Killing Ourselves to Power our Cell Phones

By Cathy Doodnauth

We humans never think that our little decisions impact the rest of the world. Like turning back home for let’s say, a forgotten cell phone. Those unnecessary additional miles won’t matter, right? Wrong. Most choices we make with a shrug are the ones that are adding to environmental issues all around the world. That wrapper you “accidentally” threw out the window will choke an innocent bird that hoped it was dinner. The water bottle you left in the street will flow down sewer lines to the ocean, where it will float around for millennia. Every choice we make affects our planet, whether we like it or not. We’re running out of places to stick our waste. And without changing our decisions now, we could be in for a very filthy planet in the near future.

Garbage is a substance that is literally a part of every human being’s life. The most we think of it is when we throw it in a can outside to be collected and moved elsewhere. But garbage is one of our biggest environmental issues today. Getting rid of it in a sustainable way is one of the many challenges environmentalists have to deal with. But let’s face it- there is one obvious solution to lessening the amount of garbage we create: lessen our consumption.  But to do so, we have to understand the consumeristic lifestyle most have today. Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff discusses consumption and disposal in the United States. Her video is simple and easy to follow, making it effective to the audience. The accessibility is a plus too- people of all ages can easily follow along. She puts our issue simply: “It’s a particular strand of overconsumption, where we purchase things, not to fulfil our basic needs, but to fill some voids about our lives and make social statements about ourselves...”. We buy things no longer for survival, but for entertainment or for bragging rights. Her step-by-step video teaches us that the high consuming rates of the world are what are creating an abundance of garbage. This video uses drawings and narratives to explain the linear system that products we crave go through. This method is effective to teach the audience about the main process going on in America, a consumerism country. Leonard also teaches us that there is still hope for minimizing our garbage; intervention. She lists the many ways humans can lower consumption and disposal; by openly discussing the way to turn the issue around, she is opening paths for the audience to help.

Consumption is the creator of garbage. Without consumption, will there also be no garbage? One man takes on this question in No Impact Man. The “no impact man,” Colin Beavan, films his life as he cuts out unnecessary consumption and garbage for one year. This documentary has influenced me more than other environmental films I have seen in the past. His lifestyle change made me want to cut all my lights off and save the planet too. But really, this film is very effective: it makes the audience want to change their lifestyles while entertaining them simultaneously. Beavan doesn’t lie- cutting out his family’s lifestyle in Manhattan will be hard. His wife isn’t too fond of the idea either. Showcasing both the good and the bad is definitely what makes this documentary so effective. Throughout most of the film, they complain about the complications this project created. The initial difficulties of eating differently (or avoiding Starbucks coffee) make the film relatable from the start. Including arguments and fights, even a stressful discussion on pregnancy shows that this family could be any family, a method that adds to the film’s effectiveness. Most of the film is able to maintain my attention (which can be hard): this makes it easy for anyone to take an hour and learn about simple ways to help the world. And at the end of it all, the audience sees that it is possible to live without consuming so much. The Beavan’s garbage is no longer an average of four pounds- it’s barely one pound. And their lifestyle helps the planet, even if only a little.

I know it’s hard to try cutting down on consumption. Just imagining myself without my cell phone makes me cringe. It’s like that for millions of people around the world. But lessening consumption cold turkey isn’t the only way. Instead of being dramatic, be smart. After watching Beavan lowers his consumption, I wanted to try a mini no impact challenge. There’s no sugar coating this- I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. I totally avoided meat for a few days, but then “accidentally” indulged in bacon. I attempted to turn off the lights in my house, but was reprimanded by family members as they were plunged into sudden darkness. I used my phone relentlessly, charging it whenever I had to. I failed in these aspects miserably. But I didn’t mess everything up: I walked where I needed to go; I ate only at home, avoiding individual packaging; I even avoided Starbucks, a guilty pleasure of mine. So it wasn’t a total loss. I enjoy eating fruits and vegetables, and I plan on cutting out meat more and more. Eating out is unhealthy, so I can lower packaging waste. I advise others to take this challenge; you’d be surprise what you can live without. For anyone who wants to try, there is a way: the no impact project. Based off of Beavan’s project, you too can try living without impact in this one-week carbon cleanse. Good luck!

With our incredibly high rates of consumerism and overuse of what energy we have, one wonders where American gets the energy from. The answer is a word that incites a vicious anger in many people: coal. I won’t get into the nitty-gritty; coal as an energy source is very controversial today. The methods are hurting the earth and coal-mining is among the most unsafe jobs. I can attest to this from watching 30 Days: Working in a Coal Mine. The wonderful Morgan Spurlock works in a dangerous coal mine for a month, taking on the difficult jobs miners do every day. Spurlock is able to film his whole experience. His first trip into the mine had one impression on him that sticks with the audience: without a flashlight, you see pure darkness. The ceiling is extremely close to their heads. And the air is filled with dust from the coal surrounding you. The earth literally swallows Spurlock up, and this thought terrifies me. Just watching this part caused my heart to beat as if it were me working underground. His initial entrance is very effective- it shows the audience what the miners deal with every day. Spurlock interviews some miners throughout the episode. They all have the same mindset- they know that they could walk into work one day and never walk out again. This simple revelation from every interviewed miner puts the audience off from ever wanting to step into a mine. Yet we put these people’s lives in danger every day. Any mistake can cause an explosion trapping and killing dozens of men. And these accidents aren’t that rare- they have been occurring every few years. And if it isn’t an explosion, it’s the disease miners get due to their breathing of coal dust; black lung. Spurlock’s work here humanizes the people that give us our electricity and our products. Are the lives of these regular Americans not important enough to at least spur a search for another viable energy source? If we are going to consume as much as we do, we need to find a way to support it that does not put so many lives in danger. Consumerism is literally killing us.

Like I’ve said before, we’re running out of places to stick our garbage. We’ve created landfills, we’ve exported trash to other lands, and we even burn it in incinerators. That’s all done purposely. What we are now realizing is that we’ve polluted another source accidentally- our oceans. Synthetic Sea is a video that explains the presence of plastics in the ocean, as well as garbage patches. The style of the video is informative- through videos and pictures of the plastics and research, the audience sees firsthand of what is really in the water. Interviews of scientists and a narrative by Charles Moore back the information up. Plastic is degraded into “chips” due to photo-degradation. The pictures and videos are what make this style of video effective. The audience is not only hearing about the plastics but is seeing it- tiny flecks that you thought were shells or rocks are actually human made plastics. The sheer number present in the ocean is a shock factor. The part that sticks with me mostly is the effect plastic has on wildlife: the albatross, for example. It’s upsetting that birds believe these plastics to be food- in an effort to survive, they kill themselves. It disgusts me, and I know that it has to impact an audience as well. If killing innocent animals doesn’t spur a change, I’m not sure what will. The impact we have on wildlife should be enough to cause humans to want to find solutions. This video is one of many that can highlight our negative impacts on the world.

Our garbage issue is getting more and more dangerous with each day that passes. Our wastes are so vast that we have unintentionally created garbage patches in 3 out of 5 oceans. Pieces of plastic are so numerous in the oceans that it is near impossible to separate the two. National Geographic discusses these issues in more interesting detail in an article, “The Best Way to Deal With Ocean Trash,” from 2014.  Rather than getting better, things are getting worse and way out of hand:

“In either case, the harm to fish and other sea creatures is increasing. A 2009 research trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Scripps found 9 percent of the fish had ingested plastic. Eriksen, with help from seven other scientists, recently analyzed material in all of the garbage patches. Of 671 fish collected, 35 percent had ingested plastic particles.”

More and more fish mistake plastic for food. These plastics make their way up the food chain through eating- considering humans eat fish, it is clear that even we are able to eat our own plastic waste from the body of a fish. Just thinking about this makes me want to vomit. It is clear that my opinion isn’t unique- more people are becoming aware of the oceans issues with our garbage. More people are trying to find a solution, but like this article says, it might be impossible if we don’t act soon.

In some countries, garbage is already piling up in the streets. With the current path humans are taking, I imagine the future with sidewalks filled with garbage. It all starts with our decisions- we caused this consumption and garbage issue, and we will be the ones finding a solution for it. That plastic water bottle you left in the street has degraded in the ocean. It’s now become a part of a garbage patch that is killing wildlife and hurting the food we need to survive on.  What you do in the world has consequences, whether we are aware of them or not. So isn’t it time to start making the right decisions?