Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage
September 07, 2006
“The United States is the number one producer of garbage: we consume 30% of the planet’s resources and produce 30% of all its wastes. But we are home to just 4% of the global population.” So cites Heather Rogers in her book, “Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage.” Rogers shares a number of such sobering statistics with us including the 4.5 pounds of garbage that the average American produces each day. That adds up to 1,600 pounds each year per American. Globally garbage is so overwhelming that today the middle of the Pacific Ocean is six times more abundant with plastic waste than zooplankton. Gone Tomorrow offers a political analysis of how the industrial revolution turned once thrifty Americans into indulgent producers of waste, and how social and economic forces have created a great garbage monopoly. The book also discusses the plastic revolution and points out the flaws of recycling.
