American waste

I came from India about a year ago for my master’s degree. I was eager to witness the famous “American lifestyle.” Having been taught conservation values since childhood in India, I had become accustomed to reducing the number of plastics and papers used.

At home, we had a couple of plastic bags that we would reuse instead of throwing them away after using. This might sound funny, but when I was returning to Bangalore (my home town) from Hyderabad (where I used to work), I used to collect all the plastic bags that I had accumulated and took them back home, where we could reuse them for other purposes.

I was eager to learn about the conservation values in a developed country such as the U.S. I wanted to know everything that I could learn about different ways of efficient lifestyle, but I was beyond shocked to see how polar it was from the status quo.

The plethora of plastic bags given away at Walmarts, the never-ending stream of commercial mails from banks, media companies, and shopping markets (were barely ever used by me or my roommates and ended up in the dustbin even before I could open them).

Reducing the amount of plastic and paper consumption could reduce the level production, in effect reducing the amount the energy used to produce these products. This would obviously help reduce the amount of carbon emissions used to power these factories, one of the few movements that we must take to fight climate change. If we started this, we could possibly see America not only leading in economy and military but also paving a path to becoming a leader in energy conservation.

Mahesh Sasidharan

Iowa City

No coal, no pollution

The water that we drink should be safe from harsh chemicals and pollution, but that’s not always the case.

Mountaintop-removal mining is an example of the danger to our water’s purity. The methods companies use are awful for everyone’s health, humans, animals, and flora. The coal that falls is toxic, and if it lands in water, it can flow for miles. The coal dust and affected water can also wind up in the air.

We must stand up to the companies that let pollution fall into the water. I think that we should make a place that they could put the waste. I think that putting the waste somewhere safe from polluting water should be a big priority. The thing that most people don’t realize is that we have outlawed products that contain lead, but we are around water that can have who knows how much lead in it.

This topic brings up another: Instead of using coal for energy, we should try to use more renewable energy, such as the Sun or windmills. We shouldn’t let the problem of money get into our way.

I know middle-schoolers and high-schoolers make things that can help our world. We could make new windmills, or we could try to think of new energy sources. People think that we have a long time until we run out of nonrenewable resources, but the truth is, if our population grows at the rate it is, we’ll run out faster than we think. We need to think about not just now but the future. If we find more ways to get energy, the less we will have to use coal and other toxic things that pollute the air and water.

Keisha Vogel

Iowa City