In the United States, we often times take many things for granted. One out of many the examples are our resources. We have so many things available to us that we occasionally do not even think about how, or where we got them. Like food, The United States has some of the richest soil in the world, so as a result, we are able to grow a lot of our food. Right along with water, we have fairly easy accesses to water, which allows us to grow high yield crops. We have all types of clothing available to us; whereas many other countries may not have any way to even get clothing. Take gas, for example, it is such a valuable thing we have as a society, but do we ever think about where that gas came from and how it got there? Most people do not. Nevertheless, there are places in this world that people may not even have cars available, yet alone gas. If one were to ask someone who lives in the United States if we are a nation of excess, they would most likely say yes. In present society, especially here in the United States, we waste a lot of things that many people in the United States, and in other parts of the world would die for. Food, water, clothes, gas, the list goes on and on with things that we waste in the U.S., but why is it that Americans waste so much? Americans waste large amounts of food, clothing, money, and numerous other items, simply because we are a wasteful society.
As Americans, we waste more food than many countries even consume. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, “The average American trashes 10 times as much food as a consumer in South east Asia” (Hsu). That is about equivalent to eating 10 meals to a consumer in South East Asia’s one meal. We throw away our left over food just because we are done ea...
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...ff every month you have to pay interest, which is a waste of money because you paying extra for that money you spent. This is just a couple of examples of how we waste money in today’s society; the list goes on and on. From the interest on loans, to buying a $3 Starbucks drink. We are so spoiled as Americans that some people don’t even think about it. However, it also goes down to it being your money, if you earned it, you should be able to spend it on what you want, even if it is a total waste in someone else’s eyes. That’s the joy of being an American, being free, and being able to do whatever we want with your money without being contested for doing so. However, that doesn’t mean that we should not do something’s to conserve our resources because it can benefit you, but it also can benefit other people that may not have the same luxuries that other people have.
Humankind produces and consumes with little regard for waste. Susan Strasser’s Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash focuses on consumption’s byproduct; trash and what humankind has done to dispose of their waste over the past decades. Strasser catalogues an often deemed unsophisticated part of our modern society as being “central to our lives yet generally silenced or ignore” (p.36), throughout her book elucidating on the premise that one’s own view and opinion of what is deemed as trash varies greatly from person to person. Strasser explicates to the reader the rise of mass markets across the world and the impacts that production and consumption have on the creation of trash. Strasser begins to follow the story of trash in the pre-colonial
it's certain characteristics that set us apart from other countries. The fact we are self-reliant, and
Americans are accustomed to wasting whenever they get the chance to, without thinking of the consequences it has on the environment. The overconsumption encouraged by the industrial economy has led to environmental issues. The essays "Waste Not, Want Not" by Bill Mckibben and "Forget Shorter Showers" by Derrick Jensen provides readers with various points on waste, how much of it there is, and the dangers it has caused to the environment; each giving their own side on the culprits behind damaging the world. Jensen claims that the largest contributor to the environment problem is the industrial economy (341).
Americans throw millions of pounds of food away every year. Although this waste is done by growers, businesses and consumers, they all share one thing in common: that much of the food thrown away is perfectly usable. According to John Oliver, Americans
The passage written by Bill McKibben, entitled “Waste Not, Want Not” was written to bring to the forefront the huge amount of waste that a small community of only 500 people accumulate in a small amount of time. He educated the reader by showing in detail the amounts of waste that is created on a daily basis. The wasteful effects on the environment are then discussed in greater detail, that many people do not stop to think about. Last, the focus on how waste affects the economy and the personal time that is lost because of the massive amount of waste that we accept in our daily lives.
Why does North America consume so much unneeded product? We are greedy. As soon as we have money in our bank account, we spend it without hesitation, on products we think will make us happy. If you compare what you have in your house to what somebody in a place like Africa has you will be appalled at how much stuff you have. As a society we consume much-unneeded product, because humanity as a whole is very self-minded, we take advantage of how privileged we are, and we will never feel satisfied with what we have.
This does not only apply to food, it also applies to merchandise such as cars, houses, clothes, and other material items. Many people do not need those ten sports cars in the garage of their mansion. Furthermore, “The poll found that 63% of respondents are concerned about the amount of food wasted in the United States… the respondents were shown facts about the environmental, economic and social impacts of food waste, 60% said the impacts were more than they expected. Knowing the facts, a full 73% said we should all try to make it a high priority to limit food waste,” (Leibrock). Ultimately, many people realize how much products are being wasted, and their impact on the world. Also, a large percentage of people believe something should be done to prevent how much resources are
According to our reader, "there seems to be an inverse relationship between GDP and the quality of life. The more GDP grows, the more the quality of life deteriorates. This made me think about how much Americans waste food and natural resources. For example, FOX had a show, where people tried to out eat each other. The glutton and wastefulness was appalling, and at the same time, entertaining to some.
A lot of people like clothes and that may be what they spend most of their money on. Sometimes we have too much clothes that instead of donating them to people in need, they choose to throw them away. Living in America is the best thing that could happen to us. Everyone is free here and yet people still take their freedom for granted. Not everyone can say that they are free and have everything they need to
America is wasting their finite resource, such as coal and nuclear when we could actually be using renewable sources that will never run out. Most of our country’s citizens have never thought about where their
There are realistic solutions that we should look into in order to curb this detrimental trend. Because we can do quick little time-saver runs to the nearest mega-store, we really have lost the need and, in some cases, the ability to be creative or resourceful. Instead of contributing to consumerism by buying new clothes and household goods, we can try finding and using things that were already purchased and perhaps slightly used. (Obviously not toiletries, food, or undergarments.) There are oodles of resale shops and rummage sales that contain great products for almost always half the price or even cheaper. By not shopping at such places as Goodwill, Salvation Army, and the like, we just keep adding more and more to the already vast amount of products that are already out there and not in use. It is wise to not contribute anymore to consumerism and waste-increase by buying used items. Perhaps we should only buy new things to supplement our needs. It is unrealistic to advocate that everyone in America stop buying new things altogether. We should buy them in moderation, but there are things we can do before and after purchasing these things. Three simple solutions are pre-cycling, re-cycling, and re-using. Pre-cycling is used to prevent as much waste as possible by simply seeking out products with little, less, or no packaging.
I have chosen the topic of food waste and the impact on the environment. I will discuss the ridiculous amount of food that is wasted each year and the staggering amount of waste that could be avoided just by planning ahead, and purchasing from farmer’s markets and avoiding the main stream supermarkets who set such high standards on the aesthetic of produce that tonnes are wasted for no reason other then shape.
Reducing Food Waste In America America as a whole wastes a lot of food. America can save on food waste if consumers would purchase only what they need, stores and restaurants give surplus food to shelters and soup kitchens, and schools had waste education and waste reduction programs in place. First, America would be able to save on food waste if consumers purchased only what they needed. People would not have to worry about forgotten food that will expire and needs to be thrown away. Another way consumers can prevent food waste is creating a food menu before they go to the shopping for food, by doing this consumers will only buy what they are going to cook, thus leading to less food waste.
Food waste is the biggest space consumer in our landfills, which may seem surprising, but shouldn’t be based on the amount of food that is consumed on a daily basis and the large proportion of food that is wasted. The main problem with the amount of food waste in landfills, is that it produces methane as it decomposes which is detrimental to the atmosphere as a whole, and can have lasting effects. The buildup of all the methane produced results in huge amounts of global warming potential which is extremely detrimental to our environment. Also, because of the fact that so many resources are used in order to grow certain foods, they are all being put to waste when the food that used these resources goes directly to landfills. This applies to water usage, soil richness, and petroleum usage. As far as costs go, food waste affects the economy by about $750 billion a year, which is a massive amount of money that could be going elsewhere. Because we are losing so much money, it is clear that there is a great need for change in the food system, especially in the United
2.6 trillion Pounds of garbage. That’s the amount of trash the world will produce just this year. How much garbage does an average American go through yearly compared to other countries? How does this affect people’s lives and our future? If we could only reuse, reduce, and recycle; just these three simple things and we can start our journey to a cleaner, healthier, and happier planet.