Using the Zero-Waste Circular Economy Module in English 190: Trash Talk: Eco-Justice Writing

Marlo Starr, Wittenberg University

Course Description

"We thought we were throwing it 'away' until 'away' threw itself back at us," writes poet Brenda Shaughnessy. In an era dubbed the Anthropocene to describe the human impact on the planet, writers from across the Global South dwell on images of burning landfills, irradiated ocean currents, and plastic particles swirling in the Pacific. In this course, we explore ideas of modernity through material waste, excess and accumulation, and environmental violence. Tracing histories of colonization and slavery in relation to the current climate crisis, we'll focus on works by Indigenous and non-Western artists that raise questions about who or what is "disposable." Beginning with Karen Yamashita's speculative novel of trash in the Amazon, we'll explore themes of waste in prose, poetry, film, and multi-modal genres. Evaluation will be based on class participation; critical response papers; and a final creative project.

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Relationship of the Zero-Waste Circular Economy Module to Your Course

"Trash Talk: Eco-Justice Writing" is a semester-long course, and the BASICS module was implemented as a two-week block after the mid-point in the semester. The module followed a unit on Pacific Island literature, where students were introduced to concepts of environmental racism and slow violence, which describes environmental degradation that is often out of sight and occurs gradually over time. After completing the pre-survey, we dedicated a couple class sessions to exploring the differences between the take-make-waste model of a linear economy to circular economic models. After conducting and discussing our Personal Waste Audit, students also read a short piece by Chamorro writer Craig Santos Perez on SPAM and processed foods which have replaced some traditional food sources in the Pacific Islands. We used this discussion of waste, colonialism, and the public health impacts of processed foods to segue to our module's main focus: the chocolate industry. After reading journalistic pieces on child labor and exploitation in the cocoa industry, student were divided into groups of 3 or 4 to research each stage in the process of chocolate production. Students presented their findings on large poster board and wrote their responses on post-it notes during the class gallery walk. After the completion of the module, we continued to refer to "wicked" environmental problems and continued discussion of linear vs. circular economies. We linked the module on chocolate to the following unit on Caribbean literature by turning to the history of sugar, focusing on Kara Walker's 2014 sphinx sculpture, A Subtlety, installed in Brooklyn's Domino Sugar Factory. Through the module, students were primed to apply systems thinking to other contexts and other wicked problems, where environmental and social justice issues are entangled.

Integrating the Module into Your Course

I integrated the module into the course "Trash Talk," an introductory environmental literature course similar to an introduction to world literature. One of the major goals was examining how natural systems are entangled with human systems, focusing on how environmental issues often link to social justice concerns. The zero waste circular economy fit naturally into this framework, especially when comparing it with the linear "take-make-waste" model. A key question we explored was not just what is disposable, but who is disposable, and how extractive practices with natural resources often coincide with treating human life and labor as disposable. We focused on the cocoa industry in our module, which connected well with our previous unit on Pacific Island literature that examined processed food and Spam. From there, we made a natural transition to exploring the phases of the cocoa industry, followed by a look at the history of sugar in the Caribbean. The module was a natural fit for our class.

What Worked Well

The group work was very effective. We did this activity past the midway point in the semester, so students were already well-practiced with group work. Our class typically incorporates group work in almost every session; it is typically highly structured where everyone is given different roles. Each group delved into a different phase of the cocoa industry, such as extraction or production. There was also a group focusing on the role of middlemen, who gather beans and sell them to large corporations. The students were excited and well-prepared for the independent research within their groups. I wasn't deeply familiar with the cocoa industry beforehand, just a step ahead of the students from reading exposés by The Washington Post and The New York Times. Despite it being relatively new territory for me, I was pleasantly surprised by the students' research and collaboration in their groups.

Challenges and How They Were Addressed

A big challenge in doing systems thinking is its tendency to become unwieldy right where each piece connects to the whole. A major hurdle was narrowing the scope of research for the groups. For example, the production group got in the weeds of looking at every stage of this process. We addressed this by stepping back and discussing the audience for their posters—their classmates and myself, who had limited knowledge of the topic a week prior. We refocused on presenting surface-level information and maintaining emphasis on the UN sustainability goals. Managing the research when dealing with these complex problems, where exploring one aspect leads to a myriad of related issues, was perhaps the most challenging aspect of this module.

Student Response to the Module and Activities

The biggest thing with exploring these complex problems and engaging in systems thinking is understanding how each part of the process is connected. When considering how to hold stakeholders accountable, it's crucial to examine the entire process. After our gallery walk, I was impressed by the discussion. Students were thinking beyond individual solutions or the role of individual consumers. Instead, they focused on policy changes and holding corporations accountable. Their main takeaway, even when confronting the complexity of these issues, was the ability to think beyond individual consumer actions and consider approaches to addressing the larger system.