My question for this inquiry post was How much do we really use and what are the impacts of all the things we don’t?
Challenges I overcome throughout this inquiry project
A big challange I came across when doing this inquiry project was finding reputable sources of information. Alot of the questions I asked and answered were complex and would not be answered by a simply google search. Something weird happend when I reserach my projet. Whenever I’d search for information to answer my topics the same website, but with diffrent articles would pop up. On this site: Sustainability Directory → Aspire → Adapt → Amplify. It’s a nice site and would have been useful, as it answers all the questions I asked and even had articles on the specific subtitles of my posts. Someone even sujested I use it in one of the comments on a post. However, I could not use this site as im almost fully sure its all written by AI.
I started to realise that this site may be AI because the writing sounds unnatural and the style reminded me alot of ChatGPT. At first I just ignored it because maybe it was the authors writting style. However I noticed more and more things that made me draw this conclusion. All the photos were evidently AI generated, none of the articles had authors or dates or where they got the information, there were “28,581” articles published on the site but they started writting in 2024. Thats a lot of articles in only 2 years, it means that they would have had to publish 40 articles every day. When I went to the Founders page there were two names, but when I googled them nothing came up for either the people. I also found the sites officals instragram and it was just AI generated photos with captions, they had posted 1 per day for the past 2 years, most posts had under 10 likes and no comments, some even had no likes at all.
So I dont know what weird thing I stumbled apon when researching but other than these very detailed articles that completly answer my questions, there were few places to get information on my topic for free. A lot of the time I spent on this project was took up by trying to find things to answer my questions. However I overcame this by comparing information from multiple offical countries sites, articles and statistics from around the world to form my own conclusions.
How this inquiry changed the way I think
One way this inquiry changed the way I think about trash is that its not just an issue that affects the environment but masses of people’s quality of life and health worldwide. This project really showed me how much we waste as a society, and how so many of the things that we take for granted or replace to be more fashionble, could be lifesaving to others.
How this investigation impact my future decisions
This investigation will definitely impact my future decision especially when it comes to consumption of food, water and products. It made me reflect on how even if I want to buy something because I want it doesn’t mean I need it and doesn’t mean I shoud buy it. I already enjoyed buying used stuff and making things from stuff I had at home but this project was like extra initiative to do so.
What impact this investigation have on others locally and/or globally
This investigation could have impacts on people locally or globally by changing the way they view consumeraism and their own role in creating a circular economy. Everyone is a part of the system which is the problem. If we all developped better consumer habits it could have major impacts on the environment as well as the health and quality of life of people across the globe.