Jada Augustine
jada.augustine@gmail.com
Possible Moodle Discussion Questions
Part I: Chapters 1-3 (& Intro)
 What do you think of the fact that someone is benefitting from not only your buying things, but your trash? (p. 6)
 Do you think that your trash is a lens into your life, priorities, failings, secrets, and pride? (p. 7)
 In the introductory chapter, Humes says, “Zhang is the personification of the American Dream in the twenty-first
century” (11). Why does he say that? Do you think this is true? Explain.
 Would you mind living near a dump or a landfill? Do you think there should be housing around it? How would
this influence your daily lives? (34)
 What do you think of the fact that New York is called a “city of garbage”? (40)
 July 26th, 1943 was called “Black Monday in Los Angeles. Have you heard of this before? What is the
significance of it? (53)
 Humes says, “For decades, Angelenos had been encouraged and expected to incinerate their trash. It wasn’t just
convenient, they had been told, it was a civic duty, a way of avoiding costly trash collection services, taxes and
bills” (55). Do you think this practice was good or bad? Why?
 On page 61, Humes lists a variety of things that end up in the dump. What did you think when you first read this?
Explain.
 What do you think that the American Dream was best achieved by buying everything? Explain. (65).
 What is the significance of the branding done by J. Gordon Lippincott? Why is Humes mentioning this in the
context of garbage? Explain. (66)
 Humes says, “Failure to waste was the enemy”. Why does he say that? Do you agree with him? Can you give
examples of this from your life/things you own?
 What do you think of Eisenhower’s message about buying and throwing away and then buying some more? Do
you think you do this? How might you have contributed to this kind of a lifestyle in your lifetime? (72)
 What is meant by the idea of plasticization of America? Do you think we are still doing this or are we becoming
more aware of the harm plastic does? (72)
 What are some things you use every day that contain plastic? List ten.
 The system of capitalism that we live in contributes to a profit of the system itself. What do you think of this
notion?
 Do you think our system of trash (as you’ve read about it so far) would be possible in any other kind of economic
culture?
 Consider this: economy of abundance leads to landfills and landfills lead to an economy of abundance again (econ
of abundance  landfills  econ of abundance). Why is this important?
 What does abundance mean to you? Does it mean plenty? More than enough? Satisfactory? Explain.
 So you think it’s okay to only care about ourselves now or should we care about future generations and how the
environment will protect (or not) them?
Part II: Chapters 4-8
 What is Waste Management?
 Did you know who collected your trash as you grew up?
 What’s the most you throw away? Why do you think this?
 What do you think is under the ocean? Why?
Jada Augustine
jada.augustine@gmail.com
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Crowley believes that trash is a huge problem that kills mammals. Did you ever think about this before? Explain.
(108)
What do you think of all the visuals and statistics we get in this section that tell us about how our trash affects
other organisms? Is this important?
Does it matter to you that our culture and system of living destroys other animals? Explain.
Humes says, “She found 450 pounds of debris, most of it plastic, in the whale’s digestive tract, just taking up
space. The whale, its stomach full, had starved to death” (119). What is the significance of this quote? Explain.
When people learn about what is going on in the ocean, they are typically shocked. Why do you think this is
important? Why do you think we might be kept from knowing this information? (126)
What if your trash could talk? What do you think it would say? (145)
What do you think of the idea of bugging trash in order to see where it goes or what happens to it? Do you care
where your trash goes? Why or why not? (147)
Humes says, “For one thing, it seems, our waste doesn’t go where we think it does. We aren’t counting, mapping
or directing it well. The idea that there is a waste-management ‘system,’ it seems more illusion than reality”
(155). What do you think about this idea? Explain.
Why would there be more trash when there was a scarcity of resources? Explain. (164)
Do you think trash determines social class? How might that be? Why was this important to research? (166)
Part II: chapters 9-12
 At the beginning of the third section of the book, there is a quote by the Berkeley Ecology Center that says that if
“it” can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it
should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production. What’s the “it”? Do you think this concept allows to
other things in life? Explain with examples. (185)
 What do you think you can do personally in your daily lives to reduce the amount of trash you produce?
 How can your buying influence your trash? How can this be changed to reduce the amount of trash you produce?
Explain. (198)
 Why should we “build fables from junk”? Explain. (201)
 In the last week, how many times have you used a plastic bag? What were the reasons you used it? Do you think
you could change this practice and use another kind of bag?
 Do plastic bags benefit you? How?
 What is the significance of “Chico and the Man”? (208-209)
 What’s the ChicoBag? Why is this important to Humes? Explain. (211)
 Humes says, “Around the time that Andy Keller started up ChicoBag, concern had begun to mount about the
environmental impact of plastic bags in general, and single-use grocery bags in particular” (221). Why is this
timing significant? Explain.
 Would you rather get plastic bags from stores or take your own reusable bag? Why or why not? Explain the pros
and cons of your choice.
 On pages 245-246 there is a list of cities that have developed plastic bag restrictions. Have you been to (or are you
familiar with) any of these cities? If your city did this, how would it impact your buying? Think about not just
grocery stores, but others like stores at the mall.
 What is the significance of Portland, Oregon? Explain. (249)
 Humes quotes Bea Johnson who says, “There’s power in saying no—the power to change a family’s life and
fortune. Maybe a community’s. Maybe a whole country’s” (269). Do you think there’s power in saying no?
Explain with examples.
Jada Augustine
jada.augustine@gmail.com
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Do you think what Bea Johnson did with her family is wise? Can you live with less than what you have now?
Why or why not?
What is consumerism? Why is this important in the study of trash/waste/garbage?
Think about things you use on an everyday basis. Are they all needs or wants? Do you think you could do without
them? Pick one of these items and explain how you would go about your day without it (and what you might do
as an alternative)?
Humes ends his book by saying, “Someday people will realize what her family now knows: that the real sacrifice
is clinging to waste, and that the real American Dream, the original version of it, is waiting for those who give it
up” (284). What does he mean by saying that the American Dream is waiting for those who give it up? Explain.