Global warming and other unethical practices by humans have left the earth in a critical state. Many scientists have predicted that it won’t be long before humans make the earth incapable of being inhabitable due to humans’ own destructive ways. In the movie Wall-E, the little robot lives on a desolate version of the earth that’s unbearably hot and completely covered in trash. Though this movie is obviously fiction, if humans do not change their inconsiderate ways, the earth will not be able to sustain us for much longer. It’s a depressing reality that is on the horizon for us. We can already see the effects of this by monitoring the rising temperatures of places that are normally way cooler. Anyways, in order to ensure that our earth doesn’t become the dystopian wasteland portrayed in Wall-E, we must seek and implement waste and sustainability practices that will save our home. This can be done successfully with enough people participating. Now, if we look at packaging recycling programs, although they help our current problem, they are not popular and due to this unpopularity, are not as effective as they have the potential to be. However, sustainable packaging that is commercialized and promoted on a grand scale could help the efforts. Picture it, instead of just the trash can and the recycling bin, we have a sustainable packaging reuse bin everywhere that eventually gets escorted to a center where these products are converted into usable packaging that companies can purchase and use for their products. Moreover, in order to appeal this proposal to big companies, the re-made packaging could be sold to these companies at a cheaper price compared to other packaging businesses that would charge more. This way both parties could be pleased because we need big companies to utilize and imply this strategy if we wish to change things. Moreover, these conversion centers I mentioned earlier could provide more jobs for people in the area. Moving on, in regards to the problem we have with packaging being wasted in our oceans, there are solutions for that as well. I predict that by the United States and other big countries using the method I described to repurpose packaging, certain problems with pollution and waste products being misplaced, will be greatly be resolved in a matter of a couple of decades. This process, along with other positive solutions, can greatly increase our chances of improving our situation. It is time we rewrite our wrongs as inhabitants of this planet. Will it completely unwrite all the destruction we’ve caused? No, however, we will be able to prolong the Earth’s life for future generations. Additionally, with the opportunities that derive from this proposal, everyone wins. The big companies get a great deal for materials, the environmentalists get to enact their plan, and the common people get job opportunities. A plan like this could get the approval of many different people with different interests, which makes it less difficult to enact. So hopefully, this plan is proposed and procures a large amount of support.
Joseph Dwight Semien II
Arizona State University