben Wolf proves that every second in life needs to be lived as if they were going to die the next day. He started his senior year with a terminal blood disease that is incurable and is required special treatments in order to prolong his life expectancy. Without a doubt, he refuses to get treatments because he thinks he was born to die at that time of what his doctor had told him, in his case a full year. He accomplishes three things that needed to be done before his death will come. Chris Crutcher argues…
The film Wasteland follows famous artist Vik Muniz as he visits Jardim Gramacho, a garbage dumpsite in his native country Brazil. There he starts a fundraising project of photographing some of the chosen “pickers” and creating enlargements of the photos made of recyclable materials, he then sells the creations and gives the proceeds to the group. Watching as the project materializes was very inspiring. Most of workers or “catadores” lived a hard life but in their own personal tragedies they never let it stop them from working hard to get where they want to be in life. For even though they admitted picking out recyclable materials, was disgusting they were still so proud of their work and I believe they had a very good reason to be. Their job no matter how unsanitary is very dignified. One of the oldest pickers even said that it was okay to get his hands dirty since when he receives his salary, he knows he got it from dignity. This is a very inspirational statement given the present state of the world wherein human trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, drug dealing and the like are being used to earn profit. Aside from the high personal integrity brought about by their job they are also immensely helping the environment. I strongly believe there are riches in garbage. I not only give kudos to the pickers but also to Vik Muniz for in his success as an artist he did not fail to look back from where he came from. He did a lot to help the people in Jardim Gramacho rise up from their financial situations. One of the things he said in the film which really got to me was “ I’d rather be the one to have nothing and want everything than to have everything and want nothing.” This depicts how the real sense of fulfillment of a person has nothing to do with gaining worldly…
Finally when the plastic is discarded it is the poor in third world countries who burn it and are again exposed to dangerous fumes and chemicals…
After several deaths in a small town, a local Tannery is suspected of somehow poisoning the water supply from illegally dumping out toxic waste. The Tannery and another company were later found guilty of dumping toxic waste and were fined for their actions and forced to clean up the toxic materials and restore the land they destroyed. Unfortunately, the dumping that occurred there was not the first case of illegally dumping toxic waste and it probably will not be the last. And, who knows how many countless others, that happened many years ago, are yet to be discovered. One of the biggest reasons that companies continue to illegally dump waste is that it is simply too expensive to dispose of it properly. The cost of proper disposing of the material outweigh the benefits of not. So, in other words, it decreases profits. Another thing to point out here is that even if a company gets caught, it is still less expensive to pay a fine or get a settlement agreement, than to dispose of the waste properly. The article, “The Problem of Social Cost”, addresses this issue. It says that you can regulate these companies by decreasing the amount they produce. This can be accomplished by increasing the social cost, which will lessen the demand for products that produce pollution. This in turn will assist companies in ensuring that marginal revenue is greater than marginal cost. Other…
Los Angeles Supervisor Hilda Solis spout her bravery joining immigrants skipping work; not shopping, not eating at restaurants, buying gas, or sending their children to school. The arrogance of the lady Ostrich having her head dipped and stuck in the sand not questioning the word, "immigrant," and "illegal immigrant." Stupid at best boasting, "To step up; to say to President Trump, not in my house; not in my country; not in my state." The signs would do well to alter into, "a day without unlawful immigrants." Americans look forward to having criminals vacate having Americans work regardless of toilet scrubbing, fruit picking, or street sweeping. There are Americans who are out of work and need to bootstrap cease the food stamp and assume…
Furthermore, Pellow reinforces the concept that governmental policies can directly damage groups of people or a certain race by pointing out the ironic conditions that take place in recycling industries. Pellow states that “solid waste is a fact of life” (1). Humans as a species tend to aggregate, making the disposal of waste a complicated issue. Disposal practices lead to divided political opinions and negative environmental impacts, such as pollution. And, although all humans contribute to producing waste, not all humans share the burden of managing this garbage. For instance, Pellow observed the social and economic conditions taking place under a recycling center located within Chicago. The foundation behind the idea of recycling is to foster the concern for environmental respect. Therefore, a recycling center should be a place where people are aware of their actions and what the resulting consequences may be. However, many environmental problems and social inequalities arose within the community of Chicago.…
Have you ever heard of the term “e-waste”? If not, you’re not alone. Thankfully two very like minded individuals, Annie Leonard, and Chris Caroll dedicated their time to enlighten people into the unseen life cycle of our outdated house held tech, “e-waste.” In Leonard’s essay, “The Story of Stuff: Electronics,” and Caroll’s short film script “High Tech Trash,” the reader gets an in-depth understating of the tremendous impact the technological empire has on the environment, and the individuals involved in the circulation of their products. Although Leonard and Caroll concede that e-waste is negatively impacting our environment, due to technologies unsustainable nature and the worlds unconscious recycling habits, both activists differ due to…
Imagine you and your family going to the beach. You and your kids are so excited to go and swim and get their feet in the cool blue water. But what if when you get there you and your kids are so sad.There's garbage everywhere! Then you see a bird land and falls to the ground from a six pack of plastic around its neck.. Then your whole family's heartbreaks. Nobody likes to be sad or heartbroken that's why everybody should recycle so stuff like that doesn't happen.…
As Taylor et al state (Taylor et al., 2009, p. 119) recycling can “ give new value to rubbish and waste by producing outputs that have positive value; that is, positive prices .” The majority of people in today’s society recycle, glass bottles, plastic bottles, newspapers to name but a few, however many people would define these items as rubbish. Recycling creates a demand, many recycling businesses exist today, that make money out of other peoples rubbish, and items from tin cans to newspaper are being recycled back into society . This is not done just through recycling. Perhaps items at home have become of no value such as old or broken electrical goods, seen as worthless and of negative value as you have to give up your own time in order to dispose of them , for example, taking an old TV to the rubbish tip. This rubbish does have potential value to others, and could become profitable. “The old saying ‘where there’s muck, there’s brass’ still has some truth. These businesses turn rubbish into something of value either by resale, repair or by transforming the items into new materials that can be reused. “They do this by transforming it into saleable products or by moving it elsewhere for disposal” (Taylor et al., 2009, p.…