Garbology Chapter 12

The final chapter of Garbology starts with Bea Johnson and her lack of care for things in her storage, she realized that those things were not neccessities. Humes explains how there is power in saying NO. Her family downsized and they were very happy because they did not need to clean as much and they stayed organized. They were living in a "near-zero-waste lifestyle" as Humes said. They also said money, Humes said that they saved 40 percent of what they were spending (Humes 270). Bea's idea of the American Dream made me ponder...big house and fancy cars and tons of stuff that are not really needed. This is the American Dream? To be filled with objects of any sort, anything and everything. What a waste. I like Bea's added R in the eco friendly 3 R's . So it was reduce, reuse, recycle, and now refuse. Since saying NO to things can benefit you in the long run. It is less things to throw away. Humes explains how the Johnson family is living in a zero-wate household. It was interesting to c how it works, they don't even use toothpaste tubes made of plastic. They started using toothpowder in glass jars. They don't even use cleaning supplies they use vinegar water a little soap on everything. Bea seems to very dedicated to making sure she does not waste, Humes said she even bring tubs of glass milk cartons at her market so she wont waste the plastic(Humes 276). I love the idea that Bea has about taking their children out for their birthdays to trips, instead of buying extra things/gifts. Humes said many people would point out all the things Bea was doing wrong, thats sad that after her hard work of helping our environment, people are getting mad at her for minor things. She is someone who many of us should look up to and we should follow her eco friendly ways. Humes ends the book by saying it is up to each one of us to make the difference. Changing our old wasteful habits is the only way to a clean and healthy environment. I have learned so much about this book, things that will always cross my mind. I now feel the guilt of throwing things away and that shows a change in habit.

two articles- continental drift and incinerators

The first article called "Continental Drift-How Much Might UK Waste Exports Grow? explains how Eunomia is headed for overcapacity and they are scared that soon the trash will build up so much that it will fall all on them. This article shows the different imports and exports from UK to other places. Most of Northern Europe has overcapacity as it shows on the maps. This article explains how exporting is better then incinerators as the UK does. The big question in the future for UK is if they should continue with the use of incinerators or even make them bigger. 

The next article "Burning waste has many negative environmental, social and health consequences" by Gaia explain how incinerators are very harmful because it is filled with many toxic chemicals that effects our air, water, and land. It is also stated that these toxins enter our food chain and they can cause many heath issues. They also explain how the ask from the incinerators need to have their own landfills because of all the ash. Due to the fact that this is a finite planet, it is crucial that very end this habit of consuming and disposing. This article states that it is better to recycle then to do the waste-to-engergy incinerators. It is sad to hear that they are proposing to putting incinerators in poor countries, not only are they suffering from shortages of food and other necessities but they have to live with even more health problems due to the toxins from these incinerators. 

Garbology Chapter 11

This chapter talks mostly about Portland, Oregon. Humes explains how they are very green and they even have more bicycle racks then actual parking space along with many bike lanes. They also have Alphine chalets which are cable cars which take people everywhere from downtown, to universities, to medical centers as Humes states.  Although Portland makes a lot of trash, they do all that they can to be green. They divert as much trash as they can. In Arlington they have a experimental process called plasma gastification that uses electrical energy to vaporize the trash. Humes states "This garbage death ray reduces trash volume by 99 percent, not even leaving ash behind"(Humes 251).  This process is very expensive unfortunately. I thought it would be an amazing way to get rid of trash! Another place Humes talks about is Copenhagen, Denmark. They seem to have it all worked out, from everyone on bikes, to energy independence, to using zero fossil fuels in the future. Only 3 to 4 percent of their trash goes to their landfills, Humes states. They are turning trash into a energy source. They keep waste to energy plants by their neighborhoods, saying that most are proud of it. Denmark runs most of its power on wind! The rest in energy from their trash!

Garbology Chapter 10

 Chapter 10 was eye catching to me because instead of just talking the talk, Andy Keller made a solution to our trash crisis. His focus was on the plastic bags, he went to the landfill and was astonished by the amount of plastic bags dumped there. He came up with a solution, and Humes says he wasn't even a skilled worker in this particular subject. He started making reusable bags to substitute plastic bags called ChicoBags. He started selling them but it was slow as many of us know that people find it more convenient to just get plastic bags. I think he is very smart for selling it to schools as funrasier instaed of candies that schools already selled. This way, it was healthy and eco-friendly. Schools started to sell them and Keller relly got dediated to it as he would go edcuare the students on the amount of plastic nags being used. Humes says they did an experiment where everyone would get as much plastic bags as they had form home, bring it to school, and see how many times it wnet arounf the school. Everyone was surpiresded with the amount. Keller breally opened the eyes of many. He also came up with "Bag Monster" it was sort of like a mascot as u can see in the picture above. Humes states that schools loved hime and would want him to go make demonstrations about why plastic bags are bad. He even made a website about bag monster and he made tour where he would show people why plastic was bad and his friends helped by doing the same. He really is passionate about trying to ban plastic bags! Sadly plastic bag companise started getting mad with the Bag Monster, but then Humes states that San Francisco banned the use of plastic bags in grocery stores! There were so many other places that took the heat from plastic companies and it became a plastic war!

Garbology Chapter 9

Chapter 9 is very interesting because Humes talks about how trash was used as art. I though tit was very creative and a good way to educate people on the amount of trash that is being thrown away. It was interesting to me that in San Francisco , they had to separate their trash into different piles or else they would be fined! Humes states 1,000 dollars fine! That to me seemed like a great idea because people will be more willing to help their environment in a orderly system. The residents in San Francisco would have campaigns about getting rid of trash or even just making others be aware of the garbage crisis. They would use their art to symbolize the overload of trash in the environment. Hume also explains what recycling theft is and why it is important to watch out for. Basically it is when people grab things from others' recycling bins and go to recycling centers and sell them as their own, doing so effects the garbage/recycling companies because they waste gas and time coming to pick up peoples recycling. When they get there, the recycling bins are empty. The Dump seemed so intersting, many that work their are fascinated with the trash they get and Humes states that they act like archeologists or scientists figuring out the uses for the trash. It is definitely a different way to look at our trash crisis.

Garbology Chapter 8

This chapter did not really catch my attention, although some parts were important to know. Bill Rathje, the archeologist, started a garbage project which basically was used with his students. They did independent projects on the difference in trash between a poor family and a rich family. They said it was pretty equal but the poor family spent more on child education. There was one quote that Rathje said that I found very true "Most people don't know their trash...but through their trash, we sure do know a lot about them."I found that very interesting and also very true. Trash can tell you so much about the person throwing it away, even in the ancient times. Archeologist have found out so much about the past from their trash. That is very interesting. Due to the successful experiment with the two families (the poor and rich) , the Garbage Project became huge and spread more and more. They used the garbage project from examining food wastes to toxic household waste. The Garbage Project also helped with the incomes and demographics in different neighborhoods.

Response to article about incinerators

The question was "How would you feel about having one of these state-of-the-art plants — lovely or unlovely — in your town, in your neighborhood?"

 I wouldn't mind having it in my town because it is helping get rid of trash and our planet is already very toxic so a incinerator isn't going to harm us as much as we are doing already. I think ot would be a good idea especially because it gives off electricity and heat. 

Garbology Chapter 7

This chapter was odd for me because I never knew that trash could be tracked! I thought it was just trash, like it didn't matter where it went. So they would put a electronic tracker in the trash and locate where it would end up from what I took of it. Seattle is very eco-friendly and it was interesting to find pout that they recycle about 50 percent due to the Trash Track as it states in Garbology, page 148. There were three ways the trash technology would work and Humes was very descriptive about it. So Humes explains how many electronics were disposed and as I looked at the chart, I realized most of them had a high rate of disposed. Very little was recycled, that was very sad to hear. all these things that spend tons of money on aren't even being reused. So we are basically buying things to just throw away later. Just for temporary entertainment.

Garbology Chapter 6

This chapter was so interesting and I really learned so much! First off, I really respect Miriam Goldstein, the scientist, because she has so much dedication to do all these experiments on plastic in the ocean. She even says that it is more difficult to examine plastic in the ocean then an archeologist or paleontologist because you cant know the exact age of the plastic. So most experiments are difficult to declare, due to uncertain elements. In other words, they cant say exactly where and when the plastic got to where it is. Humes really shows how he feels about the plastic in the trash and from what I got, he seems to be very annoyed and worried about it. The sad part was learning about how the sea animals had little plastics in their body, which then transfers to our body due to seafood markets and restaurants. Another thing that caught my attention was when Humes said that Goldstein, "Pacific Garbage Patch", found garbage floating around twice as large as Texas!!! You could find that on page 130 of Garbology. He also blames it all on man-kind, because he says "as Goldenstein points out, there's really nothing to debate about who and what is turning the oceans into plastic soup, as plastic is a completely man-made substance"(Humes 135). When I read this quote, I put 3 stars by it to show how much I loved that! I mean, he does have a point and it clearly shows that it is man-kind's fault. There was so much information in this chapter, I spent so long highlighting things and writing little notes and stars for things I not only found interesting, but that I agreed with.

Review of "19-year-old student develops..."

First off let me just say how amazing it is that this boy is only 19 years old! If he can think of the solution to helping our environment, why can't the government? I mean he thought of something that can get rid of more then 7 million tons of trash! He thought of a way that can separate plastic from the plankton so the fish would not mix them up. It is greta that this method would save money, trash clean ups, and our environment. I do not see why we can't go along with his method, the least we can do is use less plastic.

Review for "Plastic in Pacific..." Article

It was so shocking to read that the garbage in the Pacific Garbage Patch is 100 times more then it was around 40 years ago! That's crazy! I never knew how horrible plastic was until I read that most of the oceans surface was filled with thousands of it. Not only is it surrounding our land but it is stuck inside the stomachs of the fish in the sea. Which is also stated in Garbology. I get the land being polluted with tons of garbage but the ocean? Next time I visit the ocean, it might not be as relaxing.

Garbology Chapter 5

This was one of the most interesting chapters of the book so far because it dealt with the ocean. I never realized how much garbage affects our ocean! I mean it is crazy to think about the amount of trash dumped into the water. It was sad to read about how many marine mammals and birds died due to the amounts of garbage thrown in the ocean. Another part that really got my attention was when Humes said that the little pieces of plastic floats around the ocean, the little fish eat the plastic thinking it is plankton, then the bigger fish eat the little fish, then we eat the big fish. So, in other words we have plastic in our body! It even said that there are little plastics our in our body washes which are substituting bar soap. It seems so weird to learn about all these plastics stuck in places you would never expect. It was really odd to learn about nurdles, which are basically pre plastic beads almost like liquid. It was said that 10 percent of beach clean ups consist of nurdles. Now when I go to the beach, I am going to be more aware of all that was stated in chapter 5.

Garbology Chapter 4

Chapter 4 was very interesting to me , there were many great facts to help me with the upcoming essay. For example, David Steiner is a very good person to use to explain how trash can be very important since he is CEO for a trash company. To many it can be a career and I must say, it seems to be a very stable one at that. They were looking for a solution to how trash can be high in value on page 84. The part that I thought was smart was taking out the valuable things from the item and then just throwing away the rest. I feel as if that will decrease the amount of trash being thrown away and will give Puente Hills more time to stay open. I feel that Humes was trying to explain to his readers that these trash companies are doing everything they can to make people throw trash away since they are receiving money, stable money. It seems like a absurd cycle. The government and media brainwash the people to buy, buy, buy and then those consumers throw away their trash into the trash company, giving them money, which then goes back to the government, I think they will keep doing so as it is the cycle of dirty,toxic money. It was sad to read that Puente Hills consumed most of the money saved up for a different solution to the trash nightmare.

Review of "Museum of Trash"

This article was very easy to understand which in many ways, made me more interested. Dave seemed very passionate and dedicated to his experiment, 365 Days of Trash. I found it very humorous that he had caught the museums' attention by keeping all his trash for a year, now he gets his own exhibit! The fascinating part was, as he was doing his experiment, he only used 28. 5 pounds of trash that year. An average person wastes 4.5 pounds of trash in one day, so Dave did great! Although this article was not long, there were a lot of interesting events for Dave. I actually would love to see a museum of trash or even visit Puente Hills! It is a definite eye opener to how cluttered and toxic our world really is.

Review of "Story of Stuff" video

This article was a real eye opener! The video was so interesting and had so much information i knew very little about. The reality of throwing away our trash. This video reminded me of Garbology in so many ways. The very first part of the video really caught my attention, I love they used drawings because it made me understand way more then just imagining it. The fact that we used 1/3 of our natural resources already is such a surprising fact! It makes me wonder what will happen in a few more decades. The toxic she spoke about in the video really fascinated me, the fact that we use chemicals on everything we own even our pillows, which can be danger to our health and effect our brains, seems unnecessary to me. There is way more toxins then I thought, in the air and on everything we touch. When she spoke about how even breast milk is toxic, I began to realize how intoxicating our environment really is. It's sad how much toxins we have in our body from these factories and fumes in the air. This video was very helpful to me and I took a lot from it. I mean the fact that we use 4.5 pounds of garbage daily in absolutely ridiculous! The part that really intrigued me was when she explained how our trash cycle could end and we can begin to reuse and detoxify everything from plastic bags to our environment just by never throwing away our trash in the landfills such as Puente Hills.

Edward Humes Garabolgy Interview

This was very helpful into understanding the book a little better because he explains how he felt about the trash and well it is easier to read it when he is actually speaking. I can tell he is very passionate about garbage and how to end this endless nightmare of trash. Although he spoke about thing I have not read yet, I understood him very well. I found it sadly fascinating that the trash goes in the ocean too and it is harming the food chain. He explains how they have found plastic in the fish that eat the plankton type organism which is eating the plastic from what we throw about in our garbage. As I read on I started to freak out thinking about when I go have sushi...am I eating the fish that was eating the plastic? Then I read on and they were talking about how that was the fear for a lot of people. I also learned about Nurdle which is basically plastic of some sort but it can be the texture of fluid. They spoke about how you could see it as the beach in the sand. I started to ponder about the times i found pieces of plastic that i thought was a seashell, turns out its nurdle coming from the ocean. It is sad to think that our oceans are being filled with plastic. Humes explained that plastic was actually a way of reusing and was made to last forever and now it is one of the highest trash items in landfills. It has really opened by eyes to things I never even thought of that effect my life and everyone else's.

Garbology Chapter 3

   Chapter 3 of Garbology was very interesting, I love that in this chapter it got into detail about the different ways of getting rid of the trash such as the pigs. They used the pigs as a tool to eat the garbage which seemed like a great idea but as I was reading that part of the chapter, I kept thinking to myself, how is this going to last? Isn't this harming the pigs? Wouldn't this effect not only the pigs health but our health too? As I kept reading I was soon to find out that it was harming us, the humans, just as much as the pigs. The zoology chief, Willard H. Wright was explaining how most of the population was feeding the pigs their trash. Swine flu began to grow as did other diseases because the meat of the pigs were in fact toxic. By keeping the pig trash eating idea they thought they would cook the pig very well before selling and buying the pig but as it turns out money became a huge factor. Then again isn't it always a big factor. I got so tired of reading all these different ideas to benefit the lessening of our trash being cut out or even banned by insufficient funds. It aggravates me to think that we as Americans make millions of billions of dollars on the "new" products out there but we can't save money to find an easy way to get rid of trash. In my opinion I think that Humes is trying to state exactly that. He writes about all these ideas that we have thought of but cut out because of financial matters. Is he trying to say that we should just follow through with one and just give up the money? Even if I am way off of what he is trying to state in some weird way I feel as if my opinion can be right in some sort. He states also in chapter 3 how the incinerators became too expensive as well, and well that one seems understandable to shut down due to heavy effect on our fragile environment. I learned a lot in this chapter and I am beginning to grow stronger on my on voice of the problem of trash.    

Garbology Chapter 2

   Chapter two begins with New York and how they basically turned the city into a dump before landfills of trash were created. I find it humorous that New York was known as the pigs, now it is one of the most popular states out there. It was vile to find out that the sea men would smell the trash from miles and miles away, goes to show how filthy it was there. Then health issues rose and finally they came to their senses that trash is the number one issue. They began to collect the trash and recycle which would take away some of the filth off the streets, at least. The landfills were not made like the Puente Hills it was a opened spaced bug infested land. There were so many problems with the health codes and finical matters, making it difficult to clean up NYC tot he fullest. Although NYC was not the only city to be filled with trash and filth, it was one of the worst. Why not burn the trash? That seemed like such a great idea right? well, thats what I thought until I read about dangerous and poisonous the fumes were.The Smokey Joes as they were called added so much pollution making the environment cancerous and horrifyingly dangerous.Doing so would not better the trash problem. It added problems. What other ways are their to get rid of all this trash?

Garbology Chapter 1

   In chapter one we learn about Puente Hills landfill which was built by Mike Speiser for the most part. Puente Hills has become LA's trash can having over 130 million tons of trash. It was very surprising to find out how much trash is actually thrown away. They use the BOMAG which is basically used to crush the trash and turned into piles of trash which look like mountains. It's hard to grasp the idea that people like you and me are the reason we need to use BOMAG and why Puente Hills is wasted as dump instead of something more important. It is horrifying to imagine hundreds of thousands of dirty diapers and rotting foods all stuck in one place and adds by the second. The fact that this has been a ongoing issue for decades is what annoys me. With all the technology and new inventions out there why is it so difficult to get rid of trash? Why is it that the one thing that has a huge impact on the environment is not given the attention it needs. The scariest part to me was reading about how one day all this trash could collapse on us. How can something this big not register into my head every single time I would throw away an item, it was being thrown into Puente Hills landfill.

Garbology Intro

   Although garbage is not what most are intrigued by, it has become very fascinating me. The fact that people have died because of their own trash really goes to show how much trash can impact your life. There can be a vary of arguments about trash. One can say that hoarding is wrong and that the trash should be thrown away but then another says by throwing items, it is waste as it can be used again. I was confused until one part of the book made me understand the truth. It was in the intro and it basically said that all people are considered hoarders some to landfills and others to their homes. We all throw things away but what was amazingly horrifying to me was how much exactly. In chapter one, it is said that there is 12,000 tons of trash a day! Either way we are all hoarders. Americans alone throw away around 389.5 million tons of trash and is still going. Day by day it just adds and adds. I also found it interesting to read about Zhang Yin who was China's first woman billionaire. The humorous part was it was that those billions of dollars started from a paper company who would take America's thrown out pieces of paper send it to China and then China would turn it into cardboard boxes thatwere  shipped to America, then America would throw it away again. It was like a money cycle. Another way of making money out of trash was Harvard's yard sales which was made up of abandoned items in the dorms of the students. It is very successful and seems like a great way to get rid of trash but my question is...aren't all the items in that yard sale going to be thrown into a landfill in a few years anyways? It just seems like no matter what we do trash will always be around.

English 113a

Garbology is very educational