The Toronto Strike is wrapping up, so soon the mounds of garbage putrifying the city will be collected and taken to landfills. Yet it seems people still aren't cluing in on a very important lesson: looking at the amount of waste we generate. Most of it does not biodegrade and is potentially toxic to the environment. Landfills are serious zones of contamination for soil, groundwater, and the nearby ecology. And yet, while we know about waste, pollution, plastics and styrofoams that don't break down, we continue with our consumption and callous wastefulness.
Try imagining for a moment every MacDonald's in the world. If you go to one, you will see unbelievable amounts of plastics and syrofoams and cheap uneaten food filling garbage bag after garbage bag, everyday. Now multiply.
I personally know full well how much waste I generate, and while I've been trying over the last few years to find a lifestyle that wastes nothing but compost and a bit of recycling, I am still ashamed of myself every time I acquiesce to throwing stuff into the garbage, which is still too often.
So I just wanted to re-post this video, which I posted before in March in a tremendous rage of anger. I re-posted this earlier because of a comment on my statement that "the ocean's are FUCKED."
I, for one, encourage everybody to try a little experiment, which I have done more than once: don't throw away anything, for at least a month. Watch how much waste you produce. I guarantee it will surprise you. As you build up your pile of garbage, try to find ways to recycle the stuff by yourself, close to home. I don't know the figure, I need to re-check, but I think that the average amount of material we put in the recycling which actually gets recycled is only 30%. The stuff that doesn't get recycled is predominantly plastic and styrofoam.
Watch this:
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