39
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Cays, An Environmental Life Cycle Approach to Design,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63802-3_3
Chapter 3
Trash Can Living
Abstract The byproducts of consumption constantly flow between ecosphere and
technosphere. LCA environmental impact categories—including global warming,
eutrophication, acidification, and stratospheric and tropospheric ozone—form the
basis to evaluate massive torrents of material and energy and their potential to
degrade ecosystems.
Waste is defined not simply as unwanted or unusable material but more broadly
as “material in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Earth is the first of three “trash
cans” that humankind has created as a result of its inability to deal with its waste.
Illustrated examples establish the amount of land available to support us, the general
magnitude of the solid waste problem, and the inherent disparity between the two.
Air, the earth’s atmosphere, is the second “can” used to take up the lighter-thanair waste byproducts created by human activity. The evidence of an increase in
greenhouse gasses correlates to the pronounced rise of fossil fuel-driven industrial
production since the late 1700s through the present day. CO 2 , tropospheric and
stratospheric ozone problems, and methane are discussed.
Water comprises the third and final “trash can” survey, from solid waste fouling
our waterways that ends up slowly churning in the great Pacific gyre to agricultural
and industrial chemical elements and compounds that reduce the ability of the
oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, and underground aquifers to support life.
Externalizing what is considered of no economic value transforms the world’s
litho-hydro-atmospheres into receptacles for waste.
3.1 Environmental Impact of Exporting the American
Way of Life
Maybe the most important feature of the American Way of Life today is that it is no
longer only American. Over the last hundred years, we have been extremely successful in exporting a particular idea and amount of what individuals and families
around the world need to live and to thrive. According to current projections, as
China and India, the two most populous nations, continue to adopt this standard of
living, we will strain an already taxed resource transformation and distribution system.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Cays, An Environmental Life Cycle Approach to Design,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63802-3_3
Chapter 3
Trash Can Living
Abstract The byproducts of consumption constantly flow between ecosphere and
technosphere. LCA environmental impact categories—including global warming,
eutrophication, acidification, and stratospheric and tropospheric ozone—form the
basis to evaluate massive torrents of material and energy and their potential to
degrade ecosystems.
Waste is defined not simply as unwanted or unusable material but more broadly
as “material in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Earth is the first of three “trash
cans” that humankind has created as a result of its inability to deal with its waste.
Illustrated examples establish the amount of land available to support us, the general
magnitude of the solid waste problem, and the inherent disparity between the two.
Air, the earth’s atmosphere, is the second “can” used to take up the lighter-thanair waste byproducts created by human activity. The evidence of an increase in
greenhouse gasses correlates to the pronounced rise of fossil fuel-driven industrial
production since the late 1700s through the present day. CO 2 , tropospheric and
stratospheric ozone problems, and methane are discussed.
Water comprises the third and final “trash can” survey, from solid waste fouling
our waterways that ends up slowly churning in the great Pacific gyre to agricultural
and industrial chemical elements and compounds that reduce the ability of the
oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, and underground aquifers to support life.
Externalizing what is considered of no economic value transforms the world’s
litho-hydro-atmospheres into receptacles for waste.
3.1 Environmental Impact of Exporting the American
Way of Life
Maybe the most important feature of the American Way of Life today is that it is no
longer only American. Over the last hundred years, we have been extremely successful in exporting a particular idea and amount of what individuals and families
around the world need to live and to thrive. According to current projections, as
China and India, the two most populous nations, continue to adopt this standard of
living, we will strain an already taxed resource transformation and distribution system.