Guevara – Final Nature Reflection

– November Experiences –

 

For my last full month in my time studying abroad, I traveled to Madrid, Spain. For the most part, everything was so green there. My hour of observation took place at Parque el Retiro, which is one of the largest parks of Madrid. There was a big lake that people could canoe in, so it was a very peaceful experience. Several ducks, also known as Anas platyrhynchos, casually swam around the river.

 

However, it frustrated me to find litter accumulating in the river, especially noticing all the fish underwater. The fish were bass fishes and their binomial name is Micropterus salmoides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above you can see there were empty water bottles, glass beer bottles, and plastic wrappers polluting the water. I can’t possibly fathom the thought of purposefully throwing your trash in the water when there are several trashcans around you. That simply boils down to the individual morals a person should have.  In the left picture as well, but outside of the water, there were white ducks and little pigeons walking around.  The pigeon’s scientific name is Columbidae.

Around the park I noticed several small trash bins without a plastic bag. Although Madrid is reducing their use of plastic bags all over the city, that just makes it more difficult for the trash crew members.

I don’t understand why they make them so small knowing it’s a large park with lots of people. When people see a full trash bin then that enables them to want to litter because they feel it’s the only option. Another action I have caught onto is that people will place their trash on the full trash bin and they will watch it fall to the ground but won’t pick it up because ‘they already threw it away.’ Also, it must be more work for the trash crew to have to gather each individual piece of trash.

Throughout the city, however, Madrid has very effective trash disposal containers. It is very user-friendly because a different color lid separates each by depicting what goes inside. For instance, blue is for recyclable material, like plastic, green is for paper, and yellow is for food.

At night, I witnessed two men who were in a trash truck get off and move the trash can bins near the street so they could manually dump it onto the truck.  One man stayed inside the truck to drive it; therefore it took three crew members to get the job done.

I thought this could definitely be improved. In the United States, trash pickup men do not even have to get off the truck to dump the trash into the truck. Having a truck with an automated arm saves so much time! With the technology we have now, I am very surprised it has not been implemented.

Every so often I would see people cleaning the trash off the streets with a three-wheeled cart that had a broom and a trashcan. I thought this was a very successful city mandate given how highly visited big cities can be, resulting in increased litter due to more people.

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Back in Angers, France I caught this beautiful flock of birds roaming through the sky.  In fact, “every autumn, flocks of birds begin to migrate to warmer territories” (Melina). It was such a beautiful, sunny day for a second I forgot we were in Fall.

 

Moreover, when I was siting on a bench a large black ant was right by my feet. I have never seen an ant that size, nor that dark of a color. After researching, I found out their common name is a Carpenter Ant and their scientific name is Camponotus.

 

Walking down the street on two separate occasions, I encountered random trash bags laying out on the street. One of the them had a torn bag and all of the trash inside was beginning to fall out.   In the other picture, they were the only trash bags down the whole street, so that proved it was not a normal thing to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Near the end of November, I visited Paris, France.  Inside the train station, a little friendly bird approached me. It was very similar to a pigeon but darker and with orange feet.  Its common name is the Black Guillemot and its scientific name is Cepphus grylle.  It was roaming around the interior of the train station without a care in the world.  I wondered if the pigeon knew it was indoors or not since “they know no urge of seasons; they feel no kiss of sun, no lash of wind and weather. They live forever by not living at all” (Leopold 109).

In addition, I had the opportunity to watch a trash crew member removing the trash from the full bin.  To my surprise, he didn’t change the plastic bags after taking out the trash.  In a way, that’s a good thing because he’s reusing the plastic material since it still is in good condition, but I’m interested in knowing how often they do change the bags.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once outside the train station, I encountered a trash pickup member collecting the trash from the dirty Parisian streets.  He swept up the trash that accumulated near the curb, as well as any trash and litter lying around. Then he gathered it all and put it inside a large bag.  Once he cleaned up an area, he moved a few feet over and repeated this process.

I believe there should be a faster way to pick up trash around the city so that it is more efficient.  Once this plastic bag is full, then the crew member has to go dump it and continue.  I would suggest a clamp to pick up the trash faster or a machine to hold the trash as opposed to a little plastic bag that fills up quickly.

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– Reflection – 

Being able to visit different cities around Europe and compare the amount of litter, their trash disposal, and their trash system overall made me realize how interconnected these factors are to littering.  For instance, if a city has minimal public trash can availability and small containers or a poor trash system, the amount of littering increases.

In regards to waste production in France, it is “the second biggest producer of waste in the European Union, with a total of 355 million tons” in 2013 (“France”).  Germany is leading with 363 million tons.  However, France is ahead in the aftermath by “recycling sixty percent of its waste” (“France”). In comparison to the United States, “Americans generated about 254 million tons of trash” in 2013 (“Municipal”). I was very surprised to find that France produces more waste annually than the United States, whom is stereotyped to be leading in everything. The U.S. recycles 34% of its waste, so France is still ahead of the game (“Municipal”). On a global scale, we waste 1.3 billion tons per year and it is estimated that by 2025 the total number will increase to 4.3 billion tons (“What”).

That being said, I believe it’s very important to focus on solutions in making that total number head downwards. There certainly needs to be a change in consumption. Several studies show food waste occurs most at the consumer level rather than production, therefore being conscious of not only the food we eat and dispose of, but how we dispose of it.

Consequently, this leads me to the detrimental impact littering has on the environment.   Any litter that gets carried away by the wind has the potential of contaminating the ground and surface water. Similar to my example in Madrid, it harms sea life because animals don’t know the difference between food and plastic.

Most importantly, I highly emphasize on improvement within the European trash system in general. After traveling to several different countries in Europe, a common factor I found was small trashcans. Trash bins in public areas throughout all cities in Europe should be larger. This way they won’t fill up as quickly and people will be more encouraged to throw away their trash when the bin is not overflowing.

Furthermore, I recommend an easy way many people can increase recycling is by adding blue recyclable trash containers to neighborhoods. With the city giving households those large trash containers to put on the street then that will automatically increase recycling due to the convenience of having one. Truthfully, people respond based on convenience and having this service available all over the world will highly encourage people to separate their food waste and recyclable material.

Additionally, I suggest Europe modernizes with automated garbage disposal trucks that can be operated by one man only. Like the United States, the trash service will be faster and more effective, as well as saving from extra worker compensation costs. One of the main reasons why improvement on this issue is halting is due to insufficient funds. In fact, in cities all over the world the government is “cutting services, including street sweeping” (Aslet). Much less would they want to implement new technology, but governments fail to realize it is a worthwhile long-term investment or would rather use that money elsewhere.

“With many councils reducing waste removal services in a bid to cut costs, personal responsibility for cleaning up after ourselves is essential” (Aslet).

 

We can’t just leave it up to the government to improve our trash systems, reduce food waste, and increase recycling. As members of our society, it is our responsibility to be logical and not litter and try to minimize as much food waste as we can. Raising awareness is fundamental in uniting globally to address the issue. With Cop21 being held in Paris this year, I have strong faith that environmental issues will be addressed and the heads of state will come to an agreement as far as benefitting our planet.  With the attention it is getting on social media and by word of mouth, I believe people will become more socially aware of their surroundings.  It all starts with a little help from all over the world before it quickly spreads.  When I visited Paris right before the Cop21 events began, there were signs everywhere with the hashtag of together.  In reality, that is the only way it can get accomplished.

After carefully observing and analyzing waste and disposal, trash systems, and littering throughout the different cities around Europe that I visited, it’s safe to say my eyes constantly are drawn to trash cans and litter on the floor.  Throughout the semester, not only would I take pictures of the litter I found but after I would feel the need to pick it up.  I enjoyed researching this topic because it made me see things in a new light.  This topic should be taken seriously by many people all over the world because it is mostly caused by us humans.  It’s just a matter of acknowledgement, self-control, and global harmony to turn it all around.  We know what to towards sustainable development; we just have to act upon it.

 

“Will we be able to keep our civilization going over the long haul? Will we end up exhausting our biospheric resources, or not? Will we drown in a sea of our own effluents, or not?” (Bess 227).

 

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Works Cited

 

1. Aslet, Clive. “People Should Do Something About Litter, Instead of Expecting the State to Clear Up After Them.” Daily Mail. 8 May 2012. Web. 4 December 2015. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2141146/People-litter-instead-expecting-state-clear-them.html

 

2. Bess, Michael. The Light Green Society. The University of Chicago Press: 2003. Print.

 

3. “France Recovers 64% of its Waste.” SUEZ. 30 January 2013. Web. 5 December 2015. http://www.emag.suez-environnement.com/en/france-recovers-waste-7272

 

4. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press: 1949. Print.

 

5. Melina, Remy. “Why Do Bird Flocks Move in Unison?” Live Science. 15 September 2010. Web. 4 December 2015. http://www.livescience.com/32812-why-do-bird-flocks-move-in-unison.html

 

6. “Municipal Solid Waste.” Environmental Protection Agency. N.d. 25 June 2015. Web. 5 December 2015. http://www3.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/

 

7. “What A Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management.” World Bank. N.d. 5 December 2015. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTURBANDEVELOPMENT/0,,contentMDK:23172887~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:337178,00.html