Protecting The Javan Rhinoceros

 Application Assignment 1

Overflowing trash in Kibera from GRID-Arendal resources library by: Rob Barnes

Section 1: Environmental and health impacts presented in your reading

In the article, Where does your plastic go? Global investigation reveals America's dirty secret, the environmental impacts discussed were the shipping/dumping of large amounts of our recycling to developing countries, the burning (legally and illegally) of the plastic we send, and the health impacts on the workers and environment in these areas. The shipping of our recyclables to other countries causes an unreasonable amount of emissions to be released into the atmosphere. The U.S. ships 1 million tons of plastic a year to developing countries that are already suffering from their own issues with plastic (The Guardian). Reducing the plastic we ship and hopefully eliminating the stress and environmental impacts we force onto other countries with our waste would help in decreasing our environmental impact.

 Once our recyclables are shipped overseas, the recipients have to then find a way to get rid of our plastic as well as their own. This leads to many illegal factories burning plastic to be created in an attempt to rid of all the waste polluting these countries. The impacts of this are incredibly harmful to the planet and people. Respiratory illness, birth defects, developmental disorders, and cancer are only a few of the side effects caused by living with and burning plastic (The Guardian). The lack of education and irresponsibility regarding recycling is just the beginning of the matter as to why humans are causing the impacts described in this article. When throwing something in the recycling bin, we really need to stop and consider whether or not it belongs there. The impact we are leaving is going to be hard to change if we refuse to hold ourselves accountable on an individual and community level. This isn’t even considering the fact that we send our waste to countries that are already overwhelmed with their own. The issues regarding recycling are crucial to address and begin to change so that we leave a legacy on our planet that the future will be able to live with. 

Section 2: Comparison with a different type of human impact

Gas flaring at an oil rig GRID-Arendal resources library by: Peter Prokosch

 In class we discussed oil drilling in the amazon after watching, The World's Worst Oil Related Disaster You've Never Heard Of. There are notable similarities between our recycling issues and oil drilling. For starters, the pollution that is occurring from these events has a huge impact on the communities and therefore the planet. Another similarity is that we are utilizing other countries' land as a way to discard our waste, we send our plastic waste to other countries to deal with and after drilling for oil, chevron dumped the waste in the local rivers for the communities in the amazon to now live with. Both scenarios created devastating impacts on the locals and everything that inhabits the area. 

Although these situations have similarities, there are also differences. The oil drilling in the amazon as seen in the video on Vice is discussing one specific event caused by Chevron discarding of oils that they didn't need into the local rivers and streams. The recycling issue discussed in section one accounts for our country as a whole rather than one company and while the impacts of both are devastating, their causes come from different individuals. That is not to say that our country was involved in both, because unfortunately we were, but an essential step after that is to become educated and aware of the impacts we are leaving on other countries, the environment, and its people. 

Deforestation of rainforest by: Daniele Gidsicki

  Another type of human impact on the environment is deforestation. WWF discusses deforestation and forest degradation, “Over the next 15 years, forest landscapes equaling an area more than twice the size of Texas could be lost to rampant deforestation…” (WWF). I think this issue also shows similarities with our recycling, the main one being overconsumption. We consume so much plastic waste and send it to other countries, and we consume so much that we now rely on cutting down forests and wrecking ecosystems to have more space and stuff. One of the leading causes of deforestation is agriculture which yet again can be tied back to our overconsumption (WWF). Overall, I think there are many more similarities than differences between most of the human impacts on the environment.

Section 3: Describe the role of a typical person at Keene State College in the use of these resources

Photo by me, copyrighted 

In Keene, we are as much of the problem as everyone else. We all consume and create more waste than can be managed and if we want to develop a sustainable environment for future generations, we need to change. Although we have steps in place to try and lessen our footprint, they are often not followed correctly. We are not supposed to throw plastic bags into the recycling bins around campus, yet every time I go to put my recycling in there, plastic waste is in plastic bags. Another thing with the intention of helping the environment that is misused is the compost bins in the dining hall. Oftentimes I see that people will pour all of their leftovers and trash into the compost bin when it's only supposed to be for certain things. While the dining hall has signs showing what goes where and the signs are often disregarded and trash that doesn't belong is thrown into the compost bins anyways. 

Lack of education and effort is what we need to fix to create solutions that will last. Education is one of the most important things that can help, by simply taking environmental courses I was exposed to so many new things that I never knew but I can now work on changing in my own habits. Along with educating others, implementing incentives for the correct actions is something that I'm sure no college student would turn down. Also, creating bigger signs that are harder to ignore could be beneficial to further enforcing positive behavior. Although we may not feel like we can make a change if our community can work together toward creating a more sustainable world we could create a bigger impact than we might expect.

Photo by me, copyrighted