the need for increased in environmental issues

A World Without Waste Begins with US

The United States as a country is not conscientious enough about the environmental impacts of its common lifestyle and should be doing more in the name of conservation.

Sipping from that plastic straw, leaving that leaky faucet unrepaired or turning a nose up to that banana that has supposedly gone too brown all seems to occur without a second thought. With this comes the mentality that one person, one action can’t make a significant detriment to the environment. But if this is the outlook of an entire nation, it morphs into one gargantuan carbon footprint.

With the rise of a disposable and high-standard culture, the United States is foreseeably on the road to a major conservational problem if people’s lifestyle habits are not readily mended.

One major roadblock that has undermined the effectiveness of many ecological issues is the politicization and gradual divisiveness of environmental issues such as climate change. These topics used to be much more bipartisan, and it wasn’t a matter of if they existed, but of how best to approach combating them, according to Time.

The United States is fairly unique in its manipulation of these issues into the political agenda in comparison to a number of other developed countries that take problems presented by concerns such as climate change much more seriously, according to CBS News.

The growing controversy in these environmental discussions has led to a stagnancy in the passage of any conservational legislation and has given rise to a startling number of Americans questioning the validity of scientific research pertaining to climate change, according to Time. A poll conducted by CBS News and the New York Times found that only 72 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of Republicans believe global warming is caused by human activity.

The bleak possibility of national cooperation to take the proper measures toward becoming more environmentally cautious is coupled by the high standard of American living, especially in terms of food, that has led to an increase in the annual stockpiles of waste in the United States.

This growing selectiveness in the realm of food has opened way to a “camera cuisine” phenomenon. People are becoming obsessed about the aesthetics of what is on their plates and raising a standard of acceptance to that of being flawless enough to potentially be put on social media, according to The Atlantic.

This infatuation with perfect food has made the general public more discriminatory in the grocery stores, leaving behind produce that, other than being slightly browned, blemished or disfigured, would be perfectly edible. This trend has resulted in over 50 percent, or 60 million tons, of produce in the United States being wasted every year. Now this discarded food is becoming the single largest resident in landfills, according to The Atlantic.

The unsustainable national standard of living is even further exacerbated by the expanding fixation with cheap and disposable products. This incessant desire for the newest trend and overall disregard for the old has led to a market of expendability and wastefulness, according to US News.

One industry that has exploited this call for fast and cheap products is that of textiles, which has embraced a “fast fashion” mentality. It capitalizes on inexpensive foreign labor and unsustainable environmental practices, according to US News. This practice of low-quality clothing encourages a dangerous disposability where items are worn once or twice and then thrown out, only to continue the process.

This throwaway culture is further compounded by the staggering amounts of plastic bottles that are bought and disposed each year and the lack of regard for the global consequences. Worldwide, over 1 million plastic bottles are purchased per minute, but only nine percent of those bottles are actually recycled, according to Forbes.

A larger presented problem by these kinds of recyclable yet wasted products is the materials they are manufactured with. A significant percentage of plastic bottles is created with polyethylene terephthalate, a recyclable material that, when thrown out, can take over 400 years to decompose. If the demand for plastic bottles continues to rise, as projections show, by 2050 oceans will contain more weight in plastic than fish, according to Forbes.

This startling and unsustainable society that U.S. citizens have instituted has become quite a mountain, but not completely unclimbable yet. In order for these destructive trends to slow down, and potentially even reverse, there must be a widespread call for national and global cooperation and a renewed belief in the power of individual action.

It takes the culmination of singular environmental disregards to expedite the deterioration of our global home. But with that could also be the culmination of singular environmental consciousness to preserve Earth and guarantee a prosperous planet for future generations.

All it needs to start is that purchase of a reusable straw, that repair to the leaky faucet, and a bite from that blemished banana.

This editorial reflects the views of the Le Journal Staff. Twenty-six out of twentysix staff members voted in favor of this editorial.

SUSTAINABLE STUDENTS

40.7% would throw away produce if it was blemished but still edible 85.5% believe

Americans should be required to recycle or compost

*based on a poll of 172 students (Illustrations by Meg Travis)

(Photo from MCT Campus)

Turn Off the Orange Noise

The public needs to know what the current administration is making into law, not what they tweet.

BY PAIGE RITTER CO-PHOTO EDITOR

Think back. Way back. To what seems like years ago. To when the average American thought politics was boring. To when the President of the United States behaved better than cast members of Jersey Shore. To when the inescapable orange-noise of President Donald Trump’s tweets, scandals and other outrageous behavior wasn’t deafening every media outlet.

Despite the constant stream of unfiltered #fakenews and covfefe, American citizens seem to be more uninformed about actual actions and policies the government is taking now more than ever. Instead, they are all caught up on the show called the “White House,” drowning out everything else. The outrageous tweets of Trump have become the constant orange-noise of American democracy and news. Not one politician or news outlet is turning it off. As a result, the actual work done in the “White House” is just a vague idea to Americans.

“Shame for Trump is like spinach for Popeye, it only makes him stronger,” Saturday Night Live Weekend Update host Colin Jost said in a December 2017 episode. Whether it is supporting alleged molesters in Senate races, affairs with porn stars or ill-thought out tweets targeting North Korea, Trump thrives on the shower of media attention after each stunt. But only the stunts they want to focus on.

When Trump tweeted “will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the ‘unsolved mystery’ that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate,” accusing MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough of murder via tweet, the media barely acknowledged it in November 2017. Meanwhile the ridiculously trivial “covfefe” tweet prompted at least one article from every major new source, from The New York Times to Fox News.

News shows filled air time discussing and print outlets spent all their ink on Former FBI Director Michael Flynn pleading guilty to lying to the FBI during the Russia Investigation and a tweet from Trump relating to the breaking scandal Friday Dec. 1, according to the CNN. Meanwhile the Republican dominated Senate took this diversion from public eye to pass, 51-49, a dramatic Tax Bill at 2 a.m. Saturday Dec. 2, according to the New York Times.

The Tax Bill had undergone recent revisions, but was passed by Republican lawmakers despite the feeble outcries for them to maybe read the legislation. The bill includes $1.5 billion in tax cuts, maintained and even trimmed minimum taxes on corporations, and opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to gas and oil drilling, according to The New York Times.

The Trump administration’s and the POTUS himself’s tweets are the opiate of the people, leaving Congress unattended just long enough to pass legislation most haven’t even read. The American people aren’t even given the information to care until it is too late.

The reactionary media coverage of Trump is like that of an unpredictable celebrity in a tabloid. Nothing can be predicted, nor the future thought out because the latest scandal or mind boggling comment overflows the public’s threshold for news. Trump’s brazen behavior is constantly reported on, normalizing it and numbing the public. No one cares anymore. An affair with a porn star, accusations of colluding with Russia and threatening nuclear war are one in the same now.

The deafening orange noise needs to be turned off. Trump behaves like an inappropriate child, but that is no longer news. It’s time the public stops allowing tabloid trash to pass as political news. For the free press to really do its job, to check democracy, Americans must know what the democratic institutions are doing, not tweeting.

Generation of Change

Common experiences of Generation Z create values that allow members to make a significant positive change in the country and world in the future.

BY CATHERINE FRERKER SPORTS EDITOR

To Generation Z, the world can seem like a pretty rough place, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve given up on making it better. In 2017, there were 346 mass shootings in the United States, according to Gun Violence Archive. Oceans are rising at the fastest rate in 2,000 years. Two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef has been damaged because of coral bleaching and rising ocean temperatures. And more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere now than at any other time in human history, according to Wired.

But this generation is more concerned about money than others, according to the Center for Generational Kinetics, which is not surprising because of the Great Recession of 2008 and the public discussion of college debt.

These negative experiences actually create strengths in members of Generation Z, setting them apart from Millennials. Growing up during the recession made the new generation realistic, pragmatic and hardworking. They are smarter about money, less likely to follow ads and more likely to avoid debt at all costs than Millennials, according to Huffington Post. They are also ambitious—55 percent more likely to want to start a business. Generation Z will be less likely to be thrown off or disillusioned by challenges of the real world or “adulting,” as many claim Millennials have been.

In recent years, prominent politicians on a national and state level have suffered low approval ratings. To solve the country’s problems with the environment, mass shootings, terrorism, paying for college, and whatever else Generation Z deems important, they will be the ones to step up and make a change. Sixty percent of Generation Z surveyed said that “having an impact on the world” will be important to them in their jobs. But only 39 percent of Millennials said that was important during the same age range.

Despite the challenges they face, Generation Z has all the tools necessary to become the leaders of the future. They are the first true digital natives, never knowing life without the Internet. With this tool, they have the world at their fingertips and endless ways to connect and contribute. They are the most diverse generation yet and are predicted to be the most accepting. So they will not hesitate to discuss important issues and be innovative in their solutions.

Every high schooler is a member of Generation Z. Each student has all the advantages of growing up with almost unlimited access to information and more ways to communicate than ever before. Students are the future, and they should take these advantages along with strengths from the disadvantages and run with them. Soon they must step up to be the leaders of the future.

TRY GALS

In the latest episode of Try Gals, junior Kaitlin Jones and seniors Phylicia BarnerLewis Kelly Nugent and Anna Tomka try the whisper challenge, where each try gal reads lips while listening to loud music. (Photo by McKenna Heegn)