Dr. Murphy's presentation

Dr. Murphy’s discussion on Tuesday fits very well with the two themes we have talked about this semester. First of all, some of the wasteful products he talked about are made from oil, such as cell phones and computers. Then, we talked about obsolescence and how the above items are becoming obsolete due to our need for newer and better things. The entire discussion actually went along with everything we have reviewed so far in class, which gave us an opportunity to question the topics. Currently, there are polices in place regarding the disposal of toxic waste, which will help to reduce it. Now, there are recycle bins at cell phone stores to get rid of old cell phones that cannot only be reused but it also saves the environment from toxic waste that may be release from the phone. Also, there are disposal polices for thermometer, too because the mercury in them is extremely harmful to humans, so these items are never supposed to just be thrown away in trash cans, but instead are asked to be turned in to proper disposal sites.

In the future, we are facing obstacles such as running out of landfill space due to our habits of throwing away objects that will not decompose. If we learn to recycle more items, the landfills will be less full and last longer. Also, we will run into the problem of our environment being polluted due to waste. When we throw away harmful waste items, they tend to release harmful gases into our atmosphere and create toxic run-off in our water supply. Overall, I felt like Dr. Murphy did a great job on his presentation and gave out lots of useful information. The powerpoint was very effective and gave not only good facts but also useful pictures to use as reference.