Wastefulness of modern society.
Discarding unneeded items may seem like a natural part of everyday lives, but it has actually become a
prominent issue, both from an economical and an ecological viewpoint. This problematic is being
addressed in the two contrasting passages subject to this essay’s analysis.
The author of the first text views our wastefulness as having a major impact on the environment. A wide
array of these quotidian by-products can luckily be recycled without us needing to spend more resources
on brand new items.
Such is sadly not the fate of all of these, as a great number, in addition to not being reprocessed, take
too long to decompose naturally and, as such, cause harm to the environment and its inhabitants. The
author considers that this phenomenon is to blame on the lack of measures taken against it, not
necessarily our technological ineptitude.
In contrast to the first text, the second text focuses on a much more specific type of product being
disposed of: electronic devices. While acknowledging the problem of throwing away perfectly functional,
albeit outdated, mobile phones, the author attempts to justify that by our general unwillingness to fall
behind technological progress, as well as our need to showcase our financial wealth by buying new
gadgets.
This, in turn, stimulates numeric technology companies to keep releasing new models, thus creating a
vicious circle which both the producer and the consumer contribute to.
In my opinion, the approach taken by the second text makes it too much of an apology for consumerism,
flipping the issue around to try justifying our harmful habits.
In this optic, I think that the first text does a better job at addressing the problem at hand, focusing on
the negative aspects of wastefulness, and isn’t trying to advocate it.
In conclusion, we as a society need to be more attentive of our consuming habits, especially when it
comes to being up-to-date with everything numeric, if we want to keep both our planet and our wallets
safe.