Wasteful Americans

In a piece titled “Waste Not, Want Not”, Bill McKibben analyzes the various ways that Americans are wasteful. From using too many water bottles, not putting catalytic converters on cars, and even to government waste, McKibben gives a run down of his top wastes.

McKibben points out that Americans go through 80 million water bottles per day, and although some of them are recycled, mugs and glass cups are far less wasteful than using plastic water bottles. Another waste discussed in the article is the junk-mail industry. One hundred trees are wasted every day for this annoying industry. People don’t really read junk mail, so why waste the resources to produce it. The general idea that McKibben is trying to convey is that many items, such as water bottles, are not necessary and others are produced in mass with little to no benefit.

Waste is more than just material, according to McKibben. He points out that 40 percent of Harvard graduates go into fields such as finance, consulting, and business when they should be using their high quality education to help better humanity as a whole rather than run a business and make millions for no cause other than themselves.

As far as relating this article to aviation, I would like to know how much the airline industry wastes. The article makes mention of plastic cups on airline flights, but I’d like to know more such as how much fuel is wasted during delays or how much extra catering is thrown away because it isn’t eaten.