Engagement Activity Essay: Public Health And Environmental Issues

1850 Words8 Pages

Engagement Activity Essay
One of the most daunting issues facing today's world is the mounting waste problem, which impairs public health, pollutes the environment, and threatens to drown some poor countries in toxicity. More than half the world’s population does not have access to regular trash collection, a grim statistic given the amount of garbage produced globally. Each year, nations generate 1.3 billion tons of waste. That number is expected to rise to 4 billion tons by 2100, according to Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, senior director for the World Bank's Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice. The United States, China, Brazil, Japan and Germany are the leading trash generators. The U.S. produced just under 228 million tons of waste …show more content…

Historically, landfills have been the most common method of organized waste disposal and remain one of the most cost effective methods of waste management. However, there are many health and environmental issues that are presented by landfill use. When organic material such as food scraps and green waste is put in landfill, the oxygen is removed and releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming and climate change. Changing behavior so that people and societies are encouraged to use healthier waste removal solutions is crucial. For example, Recycling and composting are other ways to deal with trash. Both recycling and composting can decrease the use of resources, the amount of pollution in the atmosphere, and the amount of trash which would end up in landfills or the ocean. Recycling can save trees, landfill space, water, energy, oil, and greatly reduce pollution. The concepts of development and interdependence play large roles in the effectiveness of waste reduction. In global politics development is the sustained increase in the standard of living and well-being of a society. The more developed nations, societies, communities, or individuals will have access to more effective methods of waste removal, for example composting. In global politics, interdependence refers to the mutual reliance between or among groups, organizations, geographic areas and or states for access to resources that sustain living arrangements. In order to achieve proper global waste management, some nations would require economic support. In nations with a large economic divisions, those in poverty are not as connected with their community and environment, and therefore lack the resources and motivation for proper waste management and control of