Generous or Thoughtless?

Which of these statements are not true?

America is the richest nation in the world. American’s have higher incomes than anyone else in the world. The American lifestyle is more extravagant than anyone else. Americans throw away more useable products, rather than giving them to the needy, than anyone in the world.

Trick question? Hopefully you said they are all true. Because it would indicate that you understand we Americans are extremely wasteful. There is no doubt that America is the wealthiest nation on earth. We consume so much product that that new businesses are sprouting up everyday just to keep up with our demand. And our overflowing landfills can attest to it too.

In general, we Americans are so used to being able to buy anything we want, any time we want, that it has gotten to the point where we don’t really appreciate what we have. This statement tries to take into account those lower income families that live day to day and can only dream of having all the new things that the richer of us take for granted. Americans of all income levels throw away perfectly usable items when they tire of it or when a newer version comes to market. Yes, even the poor amongst us are guilty of this sin.

I call it a sin because it is just that.

Forget about the fact that what we throw away clogs up our landfills, forget about the fact that some things we throw away pollute the environment. Think about the number of still usable items that are thrown out. Things that still have usable life and someone less fortunate might need.

We have become arrogant in our thoughtless ability to throw away useful objects and they have become so cheap and easy to get that instead of recycling or donating we do just throw them away.

I found a very well-written blog posting about how wasteful and thoughtless we have become and want to pass it on. Please take the time to read it here and please consider what we may all do to change the way in which we trash this world.

I can attest to the validity of college students trash. I used to live near a university and at the end of every semester the dumpsters throughout the community where students lived off campus were overflowing with furniture, appliances, clothing, books, etc.