Basic HTML Version
What we should have thoughr and
should always think is, "How big a
heap would chis make if each of my
counrrymen discarded one jusr like ir
in rhe same place?"
Litter is rhe leasr excusable form of
pollurion, and rhe easiesr cured. Ir
only rakes a little rhoughrfulness.
T he P ackag ing G lut
Today almosr all produces, from
furniture ro individual pills, are avail–
able in sorne son of package. Fre–
quently rhe irems found in rhe
grocery srore are double packaged. A
jumbo bag of potato chips may have
rwo smaller bags inside. A rube of
hairgroom or roothpaste is nearly al–
ways inside of a box. ltems from
single ball-point pens
ro
flashlighr
batteries
come
mounted on cards, in–
side a plasric bubble.
Mosr of this packaging provides
lirtle real prorecrion, but a grear deal
of extra adverrising space for rhe
manufacrurer. And we are partly ro
blame for accepring ir.
People in rhe United States con–
sume, or rarher, use and discard about
55
million rons of packaging every
year. That is abour
536
pounds for
each American. Of this amounr,
abour
56
percent is paper,
18
percent
is glass,
14
percenr is metal,
7.5
per–
cenr is wood and
3.5
percenr is plas–
tic.
Aside from rhe obvious burden of
disposal rhis packaging places on rhe
environmenr, irs manufacture coses a
tremendous amount in energy and its
arrendant pollurion.
Professor Bruce Hannon of rhe
Universiry of Illinois, quored in
Por–
tune
Oune 1972), calculared that the
exrracrion of rhe raw marerials for
America's yearly wasre in packaging
cosrs rhe equivalent in energy of 12.5
million rons of coal - enough ro
generare a year's supply of elecrrical
power for Washington, San Fran–
cisco,
Boston and Pittsburgh.
One facer of the packaging glur
which is growing is rhe nonrerurn–
able bortle. In recenr years rhe public
ourcry againsr nonrerurnables has nor
PLAIN TRUTH
Jonuory
i
973
been supporred by rhe public's buy–
ing habirs. Fewer rerurnable bordes
are made each year, because desire for
convenience somehow makes us for–
get our personal "commi rment"
ro
a
clean environment.
Sorne people even rhrow away de–
posir bordes, rarher rhan lug rhem
back ro rhe srore. This is nor really
surprising
in
view of rhe facr rhar, in
1968, Americans threw out an esri–
mared 7.6 million relevision sers, a
fair proporcion of which were in
working condirion or in need of only
minor repairs.
Our convenience seems ro be
worrh a grear deal ro us , no marter
where we come from. Bur perhaps
rhar is only because we do nor realize
how much iris really cosring us.
In
1960,
rhe average American
family spenr an estimared
$500
per
year for packaging. Today's estimared
cost is
20
percenr of rhat family's en–
tire "food" budger.
ln the face of rising inflation,
wouldn't ir be nice if rhar 2()1: losr ro
packaging out of every food dollar
could be cut ro 1()1:? A change in
buying habits would help, cutting
clown on che amounr of packaging
accepred in purchases. Ir would also
relieve sorne of rhe pressure on over–
burdened disposal sites.
The Power Glut
All of us enjoy comforr and ease
when we can ger ir. And every time
we have a few extra dollars (or
pounds, or wharever other medium of
exchange we may use) , like as nor, we
spend them on something which
makes our lives a little easier.
Unforrunarely, many, if not most
such irems are operated in sorne way
by elecrriciry.
An invenrory of one Derroir fam–
ily's home rurned up a rotal of
85
electrical appliances, induding nine
radios , four TV sers, four percolarors,
and eighr elecrric blankers (for a fam–
ily of six !). This family's average
yearly use of electriciry was a lirrle
more than
13,000
kilowatt hours,
which was produced by burning more
rhan
11,000
pounds of
coa!.
The burning of rhat coa! added
432
pounds of pollurion ro rhe air in
Detroir.
(The Detroit News:
"The
Earth and Eric Marus," May
10-28,
1971.)
Of course, nor every family uses
that much elecrriciry. Sorne (with all–
electric hearing and swimming pool
pumps, ere.) use more, and sorne use
Jess. But on a nacional average, each
American fami ly uses abour
12,000
kilowarr hours per year.
We all need ro think about
wherher
we
really need so many gad–
gers. By irself, che elecuic roochbrush
consumes a negligible amount of
elecrriciry. But ir symbolizes a rrend
roward more and more unnecessary
consumprion of power - power
which puts an increasingly heavy bur–
den on rhe world's natural resources.
W ho Is Responsible?
We can, and coo ofren do, place
rhe rora! responsibiliry for pollurion
on rhe shoulders of indusrry. Ir is rhe
obvious rarger. Ir is indusrry's smoke–
sracks that belch che mosr visible
smoke into
che
air. Indusrry produces
rhe cars that poUure coo much. Indus–
try hires che adverrisers who encour–
age our gluttonous buying. And
industry manufacrurers the paper,
bordes and cans rhar lirrer highways
and walkways everywhere.
Bur are
we
really such innocent vic–
rims? Or has our confused sense of
values put temporary comforr and af–
fluence above health and lasring
beauty in our environment?
Will enough of us realize in rime
that
each
of us has a measurable and
significant effecr on our world, and
change our personal habirs accord–
ingly? Will we acknowledge soon
enough that, no matrer how well de–
veloped our rechnology becomcs, we
will never dean up our pollured
planee without
100
percent individual
cooperarion?
And when we are prompred ro say
ro ourselves, "Who's rhat polluting
m_y
world?," who among us will be
che firsr to answer, "Why, ir's
ME
1
"?
D
29