Evaluating Affluenza’s:
Plastic Pollution Problem
Since 1950, Americans alone have used more resources than everyone who ever lived before them. Each American individual uses over twenty tons of basic raw materials annually and over two million plastic bottles an hour. Just by Americans alone, the total yearly waste could fill up multiple garbage trucks and wrap around Earth six times and reach half way to the moon. In the book Affluenza by John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor they state, “In 1996, we used nearly a third of its resources and produced almost half of its hazardous waste” (--). Which has resulted in millions of tons of plastic that has entered the oceans. The survival of many species are being jeopardized by the plastic
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Large mammals such as whales, consume over 24,000 tons of plastic per year. The survival of many species, including the Hawaiian Monk Seal and the Loggerhead Turtle are being jeopardized and are nearly extinct. “The economical effects of plastic pollution cause an estimated $1.27 billion dollars in vessel damages per year and the cost of removing this debris cost $1,500 to $25,000 per ton” (Sounds Like Garbage). That’s over 13 billion dollars the government is using each year to try and remove some percentage of the plastic debris that has accumulated over the years. Plastic pollution also releases toxic chemicals that are being absorbed by the plastic, increasing the concentration a million times more. Which results in toxic chemicals entering our food chain that leads towards cancer, malformation, breast cancer, and even death. If plastic pollution continues to go unsolved, the ecological, economical and eco-toxicological effects it has had will basically begin, no it has already began, to destroy Earth and we are the ones who did this to …show more content…
“By using a 100 km-long floating barrier to let the ocean currents concentrate the plastic themselves and is deployed for ten years it will be able to removed forty-two percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch” (The Ocean Cleanup). However, this technology is still in its pilot stages and will be deployed to ensure success of this method in August 2016. So how will this barrier collect the plastic? The plastic will be stored in an internal buffer, a machine that stores and collects plastic, which will need to be emptied every five months. With the plastic collected it will be used to make new objects that can be made from plastic. If the pilot does well and collects the plastic like it’s suppose to do, a bigger floating barrier will be made to be put in five different gyres around the
Which means their obviously bad for the aquatic marine life environment & are cause many different forms of damage for them & us as one. On p.g. 23 of The New York Times upfront magazine “Birds,fish, sea turtles, & others are getting tangled in plastic bags or mistake them for food & choke”. Someone else might argue that they could the plastic bags in landfills instead of oceans. But that counter- argument is flawed because you’re just polluting by burning plastic which is bad on our part we’re not doing our part to support & taking care of the earth. Plastic in the ocean isn't just bad for plants & animals but for humans too because of the food chain some of us eat animals as a meat source such as aqua marine life like fish. If the fishermen catch fish that have been eating plastic then it's in our food supply if we eat that fish it's gonna be bad for us so many will end up getting sick from the plastic inside of the fish then what will we do our aqua marine food supply will go down the drain we couldn’t eat the fish since it's basically contaminated with plastic that we’re dumping there instead of trying to fix it & getting rid of plastic bags for good for the good of the earth. We’re causing damage towards the earth by dumping all that plastic into the ocean which damages our water supply it’ll poison us although we clean the water it depends on how big the plastic particles are, it’ll make us sick & sense it’s been lying in the oceans could bring in new pathogens &
There is an epidemic widespread throughout the country. A highly contagious disease of being out of control; overconsumption, and the symptoms normally include compulsive shopping,
Affluenza is the mitigating factor during the homicide trail of a wealthy teenager in Texas who happened to be a white person. The affluenza defense is obvious a double standard of the rich and poor and there is speculation if the defendant was a poor black teenager if they would have the same considerations of punishment from the judges. It is obvious that race and other demographic characteristics have to do with the beliefs and behaviors of Mr. Couch. If affluenza is a feeling of entitlement then his beliefs and behaviors are selfish. But that does not give the teenager a pass from right and wrong decisions based on his behaviors. Everyone must conform to the rules of culture regardless of family culture or the rules of the groups to which
Most of the necessities humans need are provided in supermarkets, in fact supermarkets have become a necessity for our everyday life. They are now the main source of water, food, clothes and everyday tools. Therefore, the plastic bags demanded and supplied in this industry increase every day. In the past decade, we produced as much plastic as we did in the whole twentieth century (Freinkel, 2011). This exponential increase of a non-biodegradable material has negatively impacted our environment immensely. Plastic production requires our dwindling fossil fuel resources, robs away animal lives, litters our beautiful landscapes and even affects our very own well-being. Hence, if plastic production doesn’t diminish immediately, we will suffer great
“Until this century [20th], to consume was considered a bad thing” says Jeremy Rifkin an
Recently, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean was found to be polluted with 38 million pieces of plastic that had been carried over by currents (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific island”). The island, dubbed ‘trash island’, is home to diverse animal populations that have all been devastated by the pollution. On the beach, hundreds of birds were seen dead by reporters and scientists. When analyzed, the primary cause of death turned out to be consumption of plastic. When animals ingest plastic, it clogs their stomach and poisons their body with toxic chemicals. These toxic chemicals cause an array of issues, such as reproductive and endocrine problems. Eventually, this leads to death (Knoblauch, “The environmental toll of plastics”). But due to the nature of plastics, it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to completely degrade, meaning that as plastic pollution continues to build up, more places like ‘trash island’ will be discovered. According to conservation scientist Alex Bond, “…[The island] is just an indicator of what’s floating around out there” (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific
This pollution problem is so ubiquitous plastic can be found throughout the marine environment from coastlines to near shore lagoons to remote ocean hotspots where plastics caught up in marine currents. And gathered up into huge garbage patches that swirl
In todays society, the culture that the young children of our generation have been exposed to negates the positive values we try to instill in them at home and in our schools. In Affluenza by John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor, an analogy of a horrible disease provides a outstanding basis in which we can observe and learn about what ways our society is becoming desensitized towards positivity, intelligence, modesty, creativity and beauty. The next generation is always the most important when the one before ages. Early in child’s life, family stability and the right information from the world around them are so important. In Affluenza, examples and ideas are provided proving that the marketplace negatively affects the development
Every time we throw away a plastic bottle, drive our cars, and even burn those millions of fossil fuels to operate all those huge factories, there is a chance it will pollute the ocean and eventually affect the way we live. There should be stricter laws regulating human pollution, in order to protect our ocean ecosystem. The ocean is an abundant source of life. It is home to thousands of different creatures, provides a great source of food, and provides the earth with about one half of the oxygen needed to sustain life. National Geographic: Pollution, especially plastic, is a catastrophic problem.
Norman Mailer observed, “To blame the poor for subsisting on welfare has no justice unless we are also willing to judge every rich member of society by how productive he or she is. Taken individual by individual, it is likely that there are more idleness and abuse of government favors among the economically privileged than among the ranks of the disadvantaged.” According to Norman Mailer, the rich and those who do not use welfare, are constantly blaming them for the abuse of the welfare system. However, this is not the case, as Mailer believes that the rich have abused and exploited more government freebies than that of the poor on welfare have. To begin, let us dissect the phrase that everyone has heard about; The richer get richer while
The world population is living, working, and vacationing along the coasts. They are contributing to an unprecedented tide of plastic waste. Pollution is defined as the process that alters a substance or molecule on planet earth, the pollution is caused by the physical contact of an organic decaying particle with a clean particle in the same spot, at the time the two particles join together is when occurs pollution in which the environment is greatly altered. Too many, plastic is a modern day miracle, versatile, inexpensive and durable (Rochman 2014). To others, it is a scourge, a non-degradable pollutant that threatens to choke the global environment. Plastic pollution has led to the deaths of many animals, natural resources, and people (Rochman 2014). It is time to change America’s thinking and to learn from past mistakes.
Using plastic bags are second nature to people in this day and age. Warner acknowledges, “Much to the dismay of the environmentally conscious citizens worldwide, the ubiquity of the free plastic carryout bag has bred nonchalant consumers who take this modern convenience for granted” (646). Although some people are conscious about the environment, people strive more for convenience and do not think about the impacts using bags have not only on the environment, but on themselves as well. If something is bad for the environment, it will alternatively be bad for humans as well. When plastic bags are exposed to the sun from being littered all around, the ultraviolet rays cause the substances of plastic bags to weaken. After the substances weaken, the substances become invisible to the naked eye. The substances that are no longer able to be seen are toxic to humans (Warner 649). As a result of plastic bags being littered around, animals consume plastic bags. This is negatively affects humans because animals are often consumed. When humans consume animals like, fish, there can be plastic in the fish’s belly, which then transfers to the humans and this poses a concern for human’s health. Humans are negatively affected by plastic bags because of the toxic chemicals in plastic bags, as well as, consuming animals with plastic in their
Although plastic bags appear to be fragile and light, their negative environmental effect is devastating. Plastic bags may cause large amounts of pollution in every step of their limited life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, production, transportation, and recycling or disposal. Plastic bags can be defined as the most damaging form of environmental pollution. They can have a damaging effect on marine animals and wildlife in addition to the aesthetic effects on beaches, parks, and trees. Plastic bags are potentially one of the main causes of death to marine animals (Harbor keepers,2008). Up to one hundred thousand marine animals or more die each year from eating plastic bags which are mistaken for food. This can result in blocking the animal’s intestines and possibly lead to the animal’s death. Another possible situation is that wildlife, such as birds, can get tangled in plastic bags causing choking and immobility, which may eventually lead to death. (Senior, 2008) and (Citizen Campaign, 2010). In other situations, after plastic bags photo degrade they remain toxic and could be eaten by fish, shellfish or any other marine life and survive this allows the toxins to enter our food chain through bioaccumulation (Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, 2011).
It is sad to say but humans have played their part in deteriorating the earth. We have polluted and killed the very thing that takes care of us. If you ride by any lake or river you find trash and debris around it. In the “The Call of the Wild” the author says that we have committed war against the earth by the dumping of poisons and explosives upon it (337). Unfortunately, plastics are the things that are doing the most harm to our environment. Plastics are convenient and we use them everyday and these are the things that we find in the oceans, rivers and lakes. They are harmful to the earth as well as human health by directly intoxicating us with lead, cadmium and mercury. Plastic debris laced with harmful chemicals are often found inside of our marine life and can poison them. Plastic can survive for thousands of years and many invasive species are found in them which can disrupt our habitats. We need to limit our consumption of plastics and make sure that they are disposed of in their proper places.
Research from the University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography said that species in the ocean consume a projected 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic every year in the Pacific Ocean (Nall, 2014). Pollution of recyclable materials in the oceans is one of the leading causes of why some marine species are nearing extinction. Many authors of articles and books analyzing this topic tend to agree that pollution of our oceans is a problem. The future of this problem is where their ideas tend to differ. The following four literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support my belief that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there are things that we as humans can do to change this. Imagine a world where we didn’t have to constantly worry about the vicious cycle of humans affecting animals and then animals in turn affecting us through consumption.