Zachary Gaston
Mrs. Atkinson
English IV
27 March 2013
Problem
Solution Paper
“Americans throw
away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. They take 400 to 1000 years
to degrade.” ("10 Disturbing Facts On How Much We Waste") The problem
is that instead of recycling, people either throw the trash away or throw it on
the ground. This problem exists because most people are lazy or just do not
take the time to properly dispose of waste the right way. A couple ways to fix
this problem are to recycle, pick up waste, and spread the word to others. If
people focus on the key points listed above, they can positively impact the environment.
“Recycling one
aluminum can save the amount of energy to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours
or run a TV for 3 hours. Over 100 billion aluminum cans are consumed in
the US
annually, only half get recycled.” ("As a Matter of Fact...") The
cause of this is that people do not take the time to separate their trash to
recycle the right materials. Instead of recycling, people throw everything into
a landfill, and then the trash takes a very long time to biodegrade. If this
problem goes unchecked then waste will continue to pile up until there is no
room left for it; the government will have to continually spend money on new
landfills to be built.
If more people in
a community would take a day and clean up around the community then the amount
of waste would decrease exponentially. The advantages of this are there would
be less trash in the environment and the community would be a cleaner place to
live. Disadvantages to this are that people are lazy, and there may be a lack
of volunteers. This problem could be helped if more people would spread the
word of the dangerous effects on the community.
If more people
would talk about this problem, then more people would know. An advantage of
spreading the word is that a large number of people would be aware of this
issue. A disadvantage would be that people may not find it interesting, or they
will believe it does not pertain to them, so they will not listen in return. This
is the most effective method due to the fact that news can travel extremely
fast in today’s society due to social media.
In conclusion
there are three main things anyone could do to help positively impact the
environment. If everyone would recycle, pick up waste, and help spread the
word, this problem would disappear quickly. Why not get involved and make the
environment suitable for future generations to live in? In the end if all these
solutions worked the world would be a great place to live for years to
come.
"10
Disturbing Facts On How Much We Waste." www.PlanetForward.com.
Sustainable Living, 24 Oct. 2009. Web. 30 Apr 2013.
<http://planetforward.ca/blog/10-disturbing-facts-on-how-much-we-waste/>.
"As a Matter
of Fact...." www.ct.gov. Connecticut
Energy Environment , 20 Jul 20011. Web. 30 Apr 2013.
<http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2714&q=440320&deepNav_GID=1645>.
