Thursday, March 21, 2013

Thursday Thoughts - Recycling TVs and Other Technology

Terry Tout and the Garbage Spout
by Rachel Hoyt
 
image by bplanet via freedigitalphotos.net
 
 
Terry Tubert Timothy Tout
Learned young to take his garbage out.
He knew how to pick pieces off,
How to spew prices as he coughed,
The men to sluff the best parts to,
And what they'd cost if there were few.
He kept his piles from piling up.
He bought fine whiskey for his cup.
He watched the piles go in and out.
Terry Tubert Timothy Tout
Got rich off a garbage spout -
But then the spout would not turn off
And the fumes made his workers cough,
No people prized the parts he picked,
Profits vanished as trash grew thick.
So Terry Tout fled the scene too,
Mad from watching as trash piles grew,
Afraid tech trash will chase him down -
It took his job, why not his town?
 
© 2013 Rachel Hoyt. All rights reserved.
 
 
This week's rhyme was inspired by some news on e-waste
and the effects of tech trends changing with haste.
 

16 comments:

  1. Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would be proud of you.

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  2. haha imagine having to learn that name as a kid...smiles..
    recycling is good...even if for some kid in a school to play with and figure out the next big thing...

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    1. That name is definitely good verbal gymnastics for a little one. :P

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  3. Trash in piles, it's the fashion of the day
    Where's it go? They say they don't know, maybe it flies away
    Though I say it finds a flow when we send it down the way
    and through that flow it meets the ocean at its do'
    Piles and piles traveling thousands of miles
    while the perpetrators live it out in denial

    If the trash just vanished it would be terrific
    But it encounters a fate much less psuedo-scientific
    Caught by a whirl in the Pacific
    It swirls until it sinks like the Titanic
    Where it too rests on the oceans floor
    Preserved by the darkness, forevermore

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    1. Great poem! It pains me to think about anyone dumping our garbage in the ocean, although it is likely to happen if it isn't already. The TVs and computer monitors that are piling up now are especially scary though, because of the highly toxic chemicals in certain components.

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  4. Indeed, you ought to have a look at this.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

    There's plenty of information regarding it about the web, but the wiki is a good place to start.

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    1. Ok, so now I'm certain I've seen a photo of it that I tried to block out of my memory... :o/

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  5. Crud!! I was so excited about electronics recycling--excellent poem--great riff on Sara Cynthia--I love that poem too. :-) Technology does change in a blink, yikes! Thank you for keeping me informed.

    and that garbage patch in the pacific is so sad, I just try not to think about it and do the positive things on land, I can, to stop anything like that from getting worse...

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    1. I know! I have long been excited about electronics recycling and hadn't really thought about the fact that there is nothing for some things to be recycled into... except toxic waste. :(

      And, I'm glad I'm not the only one blocking that garbage patch in the pacific out of my mind. It's not really a helpful solution, but too sad for me to think about.

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  6. I really enjoyed this. The playful tone and story telling drove the point home in a way that many will accept much more readily than accusations and harsh doom. Well done.

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    1. Thank you Beth! That is definitely my goal - to say the message in a new way that makes it easier for the sensitive to hear. :)

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  7. The combination of playfulness with a serious message is delightful. What are we going to do with all our e-waste? Moore's law predicts that the latest thing will become obsolete at an exponentially increasing rate, making its useful life less and less with each technologgical advance. The madness has to stop sometime soon - most of us are killing ourseves trying to keep up already.

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    1. Thank you rumorsofrhyme. :) I am trying to do my part by not upgrading my electronics. I've had the same TV for nearly 15 years. I hope they invent a more environmentally responsible product before I upgrade because I'm going to feel bad about sending this one to the "recycle" pile knowing it can't really be recycled.

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Rhyming or not, I would like a lot to hear the thoughts my words brought...