The Vast Landscape of American Waste
Are you entitled? Really?
Abundant excess
Returning to the United States I find myself breathless with the abundance with which I am engulfed.
Life in my midwest world is truly breath taking beautiful.
Overwhelmingly, abundant.
There is so much of it.
So little regard for maintaining it that the ease of which people waste devours me.
I see and hear waste.
Day after
Good morning! Fun party. I love your salt water pool.
Thanks. It was a fun evening.
We are all on the deck enjoying the beautiful edge of fall in Kansas City.
Two ladies from the party the night before join us to collect children who have slept over.
The conversation quickly moves from salutary greetings into analysis of the poolside discussion with another guest.
She said she takes her two Golden Retrievers to the groomer for a bath once a week.
Those are big dogs. They’re probably not easy to manage.
I’d hose ’em down and move on.
I am surprised your daughter didn’t say, “Throw ’em in the lake!”
Agreed, that must be expensive.
That’s not the half of it! She gives them…
swimming lessons!
Golden Retrievers are hunting dogs. Bred to retrieve wild game in water, returning the prize, to their owner.
They love to swim.
I guess the suburban variety forgot their purpose in life.
I’m sure the groomer is laughing their way to the bank.
I shouldn’t judge.
Perhaps, the owner just wants them to have some weekly water experience.
But, I know there is a lovely dog park near by with a roaring creek.
Bottom line, the dog park is free.
All provided by a generous tax base assigned in this county.
I guess when you have lots of money your perspective of waste changes.
You can’t waste any of your precious time but your money is negotiable.
UAW
My waste pondering is also fed by the news of the UAW strike.
It is publicized since 2019 our three major automaker’s CEO’s salaries and incentives have increased by 40%.
That’s alot!
Data is complicated by compensation packages, stock options, Euros and dollars.
Any way you examine the gap between the striking auto makers and management the disparity is gigantic.
One of the autoworkers central arguments is strengthened by the fact that it would take hundreds of years for an autoworker’s salary to equal that of their CEO’s.
Unless, you work for Tesla.
You could match Elon’s salary in 18,000 years.
Unreal to me.
Worker’s unrest
The headlines here seems fraught with strikes for more equitable pay.
Netflix, The Writer’s Guild, Comcast, and NBC have all had their day in the media spotlight. All are weighing in comparing common workers salaries to exorbitant CEO’s fat paychecks.
Have we forgotten that it is the product of the folks below that feather our management nests?
Entitled waste
From my observation perch it seems that the over paid people at the top are often the ones that are wasting valuable resources.
Daily I see lawn sprinklers spinning water on a rain drenched lawn. Water is often flowing into the gutter and down the street.
In America we live in air conditioned, closed, homes. We complain when the weather changes with radical climate shifts. The outside temperature may be in the 50s but the AC is still running inside.
We fail to acknowledge that when we acclimate to changing weather naturally as our ancestors did it is healthier and easier to adapt.
Our immune systems are stronger when we are exposed to natural elements like temperature, dirt, and bacteria.
Seems easier to waste than work to adapt.
Historic waste
It seems we Americans have a history of waste.
I listened to a public radio interview with Ken Burns discussing his new documentary, The American Buffalo.
I am happy to learn that our devastated population of American Buffalo is increasing.
Sad to hear our historic trajectory of waste.
In the 1500's America was believed to have had 30 million buffalo that grazed across the US reaching as far as the East coast.
Ken Burn’s described how American hunters would kill a buffalo for the hide, leaving the carcass to decay in the open air.
I can hardly believe hungry settlers wasted good food.
Our government’s racist policy to manage our Native American population ordered the military to conduct a massive plunder of the Indian’s major food source.
When people loose their traditional food source they are easier to manage.
Buffalo herds were reduced in 1830 to 325 out of the original 30 million.
Thankfully, in 2017, 500,000 buffalo are now thriving on our plains.
Again, it seems our American greed for the precious animal pelts and the blind racist policies of our government blinded us to the painful waste of people, animals, and resources.
Landfills are full
Forty percent of our American food supply is wasted and sent to landfills. We waste more food than any country in the world. Three hundred and twenty five pounds per person or 60 million tons of food yearly is thrown away. This waste is estimated to cost the US $218 billion which equals about 130 billion meals.
Energy Consumption
US energy efficiency is about 42%. We waste 58%, mostly through our industrial negligence.
Tiny attempts
We are trying to make cut backs creating carpools, lighting upgrades, and limiting the use of air conditioners.
Architects are planning more water features and landscaped walls in urban developments.
Cities are designing parks that utilize rainfall collection systems.
Life in paradise
Based upon what I see and hear. It seems the more you have, the more calloused you are to waste.
It appears that historically Americans have wasted much of what should have been conserved.
I watch Jamaicans callously litter their natural paradise.
Jamaica is edgy, raw, and beautiful.
Tourism is an all important industry here.
Jamaicans need to curb their waste before the most valued natural resource is blighted by their blindness.
Instead of only looking at America as a land of endless opportunity they need to look at where American has gone wrong and change Jamaican life to preserve what God has given.
In Jamaica we live an austere life in a tropical paradise.
We live simply.
We consciously work to conserve water, electricity (current), propane, petrol (gasoline), and food. We take life slowly to conserve our own lives.
All precious and dear in our little developing nation.
In Jamaica we hear every day, Life is the greatest. The dizzying American pace of life isn’t life unless it’s on the go. Americans seem in a constant pursuit of what I don’t know but the watershed is waste.
I hope Jamaicans will look across the sea and recognize what they have to preserve sooner than later.
What makes any people entitled to waste?
Blessings from Kansas City!
Thank you for reading until the end. I appreciate you taking your valuable time.
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