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Will Everett

Cooper

AP English 5th

May 1, 2018

Native Impact on Environment

The average american family produces over 6,000 pounds of trash in a single year. But

does this statistic accurately represent the native population of the United States? If it does, why

does this stay the same? If it doesn’t, what factors affect the statistic? There are many factors that

determine the native american impact of the environment that surrounds us.

Americans in general produce a massive amount of waste compared to the majority of the

world. Over all the trash that the United States produces, a whopping 69% goes towards landfills.

Countries like Belgium and Sweden produce a mere 1%! These statistics produce a major

concern: why does the United States discard so much of its trash to landfills?

With the infamous reputation of being a wasteful nation, the United States clearly

struggles with trash. Native Americans are no different. If anything, waste production on

American reservations is even higher than off of them. While there are many causes to this

problem, there are a few that stand out.

Recycling is close to impossible on many reservations. Without proper infrastructure,

throwing things away is just more convenient. But waste from reservations doesn’t end up in the
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landfills. Without proper trash pickup, natives on these reservations are forced to just dump their

trash wherever they can. This, along with the lack of recycling facilities, has become a huge

problem for communities on reservations.

With most families below the poverty line, obtaining environmentally friendly jobs is

also much more difficult for native americans. Many are led to dangerous jobs at nuclear

facilities and other hazardous locations. Without choice, these people are forced to waste what

they need to consume to survive. They cannot simply choose the item with the least packaging or

the most degradable wrapping. Natives are often forced into buying what suits them financially.

While waste production isn’t always a bad thing if dealt with correctly, reservations have

some of the worst waste management facilities which can cause even more environmental harm.

Many tribes simply pile up trash and set it aside to be burned. Not only is this bad for the

atmosphere, but the waste often isn’t even completely burned which creates a large land mass

occupied by literal garbage.

Going to New Mexico and learning from Native Americans hands on, I was able to

recognize new perspectives in a platform I had never interacted with before. Although the

reservation I visited did not seem to have a terrible waste management system, I was able to

speak to other native americans in the area to learn more about it.

On my trip to New Mexico, I was able to go on a rafting tour guided by a native

american. The man I talked to loved nature and the environment itself, being a fisherman and

environmentalist. I figured this was a great way I could learn about my research question. My

first question was about waste production. I asked how much waste did he normally produce and
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how much waste his family and friends produced per day on a regular day. He replied that his

household usually just filled up around half a trash bag per day, like my house back in Austin. I

then went on to ask how much was recycled. Shockingly, he explained that his family didn’t

recycle. I thought this answer was wild because, being from such a liberal and

environmentally-conscious city such as Austin, I was surprised that people in my country didn’t

recycle at all.

After we conversed about waste production, I went on to ask about waste management. I

began to ask how he got rid of his trash when he needed to take it out. He explained that he

gathered the trash bags from his community and dumped them off at a site. I thought this was

even more interesting because in my city, someone is paid to pick up our trash and dispose of it

safely.

After learning how different waste was managed in my own country by a different group

of people, my research question was developed - “What factors cause Native Americans to

produce and manage waste differently than Non-Native Americans?”

While Native Americans produce about the same amount of waste as non-natives, they

produce a significantly larger amount of trash. The difference is in the way the waste is managed.

While in Austin and most United States cities, trash and recycling are both picked up and paid

for by the city. They are then taken to plants and processing areas to be sorted out and either be

put into a landfill or recycled and turned into new products. On reservations, however, trash is

dumped areas and the environment is punished for it. On most reservations, recycling doesn’t

even exist at all.

 Works Cited

Lacey, Stephen. “Look at How Much Waste America Puts Into Landfills Compared to Europe.”

Gtm, Greentech Media, 3 June 2013,

www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/look-at-how-much-waste-america-puts-into-landfills-co

mpared-to-europe#gs.fYRNdas​.

Loki, Reynard. “America Produces a Shocking Amount of Garbage: Find out Where Your State

Ranks-and What You Can Do About It.” Alternet, 14 July 2016,

www.alternet.org/environment/garbage-america-state-rankings-and-tips-reduce-waste​.

Morales, Laurel. “Native American Goes Back To His Roots To Solve Garbage Problem On

Reservations.” NPR, NPR, 3 Sept. 2015,

www.npr.org/2015/09/03/437291764/native-american-goes-back-to-his-roots-to-solve-garbage-p

roblem-on-reservations​.

“Reservations about Toxic Waste: Native American Tribes Encouraged to Turn Down Lucrative

Hazardous Disposal Deals.” Scientific American, The Environmental Magazine,

www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talk-reservations-about-toxic-waste/​.