Recycling: Making a Difference one Piece of Garbage at a TimeRecycling: Making a Difference One Piece of Garbage at a TimeAbstractThis paper explores the subject recycling and what we can do to help our environment. With the use of online sources and print books, I have gathered much research to inform the public of what we can recycle, how to recycle the items and its effect on our environment. I will explore for you how to cut back the garbage that is being sent to the landfills, how to conserve natural resources and decrease emissions of greenhouse gas.
Recycling: Making a Difference One Piece of Garbage at a TimeWeve all heard it a million times either in school as children or now as adults; follow the three Rs: recycle, reduce and reuse. But are we all actually doing our part to save the environment from all the waste that we as humans are creating. One main thing we can do to help our environment is to recycle. Recycling is the process of taking a product that is at the end of its use and using all or part of it to make another product. Now we may think what does this have to do with us? Well it has everything to do with us since we are the ones creating all the waste that is being thrown into landfills. Recycling is a simple way that we as consumers can help out the environment, create profitable market for recycled goods and help preserve natural resources from depleting.
In practice, not much has changed in our environment, and the most important thing to understand is that much of it is going unnoticed. In fact, we might as well be a living giant in the wilderness as a bird in a cave where we could take that beautiful thing. To be fair, we don’t have much of that kind of knowledge. But we do have the knowledge that we might as well spend a lifetime saving the world from this pollution and to make it less of a problem.
According to a study conducted by the Environmental Research Council, which has long been recognized as one of the nation’s leading research bodies, a greater percentage of countries (50.2 per cent) said they had a problem with pollutants. This year, more than 50 per cent of those countries said they had a problem with the amount of pollution that some types of fertilizers can cause. In countries with a few exceptions, these include Denmark, Sweden, Italy, the United Kingdom, India and the United States.
The researchers said that “a global effort to reduce the potential for more invasive fertilization for many crops will need to include national controls on all of its polluted inputs, including landfills, land-cleaning products, etc. This may entail, in the short term, banning all fertilizers that lead to disease and health problems. However, during the long term, international research programs, including those involving the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), voluntary international collaboration and research projects are needed to reduce land runoff that can cause crop failure.”
According to the authors of the study, in some of the countries where we have a problem with polluting fertilizers, we should be concerned: “The number of countries that ban or restrict their use of fertilizers is increasing, with only a small fraction of countries in the world having banned or restricting the use of their crops. This does not mean we are lacking in our knowledge of the consequences of any particular kind of polluting fertilizer. In fact, those that do ban or restrict use of polluting fertilizers should be aware of the consequences that the same type of fertilization can have on the environment … In one case even the most well-known pesticides have been shown to pose a risk to human beings.”
As the study states, while there is a great deal of awareness being raised about what these chemicals are and how they can be used in agricultural practices, this awareness should be kept in mind before planting and harvesting of crops. Unfortunately, it takes a good lot of thinking and many people have put a big weight on this for a long time without ever realizing the consequences.
The research team, and the public should be aware at all times about the potential for polluting fertilizers to reduce our own crop yields and to provide jobs and more sustainable future food. What we really need to know about is this: When our children and grandchildren grow up in some of the countries where we live and grow, does it make sense to restrict the use of fertilizers to what’s clearly in their best interests? What about a few of these nations, including the EU, which will certainly try to reduce the use
In practice, not much has changed in our environment, and the most important thing to understand is that much of it is going unnoticed. In fact, we might as well be a living giant in the wilderness as a bird in a cave where we could take that beautiful thing. To be fair, we don’t have much of that kind of knowledge. But we do have the knowledge that we might as well spend a lifetime saving the world from this pollution and to make it less of a problem.
According to a study conducted by the Environmental Research Council, which has long been recognized as one of the nation’s leading research bodies, a greater percentage of countries (50.2 per cent) said they had a problem with pollutants. This year, more than 50 per cent of those countries said they had a problem with the amount of pollution that some types of fertilizers can cause. In countries with a few exceptions, these include Denmark, Sweden, Italy, the United Kingdom, India and the United States.
The researchers said that “a global effort to reduce the potential for more invasive fertilization for many crops will need to include national controls on all of its polluted inputs, including landfills, land-cleaning products, etc. This may entail, in the short term, banning all fertilizers that lead to disease and health problems. However, during the long term, international research programs, including those involving the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), voluntary international collaboration and research projects are needed to reduce land runoff that can cause crop failure.”
According to the authors of the study, in some of the countries where we have a problem with polluting fertilizers, we should be concerned: “The number of countries that ban or restrict their use of fertilizers is increasing, with only a small fraction of countries in the world having banned or restricting the use of their crops. This does not mean we are lacking in our knowledge of the consequences of any particular kind of polluting fertilizer. In fact, those that do ban or restrict use of polluting fertilizers should be aware of the consequences that the same type of fertilization can have on the environment … In one case even the most well-known pesticides have been shown to pose a risk to human beings.”
As the study states, while there is a great deal of awareness being raised about what these chemicals are and how they can be used in agricultural practices, this awareness should be kept in mind before planting and harvesting of crops. Unfortunately, it takes a good lot of thinking and many people have put a big weight on this for a long time without ever realizing the consequences.
The research team, and the public should be aware at all times about the potential for polluting fertilizers to reduce our own crop yields and to provide jobs and more sustainable future food. What we really need to know about is this: When our children and grandchildren grow up in some of the countries where we live and grow, does it make sense to restrict the use of fertilizers to what’s clearly in their best interests? What about a few of these nations, including the EU, which will certainly try to reduce the use
Most of what we use ends up as garbage within months, weeks, days or even minutes and with the United States being the worlds most wasteful society; we send 236 million tons of solid waste to the landfill each year. In the United States the number of landfills has shrunk over the years from 8000 in 1988 to 1674 today. But the amount of garbage is not shrinking, almost three times more garbage is created today then in 1960. This of course is due to the increase in population has grown and our lifestyles have changed. More products are available now then ever before but less materials are being used to package these products so this stops waste before it even starts (Parks 2008). By recycling as many items as we can, we can save energy, reducing the need for landfills, conserving natural resources and decreasing emissions of greenhouse gas. So lets see what we can do as individuals to help our environment one household at a time.
Let start off with that fact that only one third of the waste in the United States is being recycled each year and the average American generates about 4.6 pounds of garbage a day. Some of this is caused by the fact that many people do not understand what we can and cant recycle. That and throwing the wrong trash in the recycling bin can contaminate