Waste Not, Want Not By Bill Mckibben Analysis

In the essay, “Waste Not, Want Not,” Bill McKibben vocalizes his opinions and beliefs on the causes and effects of human abuse to the environment. “Initially distributed in Mother Jones in 2009, he expresses his contention for basic living to ultimately benefit the earth (331).” He shares his views on the waste problem of not only his town, but of the American population as a whole. He makes it clear that we have drifted far from the pristine environment that the original people of this continent once maintained. Using a great deal of number-crunching statistics, he provides examples of wasteful acts we commit on a daily basis. McKibben identifies the most harmful kinds of waste as, “old-fashioned,” “waste that comes from doing something that manifestly doesn’t need doing,” and “waste that comes from doing something that maybe perhaps vaguely useful when you could be doing something actually useful instead (332-3).”
To begin, “[t]here’s old-fashioned waste, the dangerous, sooty kind (332).” Quite similar to thriftiness, this is resorting to the cheap way of doing things. Ultimately, avoiding use of the proper and available technology, these harmful particles freely stream into our fresh air and water. Because this method is inexpensive, …show more content…
Bill McKibben addresses various forms of waste in his article “Waste Not, Want Not.” He presents facts boasting numbers that would be mind-blowing to a person who was not aware. McKibben drives home the fact that Americans and humans in general are extremely wasteful and it is greatly unnecessary. He ultimately identifies the most harmful kinds of waste as “old-fashioned waste”, to “that from doing something that does not need to be done”, to “doing something that could be useful instead of doing something that is actually useful instead (332).” He makes it blatant that as a society we are diminishing our