Core Values in American Life by Arthur Neal

Author:Arthur Neal [Neal, Arthur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138508613
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2017-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

The Greenhouse Effect

The full ecological impacts of the consumer-oriented lifestyles of the past century are not presently known. Yet it is obvious that the surface of the earth has changed dramatically from our system of production and consumption. The landscape has been scarred from strip mining practices; the soil has been eroded and contaminated from agricultural practices; and forests have been depleted from exploitative cutting and logging practices. The present situation may be a prelude to an ecological catastrophe of major proportions. On the other hand, the seriousness of environmental problems may have been exaggerated. Whatever the case, the potential problems growing out of our present consumer-oriented lifestyles merit serious consideration. Reasonable caution would seem to point toward maximizing the lead-time for working out and minimizing potentially devastating impacts.

For as long as we have any information, oceans, rivers, and lakes have served as places to dispose of waste materials. The present practices differ from the past however, in both the volume of the waste to be disposed of and the toxic character of the waste materials generated. The large volume of trash stems from our system of packaging and from the waste inherent in our system of production. The mounting volume of trash is in part promoted by the throwaway emphasis in our culture (Royte, 2005). The expanding system of production is driven by obsolescence, by the development of new products to replace the old ones, by encouraging people to throw away old appliances rather than repairing them, and by trashing containers rather than reusing them. Finding a place to put this mounting volume of trash is becoming increasingly difficult.

Economists employ the concept of externalities to describe all the positive and negative side effects of production, distribution, and consumption that are borne by those who are not directly involved in market exchanges. Externalities become problematic insofar as they have negative consequences for the innocent, although these consequences were not intended. Corporations do not actually wish to pollute lakes and streams but only to solve the problem of disposing of waste materials. Urban dwellers do not enjoy breathing polluted air, but they do enjoy the convenient transportation that private automobiles provide. Thus the problems of air and water pollution are byproducts of activities that were undertaken for other purposes.

Throughout most of the past, waste materials were primarily organic in character and thus biodegradable within a relatively short period of time. The waste materials of modern societies are of a different order. The metallic, chemical, and radioactive qualities of our current waste materials are much more toxic and have much more enduring effects. Several decades have passed since the launching of the nuclear age, yet adequate solutions to the problem of disposing of radioactive waste materials have not been found. It is only in recent years that hazardous chemical waste dumps have been located and inventoried. Apparently many industries disposed of chemical waste materials in a socially irresponsible manner. Episodes of medical waste materials washing up on beaches suggest that even the most revered of professions has failed to follow proper ethical standards in waste disposal.

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