Scholarship

NaturalResources + Energy = FinishedProduct
Since all products are combinations of natural resources that are transformed by energy consuming processes this simple formula can be used to represent the manufacture of any product. It is the same if we are talking about paper, cell phones, bulldozers or cupcakes.
Recycling preserves the natural resources and some of the energy that was used to produce the product.

Formulas are abstract rather than literal. So N does not just represent a tree. It represents any natural resource, and e represents all kinds of energy including mechanical energy, heat energy, or electrical energy. P does not only represent paper, it can represent any finished product. This can be used to represent any manufacturing process. Every thing you make is a combination of natural resources and energy. Whether it is a piece of paper, or a cake, or a cell phone, or a car, the basic recipe is N+e=P When we start talking about things like cell phones and electronic devices that are made of lots of different kinds of N, the formulas get very complicated. But the point is that every thing we make contains an investment of natural resources and energy.

When things are thrown into the trash the natural resources and energy are lost. When things are recycled, the natural resources and part of the energy are saved. When things are reused, both the energy and natural resources are conserved. That is why reuse is better than recycling. But recycling is better than disposal.


trashtalks.jpgTrash Talks: Revelations in the Rubbish 1st Edition
by Elizabeth V. Spelman

 

 

 

 


wasteandwant_0.jpgWaste and Want: A Social History of Trash by Susan Strasser

 

 

 

 


medium_rubbish.jpgRubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage

 

 

 


Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash by Edward Humes medium_garbology.jpg

 

 

 



medium_junkyardplanet.jpgJunkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade Paperback – April 14, 2015
by Adam Minter

 

 


medium_storyofstuff.jpg The Story of Stuff: The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health--And How We Can Make It Better

by Annie Leonard 

 


medium_thebignecessity_1.jpgThe Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters

 

 

 


What a Waste
Daniel Hoornweg and Perinaz Bhada-Tata
March 2012, No. 15
Copyright © World Bank, 2012

 

 

 

 


Recycling Feconsidered

Recycling Reconsidered
The Present Failure and Future Promise of Environmental Action in the United States
Samantha MacBride

Review

 

 

 


 

Gone Tomorrow
The Hidden Life of Garbage
Heather Rogers

 

 

 

 


Salvaging a Land of Plenty
Garbage and the American Dream
Jennifer Seymour Whitaker

 

 

 

 

 


 

The Psychology of Climate Change Communication
Debika Shome and Sabine Marx