Chapter 9

I found this chapter pretty interesting. The word garbage means items that are no longer useful in our daily lives. It all becomes trash. Now let's give garbage a different name. Let's call it Art. What does art mean? Art could mean many things. What is really extraordinary is the idea of making new creations and items with trash. Why trash though? Well trash comes from people all around the world and it leaves an imprint and a history behind it. Pieces of trash have history hidden. Now to creating new art with trash leaves us the audience with plenty of interpretations. If someone makes a picture made out of waste, it wouldn't just be a picture it would symbolize much more then what it seems. Trash is part history and to join all that history into one peace, it creates a new form of art.

The Incinerator as Eye Candy

In this article written by Elisabeth Rosenthal, it introduces us with a new way of solving this trash epidemic. Rosenthal explains how new and efficient incinerators are the solution. Old fashion incinerators get rid of the waste that is burn. However, pollution is thrown out in the and most of that pollution are toxins. Thesesnew incinerator get rid of the majority of the pollution from the trash we produce in a daily bases. This could be the new and safest way to get rid of our trash. Yet, this is only fixing the trash that we produce and the trash that is already on our land but what about the trash that is in the ocean? This new idea will reduce the trash epidemic but it won't fix the damage that the ocean has faced.

Chapter 8

Bill Rahje a Harvard University- educated archaeologist who specialized in the study of ancient Mayan ruins is the founder of the Garbage Project. "The idea for a Garbage Project for a systematic and unprecedented deep analysis of modern waste using the same skills, tools and modes of inquiry archaeologist employ to understand the ancient world"(Hume 160). Trash has no political value all it contains is historical facts and hidden messages. It is amazing how people could understand other individuals by just going through their trash. For example, "based on the garbage recovered, the students concluded that, income notwithstanding, the two sets of families consumed similar amount of steak, hamburgers and milk. The poor families, however, bought more household cleansers and spend more on goods related to child education"(162). It is amazing how different groups can be determine    differently because of their trash.  The Garbage Project came up with a catalog for trash. 001 was beef, 003 was chicken, 090 was powdered baby formula 139 was plastic container. There are 190 separate codes in all. This could help many researchers understand trash quicker. Over all it is in interesting chapter. I like how Humes is now introducing us to solutions that many people around the country are coming up with.

The Story of Electronics

In the video called The story of electronics the main quote that really got my attention was "Design For The Dump." This technically means that many objects such as electronics are meant to be design poorly in order for they can break that way people keep on consuming.  Moore's law is a processing speed that increases every 18 months, however, the people that have the power decided to make devices last up to 18 month which means they only last that long. This gives more money to the corporation but gives us more pollution and destruction. The high tech industry isn't clean has we have pictured; they have created their product with toxins that affects their workers. Most of all the electronics carry toxins and when they are thrown away the toxins are released. We produce 25 million tons of e-waste a year and most of all these products are full of deadly materials. We need to create a new way of designing new products. Moore's Law has to become more reliable and more recyclable that way it would be safer for people around the world to use and get rid of.  

Chapter 7

       Throughout this chapter Humes takes his audience to a new way of solving this situation. Smart Trash is the main topic of this chapter. This new technology changes the way we view our own trash and how we get rid of it. Smart trash consists of putting a small device in the things and products we use. This would help the way we recycle and get rid of our trash. Tim Pritchard, a 50 year old volunteer that participates in Trash Tracking became one of the most deeply involved people in this experiment. "While the average U.S. city recycles about 30 percent of it's waste, Seattle topped 50 percent the year Trash Track came to town"(Humes 148). However, there are people that believe that this technology was too expensive and a waste of time. The question that many people had going through their minds were, "How long would the battery life for this device last?" Well, "The devices went to sleep whenever they stopped moving as a further energy saver. Smart trash had enough battery life to last up to thirty hours of constant motion; standing still, it could last through three to six months of hibernation"(150).   In 2009 the MIT volunteers and Pritched released the smart trash experiment. Stage one was to drive around and get random trash that was abandoned. Stage two Pritched collected six hundred pieces of smart trash. This allowed him to see how long and how far our trash was traveling. However, there are some trash that couldn't be considered as "Smart Trash." Some object contain poison which is dangerous to recycle. Yet, this isn't the main problem that the American people are facing, it's the amount of trash they are creating over time without even realizing it. Seattle is a community were trash is their main priority, they understand stand that this trash problem is major. If only our world was able to do the same. We could really make a difference and actually find a true solution for this major trash epidemic.    

Interesting Picture

I found this picture on the web and I believe has a great message that it is trying to portray. Are we to late to save out planet? Is it time to stop thinking about solving this problem and time to thinking about surviving? Great picture.

Chapter 6

In this chapter Humes explains to his audience how this plastic situation has increase over the years. We are introduces to the Scripps researchers which was form by Miriam Goldstein. Their main priority is to accurately estimate the true size and concentration of the debris in the Pacific Garbage Patch and, more to the point, whether or not it is growing over time (Humes 133).  These researchers are trying to find the accurate numbers of trash that is in our oceans. The United Nation states, "That a minimum of 7 million tons of trash ends up in the ocean each year, 5.6 million tons of which is plastic." The ocean has gone through so much over the years, in 2011 the British Petroleum Gulf of Mexico oil spill was the largest man-made disaster in history. Plastic was invented in 1905 by an Belgian American chemist. He revolutionized the way we use things and opened new doors for new inventions. Plastic has been called the "Miracle Material." It has surpass other materials such as aluminum and steel. Plastic has become one of the materials that we use every day. It is everywhere and in everything; it is hard to believe how this new material has taken over our daily lives. Even though this material is an outstanding thing, it is causing more harm than good. Our oceans have turn to plastic soup and we have no idea how to clean it. Goldstein says "We made it. We own it." We have created this major epidemic; it is our responsibility to solve it. It is our destiny to solve and fulfill what our ancestors have created over the years.