Waste Not, Want Not

Today, I read a pretty interesting article that kind of got me thinking about our culture and how it is currently designed to function. The article is "Waste Not, Want Not" written by Bill McKibben, a leading environmentalist and avid writer. In this article, McKibben tries to inform the average American on how much he or she wastes and how this needs to be changed. He initially begins with talking about material waste, such as plastic, glass, etc., but then goes deeper than that implying that ideas, work, money, and even time are all wasted with the current lifestyle employed by Americans. He defines waste as doing anything that just is not necessary. An example he stated about wasteful Americans that really stuck out to me was when he talked about the automobile industry and how, now, engineers are more worried about torque and speed instead of fuel efficiency. I like the way he used statistics comparing the accelerations from the past and now, and then asserting that the current advancements in acceleration cannot even be used to the full potential due to legality. This makes these modifications and advancements unnecessary, and ultimately waste. Another example of waste he stated that really caught my attention, mainly because I do not agree with him, was when he wrote that "40 percent of Harvard graduates have gone into finance, consulting, and business" are a form of waste. Finance, consulting, and business are key components in a structured society and I, myself, would love to receive consulting from a Harvard graduate. For those 40 percent of Harvard graduates, these fields may have been there long- term dream or goal, and definitely was not a waste for them. Overall, this article was interesting, and informative- 2 strong components of a good paper.

My research topic is supposed to be related to my major Aerospace Engineering and this article is supposed to help draw questions for my own topic. After much thinking about this article and my field of interest, I am close to deciding my main argument of my research paper. Since this article was about "waste", and many Americans find that too much money is being "wasted" on NASA, I think I am going to argue against that notion and state that not enough money is being spent on NASA.

This topic is still subject to change so if anyone has any better ideas or suggestions, let me know.