After going through my citizen engineering and intro to photography courses, I’ve learned something that should be on the back of everyone’s mind especially to those that plan on making things for a living; how the things we consume or use at its end of life cycle impacts our environment. Throughout this post I hope to spread awareness on this issue, help give ideas to reduce your impact and hopefully teach something new to you. 

The impact of what we dispose of from what we use and consume is an insurmountable problem in the present and in the near future. In 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it is estimated that 292.3 million tons of materials contributed to our landfills (source). This impact on a global scale litters our natural landscape, contributes to climate change and creates inequitable living environments. From my photography class, I was exposed to photos from Edward Burtynsky (website). His images show how we gather the materials necessary to create goods and its impacts on our environment. With his photography project called “Anthropocene,” he shows the audience the correlations on societal development to environmental decline. These images truly convey the impact of what we consume from its development to its end use. 

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Edward Burtynsky : Lithium Mines #1, Salt Flats, Atacama Desert, Chile, 2017

The first image I show has a correlation to the everyday electronic devices we use. This image shows lithium mining operations in Chile. At first glance you might appreciate the unique color these fields show but in reality, these aesthetically pleasing fields of lithium are actually negatively impacting our environment. The process of lithium extraction uses an extensive amount of water. The effects of this consumption is seen in Chile’s Salar de Atacama where its mining activities consumed a majority of their water, impacting local communities and farms. A general theme you will see through these images is the materials needed for products as well as the end of life aspect of these products (Source).

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Edward Burtynsky : Dandora Landfill #1, Nairobi, Kenya, 2016

The second image shows a landfill within Nairobi Kenya. Here we can see the scale of the pile of trash to the person on the bottom corner of the picture to the rest of the landfill. This picture emphasizes how we dispose tons of trash can one day be the sizes of homes, ever changing our landscape.

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Edward Burtynsky : Chittagong, Bangladesh 2001 

The third picture shows the end of life stage of massive cargo ships over in Bangladesh. My first impression of this image is how desolate and almost apocalyptic it looks to see three worn ships aground on a beach where their going through the process of ship breaking or the recycling of components of a retired ship. You may be wondering how might this impact our environment, isn’t it good that we are recycling it? Yes but the process of ship breaking is a major environmental and social harm to where this process is being done. From a academic article called “Impact of ship-Breaking activities on the coastal environment of Bangladesh and a management system for its sustainability” the impact can be summed up to:

• Hazardous materials from the ships negatively impacting the local environment
• Poor working conditions and exposure to hazardous materials to the workers

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Edward Burtynsky : Plastic Toy Parts, Guiyu, Guangdong Province, China, 2004

The last image is another image of a landfill except its exclusively a landfill of various plastic toy parts over in Guangdong Province in China. At first glance, the different color that compose the picture makes its aesthetically pleasing but after further observation it shows the problem we have in terms of the end of life usage of toy parts.

Overall Edward Burtynsky pictures show a fundamental problem between our relationship to the natural environment and our habits of creating and disposing things. 

Now you might be wondering, what can I do to help reduce my impact? For starters, the EPA gives out a great info-graphic about what we can do to reduce our own waste. The things you can do is summed up to:

• Reusing
• Recycling
• Donating
• Composting

With reusing and recycling in mind, if you like designing (or in my case engineering) stuff, try to find creative ways to reuse materials. Here is a blog that gives out plenty of ideas for reusing stuff lying around your home. For the engineers designing products, grab the most random things from a recycling bin and just test it, you never know if the wildest solution can be the most successful one! In general another thing you can also do is something that’s on campus. Getting involved with our campus farm, joining the UWB/CC SSA club, or participating in Earth Week (April 18-22, 2022) and more (more information right here!).

There are a lot of things that need to change. Down to the individual habits of each and every one of us all the way up to the developers and producers of our consumer goods. But without a doubt I believe change can help however small.