In class we discussed how an everyday object and parts of our lives that will be seen in the far future and how people in the future will see our lives today. The object I will be selecting is a plastic bottle from the Poland spring company. This Product is held together by glue and plastic. Today we would see products like this as single use, but in the future they will see it as something that can last for a very long time. Though how they take it will be a mystery to us we can only assume they will take it the worst way as these products will be found in mass quantities. As our greatest success also may become our downfall and only remnants.
Author Archives: Sheldon Norris
Circular Economy
In class we discussed how a circular economy would work. We read multiple articles on how it would work, then we discussed what we thought of the paper and the probability of this working. One of the concerns in the article were the advancement or lack of advancement due to the reuse of the same materials over and over again. With the invention of new materials and products how will we keep reusing the old ones. The writer shows that there is no clear solution to this. In class we also brought up politicians disregard for this idea and how they make decisions for this without the necessary research to see what the impact of it will be towards this topic.
Reclaiming waste
We don’t think about what people in the future will think of our waste and where it will go and what history it will tell. We reclaimed waste and it’s meaning to us through a chart that shows how we can see certain waste when it is observed closely and what it tells of our culture. Looking at the waste we create we can see the solution can be found in the problem itself. Waste products can also be a reflection of our own lives and what it can tell about ourselves and our culture that moves so quickly it needs single use products to get by and how it conveniences us and inconveniences us at the same time. Through reclaiming waste we can really open our eyes to what goes on beyond the product being thrown away.
Matter out of place
Matter out of place goes into our disgust of things when they are in the wrong place. This mainly covers trash and disposable products. When trash is in the trashcan it doesn’t bother us, but when we can see it pouring out of the trashcan or on the ground. We have been taught to stay away from trash because it can carry bacteria. Matter out of place really goes into the factor of if we can’t see it then it’s not a problem. Trash in landfills will not be a problem for us because they are meant to be there. Dumpsters are hidden around the back of stores to hide garbage from the shoppers eyes. This class went over what we usually don’t think about and let our primal emotions of disgust take over but instead it makes us think about what really goes into everything even something as simple as a dirty napkin
Hoarding and Cleaning
Hoarding and Cleaning are very different but are very much the same in the fact that they can become unhealthy when overly done. Hoarding can save someone sometime but then inconvenience them the same day and cleaning can just be summed up as moving the waste somewhere else. Diagnosing someone as a packrat or a hoarder is hard to do due to the vagueness of the description of it. What I learned from this class is that you cannot stop yourself from cleaning or somewhat hoarding only just to recognize it when it becomes a bit too much and too think about what really goes into cleaning and hoarding of products and too think outside of what happens to it outside of our lives.
Pollution
Pollution is not something I usually think about in my daily life except for my daily routine of taking out trash and recycling. But in our everyday lives we need to travel farther and farther distances meaning the use of transportation that burns fuel and puts carbon into the air. To avoid this is hard without inconveniencing ones self for the long distance to travel. Public transit is the usual answer though the safety of public transit is questionable along with the lack of advancement for the every mans bus. To change this would be make our life styles very different and it will be a shock for a while. To eliminate pollution entirely is almost impossible but limiting it is closer and with new cars and advancements the limiting factor doesn’t seem too far away.
Disposability (cardboard food container)
A Common product I see often is the single use container for take out food. The products fall apart under any sort of stress and moisture gets trapped making the container fall apart over time. It is clear these are mass produced with little consideration for reusability. These products take a lot in consideration for maximum capacity for products for a single use product along with being light and easy to carry. Trying to reuse these products is harder than buying another as washing them destroys them and are more likely to get stained from food products. By looking at this product from an outside perspective it is clear what sort of culture we lead in our modern society through fast to produce and convenience items with little consideration outside of that.
Responsibility and waste workers
In class we talked about the Peddle people and garbage industry and how peddle people has benefits of humanizing the waste workers to outside viewers. The waste industry is one often overlooked by most as a poor job and for those less fortunate, but with peddle people they work in their own time making as much money as their work load making for a more casual job and less competitive environment. We talked as a group on how peddle people are more approachable and enforce a sense of community and as a local business with different groups for each town meaning they are more flexible when there’s a complication. The reading showed the importance of the waste industry that is often seen poorly by outsiders.
Matter out of place
In class we discussed how dirt and other products would disgust us if they were in the wrong place. If dirt was found inside a house we would try to get rid of it but if it were outside no one would really mind. This thought process comes from our need to organize and how things need to be in a certain place or it will be messy and contaminating. This affected me a lot in my past as my family is half Asian and as a tradition we are very strict about shoes and dirt in the house while the other side of my family did the opposite. This rule mostly stems from tradition though as of recently is seen as a necessary as covid and other diseases can find a way in through “dirty matter”. This lesson showed how we as humans are against any sort of dirt or trash that is completely normal in small quantities. Trash in our world is only ok in our eyes when it is out of sight in a trash can or in a dump.
Shit and waste
Natural waste is something we distance ourselves from since the stone age and even before that because the smell is built into us as a way to keep humans away from diseases. It was natural back then but since our expansion of the human race we needed to somehow reuse the waste we create or it is going to build up faster than anyway we can dispose of it. Our disgust for waste is shown in our marketing and design of buildings where bathrooms are hidden except for their signs. Waste product disposal often nicknames the waste in more pleasant terms to seem more inviting as a product to buy. This shows the distances we go to as a species to separate ourselves from something that we have to do pretty often. Especially since covid cleanliness has become a top priority and natural waste could not be a part of it and if it was it will be separated from those who produce it.