Ending with Over Consumption

For our last (yep, last!) blog assignment of the semester we were asked to choose what we believe is the most important environmental issue today. 
Consumption, referring to America being a consumerist society, is the most important environmental issue. I believe that our over consumption will be the biggest cause of future environmental issues. 
The dollar isle in Target, the 99 cent store, the Dollar Tree. They provide goods we need for nearly nothing... except that's not entirely true. Those cheap products we buy actually cost more than the dollar we pay for them. Market prices don't include the salary of workers to make said products, gas for trucks to transport, packaging, etc. Nor do they factor in disposal costs or the price we pay for pollution for disposal, or even pollution from the emissions from the trucks that brought them here, or the oil extraction for the gas for those trucks. As consumers, we don't even stop to think of the hidden costs to the cheap product that are constantly being advertised. Do we really need that tiny, plastic trinket that only costs us a dollar? 
Better yet, do we need that thing that is being offered to us for free? I know that on campus there is a banking company that gives out free stuff to students who sign up for an account. Is the little coin purse you get for free really necessary? How long will you actually use it before you toss it in the trash? Rarely do we think of anything other than the fact that its free so "why not?"
Americans are constantly being told we need more stuff. You have the iPhone 3 and it works perfectly fine, but you run out and buy the iPhone 5 because its the latest and greatest and billboards, commercials, store salesmen are telling you you need it. But do you? And what happens to the old phone? The same concept applies to just about anything we buy today. We consume more and more and more simply because its been drilled into our heads that we need the newest of something. Instead of fixing an old radio, we go out and buy a new one. 
But does anyone stop to think about what happens to our old stuff that we throw away? Or how much of our perfectly good stuff ends up in landfills? And how much of that stuff gets burned, or dumped, or even shipped to another country? Or how much it costs to make that stuff and to ship that stuff.
Water bottles are another example of a detrimental product we purchase because we are over consumers. Since I already went into detail about bottled v. tap water, I won't rewrite is all again. You can visit my post entitled "H20h?" here. 
A huge topic of environmental concern today is overpopulation. I believe that in this issue, again, over consumption reigns. Again, over consumption involves the extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal of things. We as Americans only ever consider the consumption aspect. 
Over consumption also encompasses energy use and food waste. 
This requires educating people on energy conservation and using Energy Star products. 
Every year in America we throw away 96 billion pounds of food and one half of all food prepared in the U.S and Europe never gets eaten. (facts from www.divethefilm.com) 
The biggest tool of support in over consumption is a video entitled "The Story of Stuff" by Annie Leonard. What was supposed to be a small, informative video about our consumption and production of trash, turned out to be the most watched video of environmental concern. It's a 20 minute video and I guarantee it will change your entire perspective on consumption. You can watch the video and others like it, as well as learn more about "The Story of Stuff Project" at www.storyofstuff.org 
After learning about consumption I have changed my pattern of thinking when buying things. I find myself stoppping and ""Do I really need this?" I think that if more and more people used the stop and ask method before buying it would be a start in the right direction for reducing our unnecessary consumption. The only way to make a difference here is on an individual level.  However, I think its going to take a change in business as well as advertising before our consumption is significantly reduced. After all, if consumption becomes more practical, those manufactures and advertisers are losing money. And it always comes down to money, right?

The most interesting thing I have learned this semester is about recycling. Last week two groups in class conducted a debate on whether or not recycling is the answer (that wasn't the exact topic... but the phrasing escapes me at the moment.) Someone in the debate told us that if you put something in the recycle bin (the blue bin) that is not something that can be recycled, the entire bin is considered contaminated. Actually, all of the bins in the group are contaminated. So, even if I recycle in the blue bin correctly, but someone else on my block does not, all of my efforts go to waste and its all shipped to the landfill. Crazy, right? Even more crazy is the fact that there is a secret 4th R. Before Reduce, Reuse, Recycle should come Refuse! Refuse the need to purchase things you don't need (if you're connecting this with the over consumption I mentioned above... you're smart!) Just say no to unnecessary packaging, free stuff, junk mail, buying less stuff, and so on. Waste reduction is even better than recycling!  

Wasting Waste.

This weeks assignment is on waste management. I contemplated not doing this assignment based on the fact that I was pretty sure I'd feel embarrassed at the amount of trash I throw away on a daily basis. That sounds pretty bad, right? I mean how much trash is really "too much?"
I kept track of my trash for a two day period.  I accumulated a trash can full (your typical 13 gallon kitchen trash can) each day.
The majority of the space was taken up by diapers and baby wipes  I have a 7 month old who pees like a racehorse! We also have a cat, and in an effort to keep the house fresh and clean, I clean out the litter box every time she goes to the bathroom. The kitty waste is put into a plastic bag, so that means more plastic bags than necessary. I also prepare my own baby food (most of the time) so a lot of fruit stems and peels went into the trash during this assignment. Tons of paper towels, because I don't like using dish towels... perhaps I'm a little obsessive about germs on that note haha. In two days I used an entire roll of paper towels. Packaging from chicken breasts and frozen veggies (dinner, both nights). All leftovers from all meals went into the trash as well.
In my own defense, we do have a separate trash for recyclables  The bad part is I know that so many items  that can don't actually go into that trash can.

After keeping track of my trash, I searched for waste-reduction strategies. 

The most popular strategy is to recycle!
Reduce over-purchasing of food
Only cook what you know you will eat, otherwise use reusable containers for leftovers
Reuse old paper
Use reusable bags
Avoid individually packaged foods
Buy recycled paper products, or use cloth napkins
Use cloth diapers
Use cloths instead of wipes
Use a reusable water bottle instead of plastics
Make a compost
Don't use plastic baggies when purchasing produce

Now lets measure my waste for another two days. 
I'd like to say my waste was significantly reduced, but I still ended up taking out the trash night. The plus side was that the trash was not completely full like in the first two days, I took it out so the house wouldn't smell. I managed to reduce my  food waste by storing leftovers in reusable containers. I do have a diaper genie that holds dirty diapers, but I had been too cheap to buy the bags that go inside and it seemed pointless since I could just throw diapers into the trash. After the initial two days I did start using the diaper genie again, seeing many benefits in waste reduction. I even contemplated buying the cat genie, a similar device that is supposed to take the place of plastic bags when cleaning out a litter box, but I just couldn't see myself actually letting the cat poop sit in the house all night. I still used paper towels but was definitely more conscious of how many I used and significantly reduced the amount. I intentionally wasn't using reusable bags so that I would have plastic to throw away the cat litter in. I do own quite a bit of reusable bags though, so I made a point to use them as often as I get plastic bags. As I mentioned earlier we do have a separate trash can for things that can go into the big blue recycle containers. During the second two day period I was careful about which trash can I placed waste in and was happy to discover that I did a good job at using the recyclable one. 
The waste-reductions strategies I actually implemented were easy and quite frankly, logical, and I have no problem being more conscious and continuing to do them. 

I Pledge to not use Pledge.

This week we were asked to name and access chemicals found in common personal and household care products (ie. soaps, shampoos, window cleaner, bathroom cleaner). Chemicals can be found in the products themselves or from the containers they come in.

Off of the top of my head I think of Ammonia. Ammonia is found in things like All-purpose cleaners, Antibacterial cleaners and soaps, Window and glass cleaners, and furniture polish. So what is it? Google tells me that its A colorless gas, a combination of nitrogen and hydrogen, NH_{3. What are the effects of Ammonia?} Exposure to high concentrations of ammonia in air causes immediate burning of the nose, throat and respiratory tract. This can cause bronchiolar and alveolar edema, and airway destruction resulting in respiratory distress or failure. Inhalation of lower concentrations can cause coughing, and nose and throat irritation. Ammonia's odor provides adequate early warning of its presence, but ammonia also causes olfactory fatigue or adaptation, reducing awareness of one's prolonged exposure at low concentrations. Exposure to low concentrations of ammonia in air or solution may produce rapid skin or eye irritation. Higher concentrations of ammonia may cause severe injury and burns. Contact with concentrated ammonia solutions such as industrial cleaners may cause corrosive injury including skin burns, permanent eye damage or blindness. The full extent of eye injury may not be apparent for up to a week after the exposure. Contact with liquefied ammonia can also cause frostbite injury. Swallowing ammonia solution results in corrosive damage to the mouth, throat and stomach.

Another common chemical? VOCs. VOCs are Volatile Organic Compounds that are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids, and range from things like Formaldehyde, methylene chloride, and Benzene. Exposure to VOCs include things such as eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination, nausea; damage to liver, kidney, and central nervous system. Some can cause cancer in animals; some are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans. Key signs or symptoms associated with exposure to VOCs include conjunctival irritation, nose and throat discomfort, headache, allergic skin reaction, nausea, fatigue, and dizziness. Sounds scary right? Espically since VOCs can be found in things like air fresheners, chlorine bleach, detergent, dry cleaning chemicals, and furniture polish. 

Next we were asked to choose a product from our home that contains one of the listed ingredients. I've been hearing a lot about formaldehyde in shampoo, so I decided to research the can of Pledge that I so often use to polish my furniture. 

If you read the above sections talking about chemicals, you already know what I found out. Pledge is a big no-no, containing ammonia and VOCs. Ingredients include things like  Butane, Propane, Isobutane, Silicones. Do you really want to clean with gases? I don't. The thing I found most interesting is on the can of Pledge, it lists a few ingredients then says "Other Ingredients = 99.9750%" So when purchasing the product I as a consumer am not entitled to a complete list of ingredients? Turns out thats not required by law. It actually took a lot of digging on my part to find a complete list of ingredients. So is there any alternative to getting my furniture shiny and fresh? Pinterest actually had a ton of suggestions (If you don't know what Pinterest is... you're living under a rock, right?) like using one part lemon juice to three parts olive oil, because lemon naturally cuts through grease, and olive oil will condition and shine your wood furniture. I also found a list of "Green" furniture polishes (pictures below) at www.diylife.com 

The green alternatives are more expensive, but not overpriced. I actually think this is because Pledge is such a common product, it seems to always be on sale at Target. But making your own solution with lemon juice and olive oil is so much cheaper, since I always have those ingredients at home!