Summary Of Robin Nagle's Picking Up

Heather Roger claims our current garbage disposal methods are short term and etiquette. Rogers’s position is clear that we need to minimize the use of landfills and create better means to discard trash. In supporting Rogers’s environment views I think that we need to create a more economic and environmental friendly garbage disposal system. Heather Rogers and Lars Eighner both acknowledge the issue with society’s throwaway mentality. Eighner proves that we throw away perfectly working stuff, having survived off others discarded materials. Eighner argues against excessive waste we create but does not have any prospected solutions. Whereas Rogers acknowledges the obvious need to minimize our consumption of waste but argues the need

“Waste” is a short essay in which Wendell Berry critically analyzes the growing epidemic of trash that is polluting the nation’s land, waterways, and the air. Berry explains to the readers how the remnants of floods and litter that leave farmlands scattered with trash, makes more work for the farmers who have to rid their land of the trash before they can use it. Along with the floods, roads and highways also lead to a barrage of garbage from people who are too lazy or ignorant to take proper care of their garbage, which Berry claims leads to “. . . a constant precipitation of cans, bottles, the plastic-ware containers of fast food joints, soiled plastic diapers, and sometimes whole bags of garbage,” (Waste 1) along the edges of their fields. The garbage of the country continues to be a burden for everyone, whether it impacts them directly or not. Although it would be impossible to eliminate garbage completely from the country, the waste could be greatly reduced. Most of today’s trash is a consequence of the laziness of American society.

Municipal solid wastes are leftovers made by the population such as food, plastic bottles, household wares and many more. These items referred by most as “the garage” or “trash”. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015) In the early 1900’s, incinerators were used to burn waste however by the Mid-20th century, lawmakers enacted the first government regulations in an attempt to address increasing concerns about the environmental impact of unregulated waste management practices. With the first waste management legislation being passed in 1965, brought along the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, thus bringing us into a new world of waste management.(Vault, n.d.)

In Chapter two Edward Humes writes about New York in the 1890’s. He shares with us how the people of this time period handled the trash condition. He explains how the trash was so severe that pigs could dispose of garbage for eating purposed. People were using them like a part of a solution to get rid of trash little by little by letting the pigs eat the trash but at the same time using them as meat providers. He also mentions the different methods that people throughout the years came up with to dispose of trash and failed as proper solutions. Some of these methods we still use today, like burning trash, burying trash, even building more landfills. However as Humes says about landfills they eventually get filled up. The thing that surprised

From that “. . . cheese with a spot of mold” to that “. . . half jar of peanut butter” (64). Furthermore, I think that if people read this essay they may realize that some of the stuff they call trash is actually not trash at all. This essay personally made me become more thankful that I don’t have to dumpster dive just to be able to eat. Likewise, I began to understand that I and others “throw away perfectly good stuff” that really shouldn’t be in the trash (64). By making an effort to reduce my waste, I will reduce my ecological footprint on the earth and ultimately leave more resources for further

Everyone knows that littering is bad for the Earth, and people do try and keep the Earth clean by cleaning up after others and themselves. But some people take it to the next level. Some people will act as if they are superheroes protecting the Earth from trash. Like in Dave Barry’s “A Couple of Neat Guys” the characters do this, which is a high comedy that uses verbal irony, hyperboles, and much more. Barry reveals the universal truth by about showing how some people do really care about how the Earth is and how it shouldn’t be a landfill everywhere.

“Never seen a city clean like this” some of my customers compliment about Chicago while I was driving taxi. Cleaning our streets is good for several reasons, the most significant are for our health and to keep the environment clean. The US is one of the many countries that has a huge amount of waste every year. In order for us to have a safe haven for our children, we should make our streets clean and reduce waste. We should always find a better method to reduce our garbage. For instance, recycling every plastic bottle and can will reduce the garbage that we put out every day. The other method is to reduce the products we make, so we can reduce the intake of excess products to our house. The third is to use a product for several years or months.

Through my volunteering at the Henry Hudson Trail, I now understand better the problem of littering. Before this experience,

As Albina Ruiz, there is a large number of problems to deal with for the goal that I have. In the particular area that was studied in this video, the health of the environment, of people, and how waste is being dealt with are all issues that I tackle as Ruiz. As trash is dumped without care, the environment suffers and resources such as soil or rivers are not able to be used. This leads to people being more exposed to illnesses and diseases, especially people who are in direct contact with the trash. As for the way that the trash is dealt with, this is the biggest issue. With a lack of landfills, treatment plants, ways to turn organic waste to fertilizer, and recycling plants, this is another goal to accomplish and deal with in order to help change the garbage issue in these communities. Along with this, trash is dumped all over the city due to a lack of ways to dispose of trash.

While reading chapter 2 of Garbology I discovered that big cities such as New York City use to have a huge overload of junk and waste all over the city. The problem was so bad that people would just throw waste out of their doors and windows in hope that pigs would eat most of the waste. In my opinion that is crazy, then I went on to read that swineries would kill the pigs and sell the meat once they had eaten enough food and waste to be extra fat so they would sell more meat. Basically the only ones benefiting from this waste was the pigs. Finally enough was enough and the new mayor came to find someone to be the leader in cleaning up New York City and that was Colonel George E. Waring. Many were shocked once they saw

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is one of the biggest cities on the east coast possessing more than fifteen hundred people. Our Philadelphia water department is dedicated to providing clean water to all living things throughout the city. One of the biggest problems faced by our water department is the litter problem that plagues the city. Taking care of the old infrastructure of the sewer is one of the sewers is very important when it comes to protecting our waterways from wastewater. Many people are affected by these problems, including our children and pregnant women. The problem does not lie within one particular community, but all throughout the city of Philadelphia. Being careless and selfish

Without a doubt, recycling can be a costly suggestion for urban communities, a characteristic that makes it powerless against the hacking piece. Plastic recycling costs New York $240 per ton, twice what it expenses to simply discard it. Recycling costs shift by the city as indicated by an arrangement of variables, including closeness to landfills, work costs, sum and strategy for recycling and land costs. Years back City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed an 18-month ban on recycling plastic in destitute Gotham. Since then, environmentalists are worried that Bloomberg's arrangement, which will spare the city an expected $57 million, could serve as an outline for other city pioneers hoping to cut things from their financial plans. According

The theme “Interaction between Humans and the Environment” shows the ways in which environment shapes societies and how humans shape the environment. An example for this theme is the discussion about the geography of Chicago and its sewage system. Chicago, a city built on an unforgivably flat land, had drainage problems. According to How We Got to Now - Six Innovations That Made the Modern World, “The primary system for sanitation removal was scavenging pigs roaming the streets, devouring the refuse that the humans left behind” (page 128). As the population grew, the filth accumulates. Ellis Chesbrough, the chief in cleaning project of the Chicago, devised a plan that was successful in removing the city’s waste, but there was one major fatal flaw. Almost all the sewer pipes drained into the Chicago River, that emptied into Lake Michigan, the city’s source of water supply, thus polluting it. The author use this historical development to support his argument in the book. The invention of the sewage system in Chicago revolutionize the world of hygiene. It allows the city to get rid of their toxic waste so that the city remains relatively clean. Although the system

In our homes waste caused because we don’t pay attention; we are inattentive and ignorant. For some of us, it just isn’t important. (Jones, Dive!)

There are some reasons for the problem. The first reason is that the effects of the thrown rubbish are very dangerous and extremely harmful. According to Miller (1987), global industrial organizations produce over 80,000 different chemicals (para. 5). Basically, garbage is old, dirty and wet, so that it is a perfect place for bacteria and other viruses to stay in. Rubbish growth in cities has been a problem all over the world for centuries. Landfills have always been regarded as sources of illnesses and unpleasant smells. The harmful wastes from the garbage spread through the ground from paint, chemicals, petrol, batteries, and other toxic materials that have been thrown away into the garbage. The toxic chemicals get into the water pipes and spread through the people’s drinking water. Another reason of that problem is that people have created all these disasters, which are connected with environmental pollution. The more modern technologies are created, the more unbelievable become wastes and remains of what is produced. From this, man is responsible for what he or she created and for the following consequences. Anxieties about the environment have made people more aware of their environmental footprints or the kind of waste they leave behind during their existence. The difficulty is that an average person leaves an incredible amount of wastes in his or her lifetime. According to Lovejoy (1912), all biodegradable substances, contained in