Is Burning Trash Ana Baptista Summary

Rethinking Waste Incineration for a Sustainable Future In the essay "Is Burning Trash a Good Way to Handle It?" Waste Incineration in 5 Charts," published in Open Washington Pressbooks, the author Ana Baptista raises awareness of the growing environmental and public health concerns connected to waste management. She argues that it’s an outdated waste management practice with a shrinking support base and that there is a better way to dispose of waste than by burning it. While the incineration plants currently used to burn waste, help generate electricity through the heat created during the process, the emissions released during this exchange do more damage to the environment compared to other sustainable forms of waste disposal. Baptista argues that the industry's decline is due to several factors including, aging incineration plants, unstable income produced
She achieves this by providing evidence that supports her claim and also by creating a space in which the reader becomes aware of their surroundings and overall health. This also gets the audience to start caring about the world around them and the methods they can implement in their day-to-day lives to better care for it. She further appeals to the audience by mentioning her experience in the industry, writing,” As an environmental justice scholar who works directly with low-income and communities of color, I see incineration as a poor waste management option.” (Section 1). Mentioning this allows her to establish trust with a wider audience by building credibility with the reader. Furthermore, Baptista makes a strong argument against burning trash. She does a great job of capturing the reader’s attention by using methods such as logic/reasoning, appealing to the audience’s emotions, and lastly gaining the reader’s trust by showing their credibility on the subject