Journal #2: Talking Trash

Andy Rooney, from the show 60 Minutes, brought up some very interesting points that I do every day but I never really think about. The point is that we (Americans) throw away way too much trash every day. New York City alone throws away 24 million pounds of garbage a day. This really got him to think of how much the entire Earth weights with all the trash that we contribute to it. Andy says that oil, coal, and metal ore are the most obvious extractions, but any place there is a valuable mineral, we dig beneath the surface, take it out, and make it into something else. We never put anything back. We disfigure one part of our land by digging something out and then move on to another spot after we use up all of its resources. He also states that we have gone overboard on packaging, and packaging is a big factor for contributing waste. The only reason why he believes we package everything is that a bag, can, or a carton provides a place for the producer to display advertising.
After reading this article I realize how bad I am contributing to the earth. I try and “go green” now as much as possible, but I never recycle as much as I could be doing. As for all the bags that I receive after grocery shopping, I usually just save them for garbage bags, and, of course, they are all plastic instead of paper. I even took an environmental class my freshman year at the University of Minnesota and told my professor in all of my papers how I am doing well for the environment. I guess it only lasted for that semester only for I have gotten a little lazy since then. From now on I will recycle even more and buy more organic, fresh items instead of items layered in boxes and packages.