Jess and Ima recently watched a documentary about bundles of donated clothing, etc. from America, Australia, and other countries that were, and still are being shipped to Ghana; the story tells of how the bales of clothing are bought and sold — and disposed of when sales are unfulfilled. It got them thinking about the whole process and resulted in the following conversation:
JESS: Ima, are you watching this program and seeing what I’m seeing? All these bales, bundles of materials arriving by the shipload to Ghana are bought by Entrepreneurs, sight unseen; the bundles after purchase are examined, discarding what they deem “unsalable” and the remains are sold to local “merchants”; these local merchants take them into the streets and try to sell them to the people who live in their communities and much of the ones they can’t sell end up in the landfills.
IMA: Yeah, Jess, I’m watching, especially since I recently donated some of our old clothes, but never even thought about where they might end up. I remember being told, a long time ago, about the fact that those things that couldn’t be used here were shipped off somewhere, but I never thought about where they went or what happened to them.
JESS: You know we are always talking about how much of everything that is produced here in the US (and abroad) is still hanging around in one place or another. We keep wondering what happens to all the food, clothes, cars, electronic equipment, etc. when no one buys it. And then when it breaks down and we buy a replacement, what happens to the old stuff?
IMA: Jess, you know that there are many businesses that are started using the unsold, unused, old, out-of-date products and materials that are produced, before they get dumped overseas somewhere. Thrift stores, Second-Hand Stores, Re-Purposed Stores and the like are found in many areas of our city alone, and many of them are filled with merchandise that they can’t get rid of either. But the manufacturers are pumping out new stuff in record amounts. Just imagine that cycle being reproduced all over this country, and all over the rest of the world.
JESS: What gets me is how this cycle gets going and keeps going. Just look at all the energy that goes into producing what ends up in landfills. Countries go to war to get access to other countries’ natural resources; people are dying trying to get them and others are dying to protect them, not to mention the folks who also die, trying to manufacture many of them. The wars themselves use up tons of energy making all the materials used in these wars; entities that are part of the “Military-Industrial-Complex” that Eisenhower warned about, thrive on this cycle to increase profits for investors.
IMA: The other side of this energy grab, however, is the jobs that many folks have to have in order to survive, but also to be able to pay for all this stuff we’ve been told we need. I found the name of the young lady, Annie Leonard, who did an excellent documentary on stuff several years ago, called The Story of Stuff. It is still available and she did a wonderful job of telling that story. Unfortunately I think things have gotten worse since then, in spite of all the efforts to reduce our waste.
JESS: Lots of journalists these days are showing us what’s happening around the world … landfills filled beyond capacity, trash overwhelming the world, trash in the oceans, micro-plastic in our food, fish, water and in our bloodstreams. Many landfills are taking up more and more space in neighborhoods and will eventually take up space that will prevent human life to exist.
IMA: Individuals help a bit by trying to Recycle and Reuse, but unless manufacturers stop making disposables, it seems to be a losing battle. I have no idea how this can be dealt with. And maybe it can’t! Unless what we use can be biodegradable, this trash may eventually wipe out humanity. The planet will take care of itself, but we humans may be incapable of saving ourselves.
JESS: Well, both that documentary about used clothing, especially, and the documentary about “The Story of Stuff” really need to serve as “wake up calls” like they were supposed to a few decades ago; unless there’s a change in the “mind set” so that our brains can be rewired from “mindless consumer” to “conscious conservator” humanity is in for a rude awakening. The fossil fuels are being depleted, the renewable energies are slow to replace, the livelihoods people have attached themselves to in order to “survive’ need to be redirected toward sustainable employments; greed needs to begin to take a back seat; individuals need to reconsider their selfish practices and start to again think about community.
IMA: I sure hope we wake up and do a complete reversal in our thinking; but what do I know…Ima Phool and so are you, Jess.