Research Project Outline: Recycling in America

Thesis – Although recycling in the United States is slowly becoming more popular, there is still work to be done because when compared to most European recycling programs, the US could be doing a lot more for the environment.

(I know my thesis needs work, suggestions would be much appreciated!)

I.   Recycling in the United States
     A. Where it  was
         1. When it began

         2. What caused it to begin
     B. Where it is
          1. What’s changed

          2. Are we doing better?
     C. How far we’ve come
          1. What this says about America

          2. Plans for the future

II.  Recycling elsewhere
     A. When it started

         1. Similarities between this and the US

         2. Differences between this and the US

     B. Other countries that are recycling (statistics)

          1. Doing better than US
          2. Doing worse that US

     C. What are other places doing that the US isn’t?

          1. Practices
          2. Technologies

III. Recycling Culture
      A. Recycling not “accepted” in the US compared to other places

         1. Can’t recycle everywhere

         2. Costs money to recycle

      B. European recycling norm

          1. Bins more accessable
          2. More government help

      C. “Going green” is a new movement in the US

          1. Now in the media (news)
          2. Now in entertainment (movies, tv, etc.)

 

IV. Education
     A. Children

          1. What they learn in school

          2. What they practice in school

     B. Adults

          1. What they learn, and from where
          2. What they actually practice

     C. Sub topic

          1. point
          2. point

V. What you can do
      A. Find out whats available to you

         1. Programs

         2.

      B. Activism

          1. Getting involved locally
          2. Encouraging others to get involved

      C. Anything!

          1. Find something to contribute
          2. What doing the most damage is people doing nothing

Response #1: vroom vroom vroom

As we all know, cars are slowly killing the environment by emitting toxic fumes. That may be one reason why, in his article “Fast Food”, Mike Rdsenwald describes an alternative to those gas guzzling metal machines. Engineers at Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre in England have created a biodegradable car that runs on vegetable oil left over from frying fish and chips.  Although this may sound like a good economical idea for your everyday town car, Warwick engineers have built this car for the race track.  Personally, I think that this is a highly dangerous feat to attempt.  A track where race cars average speeds of 150 mph, smash into each other and bust into walls doesn’t seem a sensible place for a car made out of flax and plastic bottles.  If I were to research this issue to a fuller extent, I would investigate the durability of the experimental cars and possibly do some crash tests with dummies. However, regardless of the appropriateness of the use of the experimental cars under these conditions, I don’t understand why engineers are spending $250,000 dollars on a car for racing.  I think Americans should eliminate their fetish for NASCAR all together; it harms the environment and, from what I can tell, it doesn’t have any redeeming social value.  Overlooking my biases, i think the idea is exciting; but it is not realistic to think that changing race cars is going to help the environment. One wonders whether Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre has too much time and/or money on their hands.

Response #5 – Undisturbed Ocean

Most people have seen, or at least heard of, the Planet Earth series that aired on the Discovery Channel. Since its television showing, it has become quite popular to own as well; apparently educational shows aren’t just for nerds anymore. It’s quite enjoyable to see so many animals in their natural environment, behaving as if there isn’t a camera spying on their every move. I think it peaks human interest to see what happens when they haven’t yet populated a place. For this very reason, I’ve grown particularly fond of the ‘Deep Ocean’ episode, in which you see footage of creatures that look very alien in nature.

On almost every piece of land on the planet, there are people. People eventually grow accustom to the animals that are native to the part of the worth that they live in. I think this is the reason that the ocean’s creatures interest me so much; deep-sea animals are still so new and so vast, that its hard to believe they exist on the same planet. I have begun to wonder though, since I began this class, when we will start to see the effects of people on the deep ocean. Will we see them at all? We know so little of that place as it is, will be really be able to tell what inadvertant damage we are causing?

In an article that I responded to, scientists were taking samples from whales around the world to see if they were being affected by man-made chemicals in the ocean. Their findings were conclusive that these whales were in fact having raised levels of said chemicals. Surely our polluting reach must reach down to the lower depths of the water, and it seems like we don’t really have any idea to what extent.

Response #4: Terracycle Product Placement

At first glance the Terracycle website really catches your eye with the claim that you send them recyclable trash, and they will turn it into cool stuff for you to use. At this point you become interested and scroll down the page, where you discover that only certain brands of trash are accepted. Under each category of items they are looking for, you will see a brand name that sponsors it. For instance, you will see that Lays sponsors the, “Chip Bag Brigade™”. I find it very interesting that this website talks a lot about how kids can make money for their schools, and get cool toys from recycling, etc.; yet they are clearly advertising products.

Think of it this way; if you tell a child that when he recycles a bag of chips he will raise two cents for his school, and the type of chips on the website is Lays, which bag do you think he’ll choose at the store? Call me paranoid, but I can’t help but speculate that this is a brilliant ploy by major food and drink companies to not only increase their popularity in the public eye, but also increase their sales! Is recycling for cool stuff really worth all of that?

While I do believe that this website doesn’t necessarily have recycling as its main concern, I can admit that regardless of the implications it does do some good. Sure, you can just as easily recycle the normal way and not have to buy a Snicker’s bar to do so, but at least this is getting people interested in the idea of recycling. If this is what must be done for people to see that re-using things is better than just burying them in a landfill, then I suppose there is some inherent good in that.

http://www.terracycle.net/

Reading Response #3 – Sperm Whales Tell All

Most people have been watching a documentary at one point or another, and seen the technique used where scientists will look back at layers of sediment from years ago to determine what was happening to the earth at that point in time. Well, this is similar to what is being done with Sperm Whales around the globe to determine just how contaminated our waters have become. Much of the ocean was assumed to be still untouched by our wide human reach, until results of this study began to be released.

Scientists use a crossbow to shoot the whales with a specific tip that gathers a small sample, and does not harm the animal. This method was used to gather samples from 424 whales, all of which reported the same thing. Sperm Whales, regardless of where the are swimming, are polluted by human chemicals. The levels of several chemicals are as much as twice as high as other whales.  The effects that this will have on the whales is at this time unknown, but this is still an eye opener to anyone concerned about the health of Earth’s oceans.

It is unfortunate that this is the way we seem to have to learn on this planet; we must first cause harm to something before we refine our methods for minimal harm. We should be doing this the other way around, and looking into the implications of our actions before jumping into production. Hopefully this is a lesson that people will eventually learn, before it causes much more harm.

Reading Response #2 – Mercury in My Oatmeal

It would be a pretty safe statement to say that most people aren’t too concerned about what is in their food. So it’s no big surprise that there was a possible contamination of 17 brand name food and beverages with mercury, and no public outrage. Part of the reason is that the claims of contamination have been thoroughly denied by the CRA (Corn Refiners Association), who claim that the information raised against them is shaky at best. The entire thing has become one large bickering contest, and it seems as if people are losing sight of the big picture.

First off, what is mercury? Mercury is an element which at room temperature and pressure, is a liquid metal. While it looks very neat, I assure you that you don’t want to be close enough to it to enjoy it. In high enough quantities it is highly toxic to humans and can cause a variety of damage to your body. There is a degree of mercury found naturally in fish, but most people don’t need to worry about this unless they are eating a lot more fish than average. Needless to say, mercury isn’t something I would be excited to hear about being found in my food.

It’s understandable that the CRA wishes to defend themselves in the public eye, that they don’t want to look like people who can’t even keep contaminates out of their product. This does not outweigh, however, their obligation to keep the consumer safe. By this I mean; at the point when a group has spent enough time to make a study, you should at least acknowledge the possibility of contamination, and look into it. If it turns out that the study was false, then that’s what you can announce to everyone. What I’m reading in this article is that they aren’t even considering the possibility that they are wrong.

Reading Response #1- City of the Future

Have you ever wondered about the actual limits of this green trend that is becoming so much of a trend? Some find that making all of these changes required for going green is too much of a bother for their liking, so they choose not to submit. One possible reason for this would be that they can’t see the benefits of spending money now vs saving money later. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it right? Well in Sweden, in the Western Harbour development of Malmö, they have built a new district that can run 100% on renewable sources.

This city utilizes much of the green technology that we have already seen, and already know today. They have a large wind turbine that resides away from the city, solar panels on almost every building, and even vacuum trash cans on the streets that convert organic material into gas for their busses. Since heat is more difficult to come by in the winter months, they take up as much heat as they can in the summer time, and store it for later. They are even using excess heat from the sun warming the ocean to their advantage. No natural resource goes untapped in this eco-friendly town.

Some years, the Western Harbour development doesn’t quite reach its goal of 100% renewable energy. Other years, they produce more energy than they need and are able to give energy back to the city. The point is that with results like this, results that you can see and measure in numbers, how can their still be those who oppose the change? It’ll cost up front, but over time it will pay for itself and then some.