America the motherland of capitalism, where the whole economy and our American way of life revolve around selling things, buying things, and throwing these things in the trash. It’s our sense of entitlement of living in this country that the people with money to spend have to spend because there is always something new coming out, so to feel important they have to have to get it. They see no problem with this because they just toss out the old and bring in the new, but this causes an enormous amount of pollution and eventually hurts everyone in the end in more ways than one.
I do not believe money is what brings people happiness I think it is helping out others. I could have tons money in my pocket and not be happy until I get to share that wealth with people around me. America has grown to be selfish and wasteful. What is the point in being happy if everyone around you is sad? In the future we will be worrying about the condition of the planet so I believe we need to do something about it now. A healthy Earth is the best thing we can pass down to our kids so why would we not want to do that? America needs to change its ways otherwise nobody will be able to live an optimal when they have to worry about restoring the planets health.
Americans represent 5% of the world’s population, but generate 30% of the world’s garbage (http://students.arch.utah.edu). For only being 5% of the population that is a lot of garbage, but this just shows the excessive amount of consumption that Americans produce all the time. Americans throw away enough garbage everyday to fill 63,000 garbage trucks that would reach half way to the moon when lined up (http://students.arch.utah.edu). This is a sickening statistic to hear but what might be even harde...
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...ed to receive all the time. This does not help the poverty in America so we need to come together as a community and realize it is time to change and become not only better people but also a better country as a whole.
For me leaving behind a healthy planet is the best way I can live an optimal life. By reusing products, recycling and just cutting down on all the harmful products we buy we can really make a difference. This isn’t going to change overnight but we need to make steps in the right direction before its too late. If I live an optimal life the way I want to and help save the environment it will help the generations to come live their lives the way they want too. I do not want to be the generation that sat around while our Earth died I want to be the generation that did something about it and by doing something about it I will be living my optimal life.
Since the industrial revolution the United States has experienced tremendous change. This change has created a consumer culture that has resulted in the creation of mass amounts of waste. According to reports, in the year 2003 Americans produced almost 500 million pounds waste. Alone the U.S consumes 30% of the world’s resources and produces 30% of all waste (Conquest, 2). These numbers attest to a consumer culture that has created an undesirable waste problem that is yet to be resolved. However, not everyone is affected proportionately by waste, as predominantly low-income communities live in close proximity to waste related sites. In this paper I will discuss how low-income communities are disproportionately subjected to the detrimental health effects caused by waste, and I will argue that low-income communities have historically and are currently responding to counter the effects of waste to protect their communities.
Landfills in America have taken many square miles of what used to be fertile land, forests and communities and that trend does not seem to have an end. The waste, we as Americans, dispose of each year is in the tons and that number rises annually. One of the reasons why this occurs is actually quite simple; population. Population in modern day America has soared to well above three hundred million, in 1915 that number was hundred million. Urbanization and industry has given way to deforestation and landfill creation. The need for more landfills has caused many health concerns, issues, and problems to not only those living near and
Materialism has often led to excessive consumption and production than what is needed, which causes wastes in resources, as depicted with the luxurious lives of the characters in The Great Gatsby. For example, just in the U.S alone, “Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. That is more than 20 pounds of food per person every month. Not only does this mean that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year, but also 25 percent of all freshwater and huge amounts of unnecessary chemicals, energy, and land. Moreover, almost all of that uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills where it accounts for almost 25 percent of U.S. methane emissions,” (“Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its
Dealing with waste can be very difficult to do when there are 7 billion people in the world and out of all these people America supports about 365 million of those people. According to an article on Forbes magazine the United States contributes about thirty percent of the world’s waste, places like Japan also are contribute quite a bit of recyclable waste. Recyclable waste is just that wasting there are many things that people use and throw away on a daily bases that could be recycled, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, steel cans, tin cans, card board glass and etc. This list could go on for quite some time so let’s put the foot down and talk about recycling.
Simmons, A. M. (2016, April 22). The world's trash crisis, and why many Americans are oblivious. Retrieved November 9, 2017, from http://beta.latimes.com/world/global- development/la-fg-global-trash-20160422-20160421-snap-htmlstory.html
Recycling should be a well-known phenomenon by now, right? In my community, homeowners are given a recycling bin and it is surprising to me how few actually take advantage of it. As I am driving down the street in my neighborhood, I often times see more trash bins than recycling bins on trash pick up day. I am appalled at the fact that many people fail to recycle and instead throw away items in garbage bins. One solution to this issue could be for Americans to become more aware of what they are buying and be sure not to buy goods they will not use or consume. "Average household credit card debt topped the landmark of $10,000 in 2006." (69) Most goods that were bought that year were thrown away just a few years later, which is a horrific statement. By purchasing only goods that are needed and paying closer attention to recycling, the landfills that cover America could be greatly reduced. Most individuals are not aware of what happens to their garbage, or they simply do not care where it ends up. I will admit that even I do not give much thought as to where my garbage ends up, but I do my best to recycle, as well as most of my friends and family. A large quantity of the garbage thrown into landfills escapes and ends up in oceans— especially plastic bags—but it could also be pieces of plastic, glass, and so
You know when you’re walking down the street, drinking your bottled soft drink or water; as you go to throw the bottle away in the trash, have you notice how many of the items in the trash are recyclable. Current reports show that about 80% of the trash that is thrown away is recyclable. Recycling is the third “R” of the three “R’s”: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Recycling is defined as taking a product or material at the end of its useful life, and turning it into a usable raw material to create another product. According to Ivanhoe Broadcast News, each year the average American family throws out 2,460 pounds of paper, 540 pounds of metals, 480 pounds of glass and 480 pounds of food scraps. In conclusion the average American throws away more than 1,200 pounds of trash per year, far more than people in most other countries. I personally think that it is ridiculous how unaware and careless people are that they can’t throw an item into a different container, so it can be recycled. To a certain extent it is not just the publics’ fault; I personally believe that the government should set up and take control of the situation. Instead of sitting around as the world becomes more polluted. I believe there are many ways that we can improve this system.
First off, the average American only walks a few steps before dumping their trash on the ground without even searching for a garbage can. For example, all it takes is for some trash in the road and it is a car accident waiting to happen. Whether it is because somebody drove their tiny
The people of America throw away more trash than any other society in the world! America consumes 80 percent of our planet's resources, even though we make up only 20 percent of the world's population (Cooper 267). The average person throws away 4.3 pounds of trash each day. That's about 30 pounds per week and 120 pounds per month! (“Reduce and Reuse” 1). Americans throw away too much - that's the bottom line (Cooper 265). There is a garbage crisis in America and “the only part of the anti-waste message that has taken hold to any noticeable degree is the call to recycle” (Cooper 267). Our country's issues on trash and recycling go hand in hand. America produces too much trash, and the environment is suffering. There is some effort being put into countering these issues through recycling and trash management, but is it enough? (Cooper 267).
Money is probably one of the most important things in this world. Without it, life would be very hard. With it, you become economically stable making life would be easier in some ways. But the real question is, can money actually make someone physically and emotionally happy? There are many sides to this debate; some who say yes and others who say no. Though most people agree with the statement, “Money doesn’t buy happiness,” there is still a large amount of people who disagree with it. They believe that money does indeed buy happiness and that it’s the most important thing in the world. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, it’s just a matter of what you believe in and your values.
...se cans out of our rivers and parks. Everyone should get involved with a local recycling program of some sorts. Every city has recycling bins for newspapers, paper, cans, bottles, plastics, almost everything there is. When people get involved, the landfills, and the environment will all be greatly inproved. So take the time to recycle and America will truly be a beautiful place to live.
Well that answer could not be so far from the truth, money can 't buy happiness. Sound like a contradiction? Did I get your attention?... According to Gregory Karp, money can make a person happy. In his article “Money CAN buy happiness,” Karp believes that money can bring happiness to acquire basic life needs but once those basic needs are met discretionary use of money will also bring happiness. He continues later on in the article to explain some suggestions on how to spend for happinessKarp’s first point in his article is that happiness needs to be bought to some degree. In order to have the ability to be happy you need to have the ability to pay for basic necessities such as food and shelter. In studies it can be seen that, “…once people had enough to meet their basic needs, somewhere between $8,000 and $25,000 or the equivalent of that in various spots around the world, happiness leveled out.” (). I agree with this statement because any person that is homeless, does not have adequate shelter, or the money for food and water has survival in mind. The mind is consumed with the need to live another day it does not have time to waste energy on obtaing happiness. Happiness is a balance between being physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually (Life of
Imagine you are on vacation on a cruise having a great time. You look around and see the ocean is covered with garbage. According to Discovermagazine.com, there are patches of garbage present in the middle of the oceans. If you collect all garbage in the oceans, it would be double in height to Mount Everest. According to climatechange.com, if we do not act immediately, not recycling is going to affect our environment. Refusing to recycle the waste materials would poison the food and water we use, leading to our death. Recycling affects the earth more than we can imagine. We’ve got be more aggressive towards reducing and reusing the waste material, as there is an increase in the amount of garbage production.
If one could get money everyday would that person be the happiest person alive? One's thoughts on this would be money only makes people happy in certain situations. If one was a millionaire and they got $20 it wouldn’t really make a difference to them. If someone was in poverty or close to being in poverty $20 make them super happy because they don’t have a lot of money. Money can only go so far with happiness because money can’t buy one’s family or friends, usually it takes personality and love to find those things. It’s understandable that people need money to do things, but in one’s opinion, if you put some thought into things and have friends/family their with one than one can be the happiest person
Recycling is an important asset to the world “going green”, (keeping the environment healthy), project people have been working on for at least a decade. Over the years the environment has suffered immensely because we humans haven’t done what is needed to make sure that our planet can flourish and evolve into its full potential. When we drive down the roads, or walk on the streets, or even relax in our own yards, we don’t think about the paper wrapper we just threw out the window, or the bottle we left on the park bench or the napkins we let fly off our table and were too lazy to pick up. A good percentage of the waste on our planet is due to exactly that. LAZINESS. Humans have this mind set that if they don’t want to do it, and they can get away with it, then usually they aren't going to do it. Plain and simple, people are just lazy. Basically, if everyone would just pick up after themselves, half of the worlds pollution and filth would be taken care of. The way to do this in a beneficial manner is simply by recycling.