User:Stevenarntson/group spaces/2009fallanalytical/group 5

=Group members= sign in here with ":" (a colon and three tildes).


 * Margarita Sanchez
 * TinaZ
 * Crystalhays
 * Torigrace89
 * Rhodoraj
 * Erinbrown

=Overview=
 * 1.summary

Overall our group felt like this project was a success. It was tough at first to figure out how to divide everything up between all of us, but we made it work. Each of us was responsible for one section of the outline and we edited everyone elses. After it was all complete a couple of us went through and changed some things so that it would have a better flow.


 * 2.reflective assessment


 * 1.successes

We did very well as individuals with getting our personal parts done on time. We also got along well as a group during class time and when discussing the paper in person.


 * 2.failures

Our main failure as a group was that we didn't utilize the wikki enough. None of us used the discussion board enough and it resulted in people feeling stressed out that they didn't know what was going on. Also, not all of us were present in class every week which lead to some more confusion with the status of the paper.


 * 3.future strategies

Our advice to groups in the future is to really use all of the time given for this assignment and to not think of it as something that can be thrown together last minute. With a group project it takes a huge amount of communication and dedication to acheive a good end result. Our main advice would be to have everyone agree to check the wikki every other day and to also post something on the discussion board, even if its just to say that you logged on.

=Introduction: A Narrative= Once upon a time there was a man named Bill. People called him “Garbage Bill”. They called him this because although he had a home, he was notorious for making everything out of other peoples trash. He would make weekly trips to the local dump and find anything that was still usable. He found parts for his car, decorations for his yard, even his appliances were second hand.

One day, the local elementary school was having field trip to the dump to learn what happened to their trash after they threw it away and the importance of recycling. Among the kids was a third grader named Max. Max’s father was the city mayor and he lived a fairly lavish lifestyle. He had countless toys and clothes and never knew what it was like to wear something “second hand”.

During the field trip, Max couldn’t help but notice “Garbage Bill” rummaging through all of the junk and trash. He wandered over to him and realized that close up he looked like a normal guy. He wasn’t dirty or smelly like he had thought. “Excuse me sir, but why are you digging in the trash?” he asked. “Some of this is trash, but the rest of it is perfectly fine.” Bill responded, “Too many people throw things away for no reason in this country and I’m trying to do my part by reusing all of that stuff.”

This made Max think of the new space age looking washer and dryer his parents bought at sears last week and how they threw away the old ones even though they were perfectly fine. In fact, for all he knew they could be at Bill’s house!

When he went home that afternoon, Max told his parents all about the field trip and his talk with “Garbage Bill”. His dad was very touched by the story and could see that max was too. He told his son that he would try to make the city more aware of what they are throwing away and where to take it. He told Max that he couldn’t help the fact that Americans buy tins if stuff but he could try to provide more options for recycling.

Now, Max’s city is the #1 city for recycling in the country and it all began with one child, who was inspired by one man who found treasure in the rest of the city’s trash.

THE END

Trash has been a problem ever since people first started to colonize. “10,000 BC: Trash became a problem when people first began to establish permanent settlements.” From early settlers collecting people’s trash in wagons that went up and down the streets, to present day landfill complications, we can’t seem to escape the difficulties brought on by our country’s waste. As humans we are naturally prone to be destructive to our environments, there is no escaping that, and as the world becomes more populated there is more waste. The issue we want to discuss is what we should do to deal with this issue. The three R's that have been preached to everyone since grade school are REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. The question is, which of these options makes the most sense? "The 2000 Census counted a U.S.A. population of 281,421,906. Six years later the U.S. population had grown to 300 million." This rising population makes it much more difficult to reduce waste.

Americans love the convenience of plastic items, which is why most people prefer to pay a dollar for a plastic bottle of water than, god forbid, fill up their own bottle from the tap. "Americans spent more money last year on bottled water than on ipods or movie tickets: $15 Billion" and "If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000." Plastic isn't going away anytime soon, so recycling the plastic that is already produced is important. Recycling is not a new concept to Americans. “In 1776 the first example of recycling occurred when patriots in New York City melted down a statue of King George the third and made it into bullets.” We also learned to recycle our waste to our advantage when we discovered that it could create power. “In 1905 New York City began using a garbage incinerator to generate electricity to light the Williamsburg Bridge.” People are also making an effort to reuse things such as buying cloth diapers rather than disposable, or reusable shopping bags. Reducing plastic use altogether seems to be the more difficult option. How do you stop using something that is everywhere you look? It seems that on a scale of least to most effective, the saying should really go: "Recycle, Reuse, Reduce." -Tori Jones

Trash Island
“The very thing that makes plastic items useful to consumers, their 	durability and stability, also makes them a problem in marine 	environments. Around 100 million tonnes of plastic are produced each 		year of which about 10 percent ends up in the sea. About 20 percent of 	this is from ships and platforms, the rest from land.” (greenpeace.org)

Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Eastern Garbage Patch. Garbage Island. Trash Vortex. These are the names attributed to the vast floating field of debris located in the ocean off the coast between California and Hawaii and its expanse reaches far across the northern Pacific. The North Pacific Gyre is a system of slowly moving clockwise currents created by high-pressure air currents. These currents pull in floating waste and a toxic ‘soup’ is accumulated. This floating island of trash is comprised of waste materials from all over the world. The ‘island’ is estimated to be about twice the size of Texas. 100 million tons of trash are floating in the Gyre. Approximately 90 percent of it is believed to be plastic. The amount of plastic amassed in the gyre is six times that of the marine life located there. Plastic bags, nets, tires, and everyday household items are just some of the garbage that litters the ocean. Much of the waste has sunk below (about 70 percent), affecting the ocean floor, while some of it ends up washing up on shore. This garbage island is ever-expanding and accumulating exponentially since the 1950s.

The plastic accumulated in the gyre, while aesthetically displeasing, is also very harmful to the marine and wild life. Plastic is not biodegradable. Plastic waste can last for centuries. As plastic photodegrades (breaking down into increasingly smaller pieces), it is often confused as a food source, affecting many animals who consume it. The plastic creates blockages and is also extremely toxic. According to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food (Marks, par. 13).

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the consequence caused by the growing consumption and inadequate disposal of plastic products. How can we effectively address this problem? -Tina Z.

Garbage Facts
Trash and Plastics are consistently being piled up by not only Americans, but by other countries worldwide. The realizations truly hits home, when recent polls state that Americans on average waste 4.6 pounds per day which adds up to 230 tons each year; ¼ of it is being recycled, as the remained ¾ are placed into landfills. Nearly 70% of these landfill wastes (papers, glasses, and metals) can be reused into future resources. Slowly the environment is paying the price for our carelessness in how we ‘throw out our trash’, but there are ways we can stop and help our planet. ( www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/related.html)

Can we Burn It? - Yes and No. - Incineration does generate mass amounts of energy but releases toxins and ashes that get into our air systems.

Can We Bury It? - Many landfills are being closed due to large amounts and becoming overflowed and contaminating our ground-waters. What Are Other Countries Doing/Global Effects -Many cities are starting ‘sustainability’ projects strategies of reducing waste and using it towards materials in housing developments, nourishing crops as well as making energy. (www. Learner.org) -Copenhagen, Denmark has developed an urban waste system program has made major efforts in their environment. Their program includes: 58% is the cities household, commercial and industrial waste is recycled, 24% is incinerated and 18% is deposited in landfills. With these statistics, Copenhagen has had immense results: Reduced their landfill numbers from 30 to 3 50% of commercial, industrial and demolition waste it recycled, 50,000 tons of waste (previously in landfills) are now incinerated into plants that are now converted into energy

The mountains, the grasses and the oceans are our home and are our job to keep it clean and protected. Countries such as Denmark, are making their mark on the world, and slowing stopping their environmental issues. Trash and plastics won’t just go away, and are formally placed in their locations by people, and propose major damages.

Our country is producing so much, and therefore consuming so much, that we can’t keep up with places to put all of our trash. Americans today are being brought up in a society where waste is a normal occurrence. Things are constantly thrown away and replaced long before it is actually necessary. We are taught that in order to be considered successful and of high status that we need to own all sorts of material possessions. But not only that, we need to keep up with the latest and greatest, therefore, creating the unnecessarily wasted products and not all of this waste is being reused and recycled.

"We're reminded a hundred times a day to buy things, but we're not reminded to take care of them, repair them, reuse them or give them away." - Michael Jacobson, Center for the Study of Commercialism

Erin Brown

=Solutions=

Recycle
We all seen the blue recycle bins at some point or everyday, but how many remember to actually toss your empty bottles in there? Today, 80 percent of Americans have access to a plastics recycling program and still theres a large amount of people who dont both or forget to recycle. But if you need help to recycle theres community programs to sign up for and to keep in mind, the energy saved by recycling 1 bottle will power a computer for 25 minutes.

More than 2.4 billion pounds of plastic bottles were recycled in 2008. Although the amount of plastic bottles recycled in the U.S. has grown every year since 1990, the actual recycling rate remains steady at around 27 percent. Now in recent years, the number of U.S. plastics recycling business has nearly tripled and more than 1,600 businesses are involved in recycling post-consumer plastics. Also we cant forget plastic bags and product wraps, known as "plastic film", which is now commonly recycled at the many collection programs offered through major grocery stores.

In 2008, ArrowHead recycled more than 8.5 million plastic bottles during their sponsored sporting events arcoss the country, which is enough material to make over 85,000 fleece jackets. By recycling 1 ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space. And during 2008's Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup, volunteers recovered and recycled 189,000,000 PET plastic bottles that littered highways, waterways and parks. By helping out in your community, school, job, and at your home, you can do so much by just picking up or dividing your trash and taking little time to decide what items to through away in the right bins you can help to reduce landfills and the trash island by reusing your plastic.Margarita Sanchez

Reuse
There are many ways to reuse plastics, some are creative and some are basic, but all are a great way to reduce landfills, which in this case plastics can take up to 400 years to break down in a landfill.Some people think that plastic bottles are for one single use and some reuse their bottle thinking they are recycle by reusing that same bottle but, for your health and concern its better to know this; By cleaning your water bottle, both single-use and reusable water bottles should be thoroughly cleaned and dried between uses and sanitizing your water bottle, if you have visible bacterial slime or mold in your water bottle, you should sanitize your water bottle with a dilute bleach solution of 1 teaspoon bleach and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in 1 quart of water.At home, office, or anywhere, there are ways that you can reuse your plastic, by making wall art pieces, making garments,accessories, household objects, in the garden as pots, coin bags, simple pen c ontainers, or even building a house to a boat or car out of plastic bottles.

Margarita Sanchez

Reduce
We are all familiar with the process of recycling plastic, but what if recycling is not the answer to this growing plastic problem? For starters plastic is simply not good for the environment let alone human beings. It is not biodegradable and is also made from oil that comes from a limited natural resource. According to the World Health Organization, some plastics contain toxins that are known to be human carcinogens. Many people are already aware of these facts and still according to MSLK Watershed, and eco- arts program raising awareness through art, Americans use 1500 plastic bottles per second. Many people may not realize that there are alternatives to plastic and I believe that if people are educated about these alternatives and they are made readily available then the switch from plastic should be easy. There are many alternatives to plastic and the simplest one is using cloth shopping bags or even just asking for paper at the register. Another growing alternative is to use aluminum water bottles. These are the obvious ones, some of the less obvious ones include using newspaper or cardboard egg cartons instead of bubble wrap, buy wood furniture instead of plastic, and some food producing companies are beginning to use containers that are made of corn products and are biodegradable. Companies that sell these products online are onlygreen.com and ecoproducts.com. They sell everyday products such as biodegradable waste bags, steel and aluminum food containers, biodegradable cutlery and containers for businesses, beauty and health products, pet care, and basically everything that you need every day for personal use as well as business use. I believe that it is very important to get larger companies involved and educated because they have so much impact on the plastic products being sold in stores. Just think of the impact it would make if large companies started using plastic alternatives for products and their packaging. It is important to educate people and large businesses about these alternatives and make them widely known, because once you know about the alternatives it is as simple as buying these products online.

Crystalhays

conclusion
To recycle or not to recycle that is the question. Believe it or not but people ask themselves this question everyday. I know that I face this question every time I go to work, go out to eat, or even while I make my purchases.

In kindergarten, like many others I was taught the three R's, reduce reuse and recycle. But recycling back then, to me, was something people with money had. My mother had told me that it was too expensive. Not only do you have to pay for the bin, you have to pay monthly for its removal. Therefore, we didn't own a recycling receptacle until I was 18, when it was purchased by my sister and I. For 18 plus years I was not able to recycle from home.

Research has shown that money isn’t the only reason people don’t recycle. . Only 12 percent of those who don’t recycle say it cost too much and takes too much effort There are many who don’t because of their own free will. About 11 percent don’t recycle because they feel it doesn’t make a difference. While 6 percent say they are too busy and 5 percent say it’s too difficult. Only three- quarters of American adults recycle. In August 2007, studies showed that 23 percent of American adults simply did not think they need to recycle because they thought that it didn’t matter. You would think that young people would be inspired to recycle, every child wants to save the future right? but only three in ten “Echo Boomers”, (between ages 18-30), recycle compared to 19 percent of “Matures”( aged 62 and older).

Age isn’t the only thing that keeps people from recycling. According to the Harris Poll, people in the East and West are more likely to recycle. 88 percent in the East and 86 percent in the West.Where as 32 percent in the South and 30 percent in the Midwest recycle. Southerners may be more inclined to recycling if it were cheaper and actually available. One in five of those in the South do not recycle because it isn’t available in their area and 14 percent argue that it cost more where they live. For those in the East who do not recycle it may be because of their own laziness. One-quarter of Easterners say they do not recycle because it takes too much effort.

Of course as a child, I wanted to recycle but I was not aware of the dangers my toys and new clothes every Christmas actually brought to the world, until recently. Growing up we think about how we can recycle our garbage but we often forget that first step. Recycling is important but what is even more important is the first step, to reduce.

A large amount of toys are produced in China. China is becoming a large resource for businesses. Cheap labor and mass production has made it easy for companies to invest in overseas employment. The largest toy distributor in the United States is Wal-mart. The director of the activist group,. Bama Atheya, International Labor Rights Forum, claimed that Wal-mart will sell $7 billion  worth of toys this year. Just imagine how much plastic was made to make $7 billion worth of toys for one company in one year. Plus the trend of Vinyl toy collecting has only caused the relationship with plastic and toys increase immensely.

Humans have this amazing power that separates us from other mammals. We have the power to choose. Everything we do can be improved by the choices we make. It takes time but once people become more aware how and what to recycle we can also become more aware of what we consume. Consumption is a big issue with the garbage we produce in America. Most of that garbage is plastic and the problem with plastic is also its strengths. It’s durable and stable. Garbage can be reduced and it can decompose but there are many products out there that do not and most of those are made of plastics or resins.

Although plastic has become such an issue in our waste it has made many things affordable and has replaced the need to make things out of metals or  trees. Which has also reduced metal mining and forest farming.They are also used in a very important science, health. Plastics are used in all hospitals in numerous ways, without plastics we could not do many of the things that save lives everyday. Unfortunately like any plastic there is also a negative issue with these plastics The problem with these plastics is that they cannot be recycled. After one use in the hospital a plastic cannot be reused. Plastic syringes and caps, vinyl gloves and plastic aprons, wristbands, IV bags, and blood bags are all non reusable plastics. Although these plastics help people everyday that waste is overwhelming. The reduction of plastics in hospitals has been brought to many people’s attention and because of the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1970s the  levels of dioxins in our environment has decreased by 70 percent. Although many of the non-reusable plastic products in medical  waste were made to prevent infection and spread of disease, they are also incinerated for the same reason. These plastics contain a great amount of polyvinyl chloride and therefore is the major source of dioxins in the environment.

That’s not the only thing plastic brings to us. It can also poison us if handled incorrectly or by the process of it getting made through factories. Factories release toxins in the air while producing plastics and resins and also when recycling these materials as well. Purchasing products with certain plastics can be harmful as well. In 2008, nalgene bottles were pulled off the shelf for having bisphenol A (BPA), which have been proven to cause cancer and can increase risks of other severe health problems. There has also been studies of plastic in the microwave as being cancerous. Dr Edward Fujimoto from Castle Hospital, manager of the wellness program at the hospital explained that dioxins in our plastic containers are released when microwaved and when food containing any fat is heated high in plastic it absorbs the dioxins and ultimately finds it’s way into the body. A simple solution to plastic in your microwave is glass.

Although plastic brings us pain it also saves lives. The dilemma is plastic itself. Plastic has definite positives to it’s uses and what it has allowed us to do. it has also effected the earth in an equal if not greater amount of turmoil. I believe that we can possibly find a balance with plastic. We can find ways to recycle what is already made and reduce the need to make more by consuming cautiously and not as often.

Many people enjoy shopping and there is not much we can do to change that. But we can change our awareness of plastics and products. I myself enjoy to shop, so as a consumer I observe where the product is made, what the store encourages (whether they use recyclable items or reusable products),and what the product is made of.In the grocery store you can purchase food in glass rather than plastic. You can store cleaners and soaps in the glass from the foods purchased prior. There is also Bamboo which is made into cooking utensils, towels, plates and eating utensils. These are fairly inexpensive, reusable, and decomposable. These plants can grow fast and replenish easily. Cloth bags are also becoming more popular in stores as an alternative to plastic or paper.

There are many companies now that are aiming to be eco-friendly and hopefully this trend will spread worldwide. I’ve noticed that packaging has been a big issue with companies and the amount of plastic used is tremendous. Stores like Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie have recycled papers and paper tape as their main means of shipping and packaging. Plastic bags are also banned from their stores. Utrecht is also using refillable plastic bags as their means of shipping, although they are still working on getting plastic out of the first resort position, they are still leaning towards a cleaner alternative. There is also many restaurants that are trying to cut back on waste. Bahaus recycles their to go cups and uses corn plastic cups that are biodegradable. It is also becoming a trend for local stores and some large chain stores to use vintage clothing for new fashions. Not only can reduce our use of plastic we can reduce our waste and our consumption by doing so.

I’ve noticed that being earth friendly is not cheap and it makes it seem more appealing to buy the plastic bottled water then the glass, or buy the new clothes made in china rather then the recycled Patagonia clothes or the thrift store clothes. All these choices reduce the chain effect in purchasing things that potentially add to our demise. The answer to our problem is not only to recycling or reuse but to most importantly reduce. Because plastic has bled into all of our lives and through many countless professions and we can’t get rid of it but we can prevent the production of more. People can contribute by reducing in a matter that is comfortable to them, we just need to be pushed in the right direction.

Rhodoraj

=References= INTRO

Fishman, Charles. "Message in a Bottle." 19 Dec. 2007. Print

http://www.earthforce.org/content/article/detail/1568

www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

King George the third. http://www.aaronburrassociation.org/statue_of_king_.htm

Melos, Martin V. Garbage in the cities: refuse, reform, and the environment. http://books.google.com/books?id=mUU219lOBIQC&pg=PA158&lpg=PA158&dq=1905+ny+garbage+incinerator&source=bl&ots=CelTDOYsG3&sig=SNZzWp0hvRTtWaPOJantST1PGfA&hl=en&ei=6v0fS5HbK5K_lAennvWHDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CBwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

"Bottled Drinking Water." World Health Organization. 2009. World Health Organization, Web. 11 Nov 2009.

Marks, Kathy, and Daniel Howden. "The world's rubbish dump: a tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan - Environment - The Independent." The Independent | News | UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper. 5 Feb. 2008. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. . -Trash Island

Newport, Ivy. "Alternatives to Using Plastic/Science and Technology." Best Syndication. 10/16/2009. Best Syndication, Web. 11 Nov 2009. .

onlygreen.com

"The trash vortex | Greenpeace International." Greenpeace | Greenpeace USA. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. . -Trash Island

"Watershed,a new MSLK eco-installation." Reactions. 04/19/09. MSLK, Web. 11 Nov 2009. .

Margarita Sanchezhttp://ecoble.com/2009/04/27/extraordinary-reuse-projects-10-amazing-ways-to-recycle-plastic-bottles/

http://walking.about.com/od/fluids/f/reusingbottles.htm

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Recycling+plastic+Facts&page=1&qsrc=2417&dm=all&ab=1&title=Recycling+Plastic%3A+Facts&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chm.bris.ac.uk%2Fwebprojects2004%2Fwhitehead%2Ffacts.htm&sg=6oQe%2BuqNyv4uQq0HzaaKQJIUrLLGCv4zFGahPqoLi24%3D&tsp=1258573935638

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Recycling+plastic+Facts&page=1&qsrc=2417&dm=all&ab=0&title=Plastic+Recycling+Facts+-+Earth911.com&u=http%3A%2F%2Fearth911.com%2Fplastic%2Fplastic-bottle-recycling-facts%2F&sg=uPBpnRtOZg3tI2POaeMyG3RAlytG2T4kR3qFa%2BGbGUI%3D&tsp=1258573935638 Margarita Sanchez