Posted on by Arden

The Impact of What We Consume and Dispose

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. 

Surreal colorful landscape of lithium mines

Image Credit/Link:

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).

Garbage piled up to the size of suburban homes.

Image Credit/Link:

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.

Three desolate old ships aground on a empty beach.

Image Credit/Link:

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
Pile of colorful plastic toys sitting in a landfill.

Image Credit/Link:

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. 

Posted on by Zoe W.

Library Display Recap: April & May 2019

Each month, the Campus Library staff create multiple thoughtful displays that can be found on the first and second floors. This post documents all of the library displays from the months of April and May 2019.

April Displays

April’s displays featured books, media, information, and art pertaining to the topic of Poetry in different forms.

April Poetry Month Meets Earth Day – 1st Floor

Created by Cora (Circulation Lead)

“The question I wanted to pose to our campus: How creative writing about the natural world can become a catalyst for people to look a little closer and think more deeply about the delicate connection between humans and nature. And how this new understanding can inspire individuals to be more aware of their individual impact on the environment on a daily basis. With the help of student employees I was able to create my vision of display decor. I wanted to center the ‘natural’ with words – using the bold visuals to introduce folks to my materials which were a selection of poetry, critical analysis, introductions to eco-poetry, essay collections, writings from women, people of color, and even different languages. I tried to encapsulate a wide range of work illustrating that environmental conservation is not a movement only concerning the centric U.S. but is an issue that is worldwide – environmental degradation effects a wide range of countries and communities (if not all). Effecting the whole – not only a small number. The nuanced message is that beginning with self (decreasing our individual carbon footprint) is how we can reach the whole when thinking about trying to reverse or at least balance out the progression of climate change.” – Cora

Diverse Children’s Poetry – 2nd Floor

Created by Lucy and Zoe (Circulation Student Employees)

In honor of this year’s April Poetry Month and Celebrate Diversity Month, the theme for April’s Children’s Literature Display was Culturally Diverse Children’s Poetry! The display featured children’s poems of multiple countries, written in multiple languages. We had also included a few children’s poems for anyone to take for Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 18th.

May Displays

May’s displays covered a vast range of wonderful topics, including activist and scholar Angela Davis; sexual assault awareness; teaching social justice, equity, and inclusion; and biking.

Angela Davis – 1st Floor (near elevators)

Created by Dani (American & Ethnic Studies Librarian) and Maya (Reserves Technician)

“This display was put together as a tie-in to the Angela Davis campus event on May 17th. I personally have been very interested in Davis’ work and look forward to attending the event.” – Maya

Sexual Assault Awareness – 1st Floor (middle of lobby)

Created by Tami (Access Services Manager) and Zoe

Although April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), we decided to keep our SAAM display up through May because it is important that we discuss and support this topic throughout the year. The display consists of informational flyers on consent from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, relevant books and media, handouts and bookmarks that highlight campus and community resources for survivors, and a station that invites library users to create healing circles or color pages.

Teaching Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion – 1st Floor (near entrance)

Created by Julie (Nursing Librarian) and Caitlan (Education Librarian)

“The theme of teaching social justice, equity, and inclusion is important to both of us in our work as librarians. We want to support the work of instructors that are practicing and/or interested in inclusive teaching across UW Bothell and Cascadia College. We made an effort to select titles from multiple discipline areas (including education, STEM, social sciences, health sciences, arts, writing, etc.) to reflect the variety of subjects represented on both campuses.” – Caitlan

National Bike Month – 2nd Floor (near lobby)

Created by Kathy and Eva (Circulation Student Employees)

“Initially, we wanted to go with the idea of a physical fitness theme in order to encourage children to go out and stay active by playing sports or exercising. As we did our research, we found that May was National Bike Month, so we decided to follow that path for our May Children’s Literature Display.” – Kathy

If you can, be sure to check out the May displays before the end of the month, and stay tuned for more library displays coming June 2019! I intend to post a Library Display Recap here each month, so if you’d like to receive notifications whenever our student employees post on the blog, please follow us by clicking on the “Follow” button on the bottom right of the screen.