PWR 1EPA: Trash Talk: Writing from the Bin to the Biosphere

We are what we eat, but we are also what we waste. What does it mean to designate things, places, or people as waste? How does the rhetoric of waste change across cultures, and how do our attitudes toward it reflect and shape how we talk and write about our value systems, social and political inequalities, and multiple environmental crises? Americans generate between 250 and 400 million tons of garbage each year, more than any other country. AI is predicted to produce 2.5 million tons of e-waste per year by 2030. Just one 100-word email generated by ChatGPT-4 has been estimated to consume 519 milliliters of water. According to the UN, more than 1/3 of the world’s food supply goes to waste. Seventy-nine percent of all plastic ever made is currently accumulating in landfills or in the natural environment as litter. But as the waste challenges increase so too do the number of people trying to solve the problems. Advanced recycling technologies turn plastic into fuel, composting projects convert organic waste into fertile soil, and new policies support local production of goods, reducing transportation emissions. How and to whom do we effectively communicate both the challenges and solutions of such a complex problem? In this class you will practice doing just that.

Over the course of the quarter, you will engage in an in-depth research project as you deepen your understanding of how to effectively communicate the many factors—including systemic racism and extreme poverty—that have created and sustained local and global waste (trash, discards, pollution) issues. Together, we will critically and contextually examine the many voices talking about waste, develop meaningful research questions, and write our own contributions to the conversation.

PWR 1 Assignment Sequence

Rhetorical Analysis

(1200-1500 words; 4-5 pages) For this assignment, you may analyze a website, report, blog, or other communication material from a project, organization, or campaign advocating for or protesting an issue connected to waste. You'll analyze the rhetorical strategies that it employs taking into account the intended audience, and the medium in which it is communicated.

Texts in Conversation

(1800-2400 words; 6-8 pages) This assignment lays the groundwork for your research-based argument. You will develop a research question focused on a particular issue connected to waste and then select from a variety of material including academic articles, reports, newspaper and magazine pieces and blogs that will help you to answer your question.

Research-Based Argument

(3000-3600 words; 10-12 pages) You will use the materials gathered from the previous assignment to make a compelling and convincing research-based argument. You might make an argument for or against a specific project that causes or attempts to solve a waste issue; you might make an argument for the way in which the media, religious and/or educational institutions have informed our sense of moral obligation in the context of waste; you might argue for a different discursive approach to waste issues, or perhaps propose innovative solutions to a waste problem.