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Not quite. For the last month or so I have been waiting to post my final blog in order to get some things in order. Mostly, it gave me a chance to propose these ideas to different communities I am involved in and reflect on their reaction. Statistically speaking, Over the past three months I have saved about $45. There are two different ways I was able to save this money.
1 – Reduction in use of water bottles (only using one) = $25.
2 – Avoidance of buying plastic items (mostly drinks) = $20.
Before this project, I would have at least one water everyday from packages that cost about $6 for every 24 bottles. More often than not, I would buy other bottles for convenience in the price range of $1 to $1.25. So, $25 is a rough estimate.
Also during this project, anytime I would be purchasing an item that was contained in plastic, I would avoid it and wait until I could make another choice. For the amount of coffe, tea, other drinks, or food that I refused to buy, I estimate I saved at least $20.
Both of these estimates are not very precise, and would vary for each person. I’m not a large coffee drinker, in fact, I drink water most of the time. So, for someone else who doesn’t drink water much but enjoys sodas and other flavored/caffeinated drinks – the result would be different. However, there is no doubt that money would be saved here.
Although I attempted to g out how this project looked for me financially, I reflect more on how much I did not consume when I could have made the simple and easy choice to do so. My financial stats do not contain all of the to-go cartons I never used, the daily newspaper I put back on the rack (except for the crossword..), and it does not contain all of the efforts I made to make environmentally conscious decisions rather than ones for my own convenience.
In my communities I gained much more of a perspective of where my peers thoughts were. Up until my last blog all my feedback had been from people who had never thought twice about recycling or their consumption levels. When they heard what I had to say, I usually realized they had stopped listening as soon as I said the word, “recycle” or “reduce”. I was plesantly suprised! In my English class for example, I teamed up with another girl from my class to present ways to recycle on campus. We did a presentation of all of the local opportunities here, and of all the ways you can reduce your consumption on a daily basis. On the day of our presentation, out of all 6 groups that presented THREE were about environmental topics! One even said that hybrid cars were just a capitalist ploy to get money, because in the longevity of their life they have 25% more emissions than normal cars. WHAT?! I have no idea where he got his information, but wow. Is this true? I haven’t gotten the opportunity to check around. But my point is – I totally underestimated my classmates motives and ideas. Needless to say, I was glad to know other people were at least thinking about their choices, and attempting to educate others.
Another plesant suprise I had was finding out information that related so closely to this topic in the most unusual places. I was coming out of one of the residence hall dining centers, and they were handing out bags. They were reusable shopping bags. And sure, we’ve all seen these before. But it had some interesting information on it. Zero paper bags can biodegrade in landfills because of the lack of oxygen. Fourteen of the plastic bags contain enough petroleum to drive a care ONE MILE. There website has other sorts of information and resources at www.onebagatatime.com.
In the end, I have hope. I have hope that we can turn this around, and do what is best for each other and the world that we live in. Ultimately, we have to reduce. That is the only thing that will help solve the problem. Without it, we will always be searching for some sort of unknown solution with energy, recycling, and many other obstacles. People will definitely say they support these actions, and even that they believe it is necessary. But they must act. Action is crucial if we want anything and everything that needs to happen become a reality.
To summarize (but never finish), there is no such thing as “Out of sight, Out of mind” so let’s get rid of this idea. We do affect what is going on in our waters like the collection of plastic waste in a plastic garbage patch. We must act NOW. We are never in this alone.
RALLY CRY: ONE PERSON CAN DO IT!
Ever since I began this blog, I’ve been very vocal about my project and findings that have come along with it. My friends are constantly noticing the millions of facts I continue to rattle off about waste. I’ve been explaining these findings to my communities and most people have been very responsive.
First I started by simply asking people what they thought about recycling. I asked people from my residence hall, classes, and even over the internet chatting. Most people refer to this ‘being green’ as something they supported. Statements were continually made about how recycling was “good” and that we needed more of it. Some people however, said that they didn’t recycle and they really never thought much of it. Global warming was something that they had no affect on, and people just needed to keep on living their life. But, many general statements were made about how we are running out of resources and we need to do something about it! That’s about where the conversation ended. The final statements were general and there was no more discussion. For the majority of people that I talked to they supported recycling and the efforts surrounding it. But only with intention. There was no action, no discussion of solutions, and no discussion of how we, the consumer, play a role with our waste.
Particularly when I was saying the facts that I learned in class or from my project, I had emotionally engaged responses. This is also when I found out the most about the actual actions of the people in my community and campus of K-State. I heard from a girl in my English class that she was in a newly formed group that collected recycling after three of the football games this year when everyone left the stadium. Now, remember, the local recycling plant only recycles plastics #1, and #2, reducing the amount that can actually be recycled. In the three games they picked up after, they recycled more than 8 times the amount that our campus recycled in the last year. WHAT?! That’s unbelievable. And no, I don’t know the exact figures because this is only word of mouth, but that number is astonishing. Just think of how much waste that has been in the past and continues to be at athletic events? And think of how many athletic events there are around the WORLD. I wonder how much of that waste has ended up in the pacific.
When I talked to my friend about this, I got to go a little more in depth about it. Her intention is great – I mean, she really supports reducing and recycling (even though I still have to pull things out of the trash sometimes). And I asked what she thought about the Pacific “Garbage Patch” or “Trash Island”. She told me that when she first heard about it, it made her sick. With more explaining, she told me she wished more people knew about it. Yes, I totally agree. I wish more people knew about it! But would that change anything? I mean, she still knows, but that doesn’t keep her from putting cardboard/plastic cups in the trash. And it doesn’t stop other people from buying more and more things continuing the cycle of consumption to waste. So would this knowledge of the Garbage Patch change anything? A professor here teaching one of the most popular classes at K-State always mentions this topic (which is how I found out about it). How many of those people are moved to reduce, reuse, and then recycle? If we’re going off of the ratio of my friends who took that class and found out, the answer would be not many.
I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the commuties here, or at least the one’s I’m involved in, have big intent to make changes and reduce the waste of plastic. However, the actions are lacking and it’s leaving a large impact on our world. This is what has to change. Action is needed.
Action is NECESSARY.
Question of the day: What’s your trash bin made out of? Plastic?
On Tuesday, we had a speaker come in to talk about different environmental issues. In his handouts it had the statistics that we throw away 40 million water bottles in the US per day. WHAT?! That’s 14,600,000,000 a year. Imagine how many of those are floating in the Pacific Ocean (let alone our own landfills and waterways). Well this certainly encouraged me to continue with this personal change I’ve implemented. Such as not using water bottles! In the last week I have given up the usage of water bottles. I live in the Residence Halls, so at first I thought this might be a large feat. But I’ve started using one cup to keep fresh water in from the water fountain down the hall. I’ve also stopped getting drinks to go, to reduce my consumption of plastic. That was a huge way I was consuming – using plastic cups getting drinks wherever I went.
Recycling isn’t really the best option here, because it takes so much energy to do so! This is why I believe reducing the use and consumption is crucial. Recycling is important once the plastic needs to be disposed of, but with the reduction in how much we use then there won’t be as much plastic that exists! It reminds me of the supply and demand theories. Without the demand, companies will not supply. Without the demand, companies know that they won’t make money on a product – in the end, they do not produce it. Hence, reducing consumption is key.
Yesterday was the first day that I bought any type of container in about a week, and yes, it was a water bottle. Not getting as many as I used to (which was about one a day) has saved me loads financially. Although I know my project isn’t about my financial gain, this has still been a definite part of the aftermath of my reduction in use of these plastics.
I’ve also stopped getting food to-go unless I undoubtedly have to, which can usually be avoided by good time management. There are many ways to get paper covers on food to-go (that you can recycle) and you can also take your own containers to restaurants. Both of these options reduce the use of plastic. In the remaining time of this project I plan on implementing many personal changes in reduction of my use as I’ve done in the examples above. The list consists of:
– NO USING WATER BOTTLES
– Always eat food on dishes I can wash
– Avoid purchasing plastic items at all costs
My mode of attack: Reduse and reuse, and in the end, RECYCLE.
There are so many options, that it shocks me when talk of the difficulties of this task arises. YES, it is definitely not as simple as just dumping it in the trash, but with so many options (especially to reduce…), why not make the change?!
Whew! I may or may not have done a ton of repeating myself in this entry. But all for clarifications sake – right?
I’ll keep you updated on how the personal change continues!
Please, don’t get me wrong, I am in full support of raising money to give students awards that cannot financially afford to attend our school. But do we need a plastic bracelet packaged in an individual baggie (not sure how to spell that), and about 100 of those in a larger plastic bag, packed with about 6 other large bag in a cardboard box? Consume, Consume, Consume – that’s all I’m seeing now adays.
With these thoughts constatly running through my head, I have to wonder what our own waste amounts to. According to <http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/solidwaste.html> the United States trash amounts to 4.6 pounds per person every day. That’s 230 million TONS per year. Of these tons, less than one-quarter of it is recycled. Also more than 70 percent of landfill waste could be recycled. Unbelievable. All those times I thought to myself “oh, it’s just one water bottle I’m throwing away…” the rest of the country was too. I thought the garbage patch in the middle of the ocean was bad with only 7 million tons. But 230 million? Where has all that gone?!? Out of sight, out of mind. It’s all still there in landfills around our nation (in this case, not even including the WORLD). If we could recycle the full 70 percent in landfills, what kind of difference would that make? A huge one.
But how do we recycle if we don’t have the outlet? What do we do with our potentially recyclable objects? At Howie’s Recycling Center (www.howiesrecycling.com) here in Manhattan, only a portion of what can be recycled is actually taken:
#1 and #2 only
So do we hold onto our plastics or throw them into the garbage can? We know what that answer is for most of the population – including what that has been for myself. This is one of the frequently asked questions he posts:
Why should I consider recycling?
– Recycling eases the landfill burden.
– Recycling saves energy and natural resources.
– Recycling reduces litter and contributes to a cleaner environment.
– You get paid for it!
“You get paid for it!” Really? The answer to consider recycling is to get paid for it? I’m definitely not trying to knock on Howie here, but its eye-opening to see that the incentive for reducing our destruction is to get paid. But that begs the next question. Do we continue to use this incentive for people if we want them to change their understanding of the earth’s resources.
I continue to be confirmed in the way that a huge issue is the theories behind consumption. Or perhaps a more fitting statement would be the lack of theory. If we get paid for recycling, then what promotes the ideas of reduction of use? What encourages the population to use materials that will decompose and not filled with chemicals? And what about the plastics that can’t be recycled? For example, all those little baggies holding the bracelets for K-State Proud. What promotes us to reduce how much plastic is used in that situation?
By gaining this knowledge, I’m reflecting on this topic of how our waste amounts in Manhattan. What am I putting into a landfill? How could I reduce my consumption? How does Manhattan affect the Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean? How can I make an impactful difference in my ways?
These are questions I’ll be asking myself as I make personal changes. I’ll keep you updated.
Feb. 11, 2010
Over consumption is a huge problem in our world today. This semester I’ve become increasingly aware of how much I consume alone. And if everyone consumes as much as I do, we’ve got a big problem. I’ve realized, that there are many who consume and waste much more. I’ve been thrown into a multitudes of thoughts about what I can do and how I can make a difference in the issue of waste. My first thought goes to all the plastic. What’s happened to all of it? Where has it gone? It’s gone simply out of sight. In our society, when it’s out of sight – it’s out of mind. All plastic is still around. All our waste is still here. It’s all on the land and in the water: rivers, lakes, streams, and the ocean.
I don’t know all the facts. But, I do know there are seven million tons of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean forming an “island” or “patch” larger in size than the state of Texas. Many people do not know much or have never heard about this area of waste. Most people in Manhattan, KS may have no idea how they affect this issue themselves. When I first heard of this I was utterly shocked! Why had I never heard of this before? Can this really exist? Does this really exist? Over the next 5 weeks, I have many questions of areas I would like to explore on this topic. Some questions I have are: How exactly do we in Manhattan affect “Trash Island”? Is anything being done about the floating plastic? Is it just the Pacific Ocean we need to worry about? What are the problems here? What is it I can do to make a difference?
This is not purely an issue of how we stop getting our plastic in the ocean; it is an issue of how we stop wasting to the extent of which we do now. More questions need to be answered in that manner. Pacific ocean waste may be an incredibly large example, but it is one of the ongoing problems we face around “garbage”. For my study, I am going to research how Manhattan wastes plastic, how the community is affected, and how the population feels about it. My goal is to answer my many questions with answers of how to make a difference, starting with myself.
I want to find out what one person can do.
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This is a video that helped to spark my attention. Maybe it can help explain my topic in a more visual manner.
Gender, Environment & Justice 