Isabel

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Focus Question: How do we create as little waste as possible and have recycling continue in a loop?
The Essay Do you like seeing pictures of over-flowing landfills? Does it make you happy that we are creating so much trash and not recycling what can be recycled? Does it? this is a growing problem in the U.S. and we have to do something. There is plenty of space on Earth to put that trash, but do we really want to destroy that place of life?We need to do something, like zero waste. The goal towards zero waste will motivate us to create as little waste as possible and that that material thrown away will become useful for other people to use.

A solution towards too much waste in our world could be striving for zero waste. Zero waste is a goal that will take a lot of time to reach, but just because it's so far away, it doesn't mean that no impact will be made. Zero waste doesn't really mean producing no waste at all (is that even possible?), it is a goal that will make us produce as little waste as we possibly can. Zero waste is conserving our resources and not burying them in landfills. The Johnson's family from Mill Valley, California strived to become a zero waste home. They started by downsizing their home from 3,000 square feet to 1,400 square feet. When they go to the grocery store they take their own jars for meat, cheese, deli, and etc. They even have reusable bottles for their shampoo and conditioner. They keep their groceries, such as vegetables, in laundry mesh bags instead of plastic bags. The Johnson's have a home-made cleaner for their laundry as well as a home-made tooth powder with decomposable toothbrushes. Their old food scraps get put in the composting bin with red worms. In the end, they only produced two hand fulls of trash in one year by doing this. The Johnson's even said that they saved money and that they enjoyed the experience. They did all kinds of environmental alternatives because our trash is a significant amount of pollution in our world. One family can't just be doing this; we all have to work together to make an even bigger impact.

Zero waste will save our planet from too much waste; it will move us towards the right path... which is reducing the amount of waste human beings produce. Out there in the real world, all we see are companies trying to make a lot of profit. They don't care about anything else, but lately some companies are 'going green'. We need some good examples such,as General Motors. They have proposed to remove the landfills from half of their 181 plants by 2010 and just recently they had said that they would use the gas in a nearby landfill. They are going to use that gas to power 40% of their Orion Assembly Plant. By doing this GM will save 1.1 million dollars a year and they will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases, sulfer dioxide, and nitrigon oxides produced into the atmosphere. By removing the gas from the landfills, GM will be contributing to the goal of zero waste and plus they will reduce some pollution into the atmosphere.That is what all companies need to do. People need to realize that some waste thrown into a landfill is classified as useful and that is what GM did. They took something from a landfill that was useful to them, while reducing the harm on our planet.

As you can see around you, we produce too much trash. There are over-flowing landfills out there and we just keep buying food and merchandise wrapped in layers of plastic and paper. If we continue striving for zero waste, then some of that trash can become useful or just not have been there in the first place. We don't have to get rid of all waste, but we can make a goal towards that which will still make an impact on our planet. If you are a person that goes to the grocery store or eats at McDonald's once in a while, if you work all day or throw away anything, if you believe in change or not, you need to listen. You need to start thinking about your ways of using trash; you need to start reducing that amount of trash and believe in helping this planet. You need to think about the impact you could make if you just downsize, like the Johnson"s did, or see the big manufacturers trying to help the planet. It may seem like a lot of work, but once you start, it all goes smoothly.

Thank you!!!!!

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