Trashing The Planet

Trashing The Planet

Juvenile nonfiction
"Americans have a love affair with trash. The United States has
about 5 percent of the world's population but generates 30 percent of
the world's garbage. According to a 2008 study by Columbia University
in New York, the average American throws away about 7.1 pounds (3.2
kg) of waste each day, every day. That adds up to about 102 tons (93
metric tons) of trash over a person's lifetime. Edward Humes, author
of the book Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash, says, "Each
of our bodies may occupy only one cemetery plot when we're done with
this world, but a single person's 102-ton trash legacy will require
the equivalent [space] of 1,100 graves. Much of the refuse will
outlast any grave marker, pharoah's pyramid, or modern skyscraper."
YIKES! That sure isn't the legacy I want to leave behind. Yes,
I'm trash talking today. I've just read Stuart A. Kallen's Trashing
The Planet: Examining Our Global Garbage Glut. I think you might
want to.
This deceptively slim volume serves up a lot of important (and
often disconcerting) chapters;
*In chapter 3 we learn exactly how toxic our trash is. Not only the
byproducts of mining, agriculture, and manufacturing, but the cleaning
products and other consumer goods we use every day, contain some
pretty nasty stuff. And how about those nuclear power plants?
*Chapter 4 reminds us that in a world where millions of people are
starving we are wasting about 1/3 of the food we produce.
"Wasted food is connected to the misuse of precious natural
resources. In the United States, agriculture accounts for the use of
10 percent of energy, 50 percent of land, and 80 percent of
freshwater. To grow food farmers use hundreds of millions of pounds
of polluting fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. But 40 percent
of the food won't ever be eaten..."
Chapter 6 deals with the massive amounts of plastic in our
oceans and its effect on marine life. In chapter 7 we learn how even
outer space is becoming a dump.
What I like best about Trashing The Planet is that it takes
readers into the lives of the poorest of the poor. We learn about
Chinese families who live in shanties around dumps and dig through the
garbage to eke out a precarious living and e-waste salvagers in third
world countries who breathe and handle toxic substances without even
the most basic protections.
Perceptive readers will be able to glean ways they can make a
difference. For this reason I believe Trashing The Planet would be a
most excellent family read together.
On a personal note, I'm just back from church. Pastor Lorna preached
a powerful sermon. We (choir) had a fun introit and anthem. I got to
announce UMaine activities. Then after the service we had the annual
church meeting. We were enticed to come down to the basement by the
soup aromas. I had a bowl of fish chowder, 2 bowls of fiesta soup,
and a nice big piece of cherry pie. Oh my! I asked for the fiesta
soup recipe and plan to make it for Eugene. Today I have a ham in the
oven. That should give him leftovers for nights I have activities up
to UMaine.
A great big shout out goes out to my church family.
jules hathaway




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