I think we broke it. Oops.

My Dearest Children,

Please clean up your room today. It’s a mess and I can’t even see the floor! If you clean up before I get home from work, you can have some ice cream after dinner.

Love,Your Adoring Mom

Garbage is a huge problem for most of the world. The average American produces 4.5 pounds of trash per day. And we are, amazingly, not the worst offenders. The average household in mexico produces about 30% more garbage than the average American household. Total, in 2008, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash, and recycled or composted only 83 million tons of this material. That’s a 33% recycling rate. This is up from about 11% in the 1980’s. But when you consider that close to 80% of what we throw away is recyclable, it doesn’t sound so great. What happens to the other 50%? It goes here here and here.

On the positive side, that 83 million tons that we do recycle provides an annual benefit of 182 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions reduced. That is comparable to removing the emissions from 33 million passenger cars. Pretty awesome if you ask me. So why don’t more people recycle? Close to 80% of Americans have access to recycling or have a curbside service. If we could just figure that last question out, then I wouldn’t be writing this. More than one million tons of aluminum is thrown away each year. But once an aluminum can is recycled, it can be back on the grocery shelf in as little as 60 days! It can take anywhere from 100 years, to NEVER for it to decompose otherwise, depending on where it is. Here are a couple more tidbits: If we recycle all of the newspapers printed in the US on a typical Sunday, we could save about 26 million trees per year. Five plastic soda bottles yield enough fiber for one extra-large t shirt, one square foot of carpet, or enough fiber to fill one ski jacket.

Take a quick peek at this list:

• Banana Peel: 3-4 weeks• Paper Bag: 1 month• Cardboard: 2 months• Wool Sock : 1 year• Tinned Steel Can: 50 years• Aluminum Can: 200-500 years• Disposable Diapers: 550 years• Plastic Bags : 20-1000 years• Plastic Jug: 1 million years• Glass : 1-2 million years• Styrofoam: 1+ million years

But the ultimate benefits from recycling are cleaner land, air, and water, overall better health, and a more sustainable economy.

Grocery List: Kraft macaroni and CheesePepsiToaster strudelFrozen pizzaTv dinnersJelloDoritosTyson Fried ChickenZiploc bagsSaran wrapPaper towelsTrash bagsNapkinsSpaghetti O’sGogurtGatoradeKool-aidDisposable razorsDiapersPaper platesPlastic utensilsStyrofoam CupsPlastic straws

Earth

You doWhatever you wantYou takeWhatever you wantYou useSome of itYou throw away Most of itYou need None of it.

Man

I doWhatever I

wantI take

Whatever I wantI use

Some of itI throw away

Most of itI need

All of it.

My Sweet Children,

I know you were busy playing with your toys yesterday, but you really must clean up your room today. Maybe we can get you a new toy if you do… Also, have either of you seen Squeakers? He’s not in his cage anymore. Did you forget to feed him yesterday?

From, Your Loving Mom

Nothing like a little exercise to make you feel alive…

Dear Children,

This is the third time I’ve asked you. Clean up your rooms today. I think that Squeaker is somewhere in there. I don’t know how you can stand to live in such filth.

From,Your Mother

like confetti swirlingdirty, trampled.what were we celebrating?

“It’s so easy to just put a little snack cup in their lunch boxes! I don’t have time in the morning to make them anything…they can just grab a lunchables or something. Plus, I just love how easy it is to buy the single serving packages.”

“You know you can just make big batches of stuff from scratch, and freeze it or put it in individual reusable containers for them to take? It’s cheaper too!”

“Oh yea, I know. But like I said, it’s just so easy and quick this way!”

“Do you at least recycle the trash then?”

“ I don’t have time to rinse and sort the kids trash! Plus I am not going to pay for the recycling pickup at the house. It’s just easier to throw it all in the dumpster. Plus you know the kids don’t bring anything home. That’s why they make all of this stuff…to make it easier for busy people!”

“But it’s just so wasteful, plus the food is barely even actually real food. There is so much junk in it.”

“Whatever.”

Children,

I threw away everything in your room. And I found the hamster. He was dead.

Mother

Just for fun, check this out!

http://www.phoenixcommotion.com/

This guy is making houses entirely from reclaimed materials!

Slightly less fun, but very informative are these sites

http://5gyres.org/whats_happening_now/blog/http://fakeplasticfish.com/

End Notes:This topic is near and dear to my heart, and I tried to convey the gravity of the subject matter through multimedia. The photos are intended to make the reader unsettled. There is a bit of sarcasm laced in to many of the comments in the slideshow. That’s one of the ways that I communicate my feelings I suppose. Hopefully the unifying element was clear in the letters from mother to child. I know it’s a bit dramatic, but it seemed to fit. I do not intend to be overly critical of the average person, but need to get the point across by being honest. If your conscience felt a prickle during the slideshow, then you can always start doing something about it too. Thanks for making it this far.

References:Aluminum Association, The. (2010) News and Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.aluminum.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NewsStatistics/Sustainability/default.htm

California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). (2010) Waste Prevention World. Retrieved from http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/ReduceWaste/WPW.htm

National Recycling Coalition. (2010) The Conversionator. Retrieved from http://www.nrc-recycle.org/theconversionator/shell.html

No More Trash, Online. (2009) Litter Facts and Research. Retrieved from http://mdc.mo.gov/nomoretrash/facts/ United States Environmental Protection Agency, Solid Waste and Emergency Response. (2009) Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2008.( EPA-530-F- 009-021). Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2008rpt.pdf

Photo sources:http://php.democratandchronicle.com/blog/birds/http://thegldc.com/blog/tag/oceans/http://animalnewyork.com/2009/05/parting-shot-talking-trash/http://learnsomethingnewtoday.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/http://www.phoenixcommotion.com/http://planetprotect.wordpress.com/2009/08/http://www.yudulife.com/acleanlifehttp://www2.worthingtonlibraries.org/teen/blog/index.cfm?catID=6http://5gyres.org/whats_happening_now/blog/