Garbology Who Usedanddisposedoftheitems

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©iStockphoto/Allkindza Garbology 1 3 Buy, Use, Toss? A Closer Look at the Things We Buy

Objectives National Standards Addressed Students will: National Council for the Social Studies • Engage in a critical analysis of I (Culture) consumption III (People, Places, and Environments) • Examine trends of modern disposal of VII (Production, Distribution, and material goods in the United States Consumption) • Analyze ways in which consumption National Science Education Standards choices reflect people’s lifestyle and culture A (Science as Inquiry) Inquiry/Critical Thinking Questions F (Science in Personal and Social • How do material goods reflect our way of Perspectives) life? Additional Vocabulary • How do our individual consumption habits compare to those of an average American? luxury—a material good or service that is Subject Areas not essential to a person’s life; an extrava- gance • Social Studies (Global Studies, Con- necessity—a material good or service that is temporary World Problems, Geography, essential to a person’s life; something that is Economics, Sociology) required • Science (Environmental, Biology) archaeology—the study of past human life Time Required and culture by an analysis of artifacts and 45 minutes material evidence Key Concepts midden—a trash pile material consumption—the purchase and Optional Background Reading use of resources and products • Jared Diamond, “What’s Your Consump- waste disposal—the act of getting rid of tion Factor?,” The New York Times, January unwanted materials 2, 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/ opinion/02diamond.html culture—the behavior, art, beliefs, and —Diamond traditions of a group of people writes about the stark differences in per capita consumption across nations and the effects of these consumption patterns on the world.

• Kathy Marks and Daniel Howden, “The Activity world’s rubbish dump: a tip that stretches Introduction from Hawaii to Japan,” The Independent, February 5, 2008, www.independent.co.uk/ . 1 Divide students into groups of 4. environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a- Distribute one bag with assorted trash garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to- items to each group. japan-778016.html —Marks and Howden • Alternative 1: Ask students to list all examine the impacts of the Great Pacific trash items they have discarded in the Garbage Patch, a mass of plastic waste past 1-2 days. floating in the Pacific Ocean that is twice • Alternative 2: Save the contents of the size of the continental United States. your classroom trashcan for a 24-hour Materials/Preparation period, and allow the class to view all Reused plastic or paper bags, each with a trash contents spread across a large small assortment of “trash” materials, such as table covered in newspaper or plastic. an empty beverage container, a magazine, a 2. Ask students to consider as a group what packaged food container, a household bat- all the items in the bag have in common. tery, and an intact piece of fruit—1 bag per (Possible answers: They are all material group of 4 students (Note: All items should items we use. They are all things we throw be clean. Also, each bag does not need to away. They are all things that could be contain identical items.) reused. They are all nonliving objects.) Handout: Buried Treasure, 1 per student or 3. Now ask students to consider which, if any, pair of the materials in the bag are luxury items (Optional) Computer access for showing and which are essential items. Provide time Story of Stuff segment for students to determine the difference between luxuries and necessities. . 4 Ask each group to display to the class the contents of their bag, explaining which items are essential and which are luxuries. Have each group provide an explanation for how they determined which items are Facing the Future the Facing luxuries and which are essential. Allow no more than 1-2 minutes for each group 4 to present.

. 5 After all groups have presented their period of time. In a think-pair-share findings, ask for volunteers to articulate exercise, ask students: What might an working definitions of the words “luxury” archaeologist conclude about you from and “necessity.” Write these definitions in analyzing your trash? a place where all students can see. 6. (Optional) Story of Stuff link: Show the 6. Reveal to students that all of these items introductory segment of The Story of Stuff are found in our garbage. Ask students (2:30), or introduce the unit of study by what information can be determined by showing the entire video (20:40). This looking at a person’s garbage. Allow them is only the beginning of a lively unit of 1-2 minutes to discuss their answers study about consumption! within their groups. Discussion Questions Steps . 1 How does the following cliché apply to . 1 Pass out the handout, Buried Treasure, to the contents of the midden presented in each student or pair. the activity: “One man’s trash is another 2. Have students read through the handout man’s treasure.” and answer the questions on the bottom 2. In the United States in 2006, 83% of the handout based on the information of people viewed a clothes dryer as a in the reading. (Note: This is a fictional necessity, 50% viewed a cell phone as account. The trash contents are derived essential, and 33% believed a high-speed from published accounts of U.S. trash.1) Internet connection was a necessity.2 Do 3. Discuss student answers to the questions you agree that these items are essential? on the handout. Ask students to explain Do you think that people from other their answers. Encourage differences countries would agree? of opinion; there are no right or wrong 3. What factors do you think drive answers to these questions. consumption? 4. Ask students where they think this 1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Municipal mysterious midden might be located. Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2006,” www.epa. (While this story is fictional, the numbers gov/waste/nonhaz/municipal/msw99.htm reflect waste disposal in the United States.) 2 The Worldwatch Institute, “2010 State of the World: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to . 5 Ask students to consider all the items Sustainability,” www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/ that they throw out over a 6-month Chapter%201.pdf, 9.

Geography Extension Information can be researched at: www.recycling-revolution.com/ Use the book Material World: A Global Family • recycling-facts.html Portrait (Peter Menzel, 1995) to examine the material goods owned by representative • www.aluminum.org families all over the world. Students could • www.napcor.com/plastic/bottles/ use some of the questions from the Buried funfacts.html Treasure handout to assess similarities and differences among the material goods associated with families in different countries. Action Project Short narratives from each country give Instead of reading the fictional Buried clues to the culture and everyday life of each Treasure, have students analyze trash con- family. Each family’s material wishes for the tents at their school by using questions future are also reported. from the handout. For example, they could use these questions to analyze the contents Science Extension of the classroom trashcan, or they might analyze the contents of a cafeteria trashcan Have students do a “trash carry” in which http://greenschools.net they collect all their trash for an entire day after lunch. Visit for in a trash bag. Students can compare the related ideas and resources. contents of their trash to that of a typical American, who produces an average of Additional Resources 4.6 pounds of garbage each day. Have each • Photography: www.chrisjordan.com student report on which type(s) of items in Chris Jordan is an artist whose work his/her trash bag could be reduced, reused, focuses on mass consumption and waste. and/or recycled in your community. Research His website features photographs from the savings of natural resources and energy his book, Running the Numbers (Prestel associated with recycling different types of Publishing, 2009). items. This will reveal the relative impacts • Videos: “Throw away Britain” video series that recycling different types of items would Four short video clips from BBC News have. Then use that research to inform the show how people from four different coun- development of a plan for reducing, reusing, Facing the Future the Facing tries (Italy, South Korea, the United States, and recycling materials, either at home or at and Belgium) dispose of household waste. school. Execute the plan, and encourage oth- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7746001.stm 6 ers to join the new recycling movement.

Buried Treasure, page 1

Last May a modern archaeologist, known in some Dr. Johnston recently released a summary of the circles as a “garbologist,” came across a midden in items found at the site. Here is the breakdown of an extremely remote location. A midden is a col- the trash items she found: lection of household waste. Most people these days • 34% paper, a mix of newspapers, glossy maga- would use the term “dump” to describe a midden. zines, and office paper (more than half the paper This midden is located 20 yards from an aban- appears to have been used for packaging materi- doned two-story house. als such as boxes) The location has not been publicly revealed • 13% organic materials from the landscape, for fear that other interested parties would loot or including dried leaves and grass clippings otherwise destroy the archeological site. Thanks to the geography of this remote location, which is • 12% food, including many items still inside quite dry and cold, the materials are mostly intact. plastic bags and other packaging According to newspapers found in the midden, the • 12% plastic, including food containers and con- trash was produced and buried during a 6-month tainers that once held liquid cleaning substances period in 1999. • 8% metal, including aluminum and tin cans Dr. Julia Johnston is the archaeologist in • 7% textiles, rubber, and leather, including charge of cataloguing the discarded items and discarded clothing, a used tire, and a small rug inferring information about the people who produced them. Johnston has deduced from • 6% wood (2 broken chairs) the contents of the garbage that three or four • 5% glass, including beverage and food contain- individuals at most contributed to the midden. ers, as well as fragments of other glass items In all, an estimated 3400 pounds of garbage were • 2% personal items, including diapers, cosmetics, found in the midden. and pharmaceuticals/medicines • 1% electronics (a cell phone and a TV remote) N O M I ©iStockphoto/S

Buried Treasure, page 2

Now Johnston and her team are trying to learn . 2 Are the contents of the midden mostly more about the people who inhabited this remote essential items, or are they mostly luxuries? location. They are looking to the midden contents ______for clues. Questions they hope to answer include the following: ______• Why were the items discarded? ______• Did these people have ample resources to sur- 3. Why do you think these items were discarded vive, or did they struggle? in the midden instead of being reused inside • What appeared to be important to them? the house? • How might they have spent their time? ______• Did they have a relatively high or low standard ______of living compared to people in other places around the world? ______Instructions 4. Based on the contents of the midden, how might you characterize the lifestyle of the Answer the following questions to begin your people who created it? own analysis of the midden and the people who ______created it. ______1. Divide the contents into the following two categories: ______

Luxuries Necessities 5. What other conclusions could be drawn about these people? (For example: What was important to them, or how did they spend their time?) ______

6. How does the waste from the midden compare to the waste produced by your own household? ______