I have always found it interesting how we as a society use such a massive amount of goods. No, not just food or clothes but everything we own from something as basic as a pencil to something as complicated as a space shuttle. With our everyday lives being so busy I assume that most people haven’t thought of this concept more than I have. The goods that I first started thinking of were gasoline, food, anything with electronics, and finally, I realized how things are connected in one way or another.
The first day I started thinking about the goods we use, I was driving down the freeway on my way to school in heavy traffic one morning. I thought to myself “how much gas is being used in all these cars right now.” I then thought how much traffic the working man sat in to and from work in every major city, then the world! It blew my mind away then wondered how do we even transport all the gas? You almost always see a truck carrying gasoline on the freeway; you know it is in the big round and long tank which looks like aluminum. How many are there around the world, and what went into making the trucks? Probably metal for the frame of the truck, rubber for tires, all the fluids to keep the engine running properly, and even gasoline! I think it is funny how gasoline is used in the process to transport gasoline. How do we make the fluids to keep the engine running? You could keep asking “how is that made?” for days! Every time I think about it I am amazed by how many resources we use; it is almost unimaginable.
The next thing I knew my mind was running free asking questions about everything I saw that day. I couldn’t concentrate on school because I thought it was so fascinating how many materials we just pass by and not even think about. I then sat down at lunch with a burger, fries, and fruit I bought at school. “How was the burger put together?” I thought to myself. Of course we all know what goes into a burger, but where did the lettuce come from? What about the cheese and when was it cut (no pun intended). How long did it take to deliver everything, and did they come separately? How much gas was used to deliver this meal! How do we know how fresh these ingredients are?
Next, the thought of fresh fruits and vegetables started plaguing my mind. Think of a local super market; they probably restock fruits and veggies periodically so you get them as fresh as possible. Think how many apples you see in one super market, now think how often the apples are restocked to keep them fresh, now think how many supermarkets are in your city... state... country... planet! How many apples is that? How many have to be grown each day and where are all the farms? If you live in the city or suburban area you don’t see many farms. So, where are they all placed? Has that not blown your mind yet? Well, then think about how many items are in one super market!
After my day of thinking about how things were made, I decided to unwind and play some “Call Of Duty” with my friends. After playing for a while, my curiosity came back. I asked my friends “how are we talking to each other right now?” One responded blandly, saying, “the internet.” I then explained my day of wondering how things are made to them and they thought I was thinking too deep. Maybe I was, but I didn’t care because it was so interesting. I returned to my question, “what goes into this X-box?” I thought to myself. How does the console read the disk and display an image on the screen while at the same time reading other peoples screens and connecting them to make an exhilarating online experience? How does the X-box know what button I’m clicking, and what makes it respond so fast? All of these questions I was thinking of were like a never ending puzzle that I couldn’t get out of my head. Every time I came up with an answer to my questions the same question would arise yet again, “how is that made?”
I finally began to realize that many things depend upon each other. For example think about the games in a game store. They are there because there is a place for them to be stored inside a concrete structure. The games probably got there by way of a delivery from a truck. The truck needs gas, an engine, wheels, electronics, metals, and glass to operate properly to deliver the games. What are the games made of? You need something to read the games, and you need that reading to be a projected image to play. How many materials is that just to play some war game that you get mad over and end up rage quitting? By the time you break all of that down to its basic components, you have so many materials you can’t even keep track of how many.
I could go on for days talking about this stuff, but it can make your brain hurt trying to think of everything we use. The only real way we are able to keep this way of life going is technology. It is what keeps cars running, gives us cheap entertainment, and many of us have jobs based around technology. Heck, I even work at a car dealership! Now, if I haven’t made you think enough already, here is one more thing for you... Imagine if al electronics stopped working; what would you do?
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