Today I went to the website www.footprintnetwork.org/calculator, so I could learn how big my ecological footprint is. What this website does is tell me how many earths would it take to support the entire population of the earth if everyone on earth live the same way I did. I learned that if everyone live as I do it would take 4.4 earths. I must say that I was a little surprised. I know this sounds awful but I thought it would be more. I believe the average of the United States is 7.5 (according to the same website), so I thought I would be around that number. I guess because I work at school and only live 5 miles away that it helped keep my number down. I also don't buy a lot of new house hold goods. I deal with lot of second hand goods. That being said, I did score 4.4 earths; there is a lot of room for improvement. According to my pie chart a majority of my footprint comes from the services I use with food coming in a close second. It was suggested that I eat about half the meat I currently do. Reduce the post consumer waste. Consider installing solar panels. Buy energy efficient appliances. Lastly to take public transportation once a week.
Of all these things taking public transportation once a week sounds like the easiest, but living only 5 miles away would cause the impact on my footprint to be low. The suggestion for solar panels is something I would love to do. The idea of living "off the grid" sounds vary appealing to me and would probably have a huge impact. The first thing that they suggested is also something to consider, but I don't know about cutting the animal products in half. How about I start by cutting them by a quarter.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Welcome to my Blog
Hello, and welcome to my Blog, The Rational Conservationist. My name is George Perches and my educational endeavors bring us to this chance meeting here on the internet. I am a Math and Science major with plans on transferring to Cal Poly Pomona in the fall as a Construction Technology Engineering major and this class meets the requirement. This blog will be like a diary (if you will), of my journey through Environmental Science. I am a 37 year old single father of a wonderful 9 year old son. We live here in Riverside and I have been going to Riverside City College (RCC) for 3 years. Before returning to school I worked in the construction trade as a Sheet Metal Worker for about 8 years doing both Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) and Architectural Sheet Metal projects. This is why my chosen major is a natural fit.
Now just because I'm taking this class to meet degree requirements doesn't mean that I'm uninterested in environmental science issues. I am by nature an optimist, but doesn't mean I'm not a realist. The world faces some serious problems. Also I never cease to be amazed by human ingenuity. We are now beginning to see that our own ingenuity is a double edged sword. Does this mean we stop being innovative? Should we roll back technology? Lower our standard of living?......Of course not! We just need to learn to do it better. Humans are good at learning to do things better. People on both sides of side of environmental issues have this "either or" mentality. Am I being overly optimistic by suggesting that we can do BOTH? We both can advance technologically and economically, while still learning how to do things more efficiently as to not exhaust our natural resources or pollute our environment. This is where engineers come in. This doesn't mean we people have nothing to do. We do need to do with less. This doesn't mean without, but less, Especially less waste; lets face it we as individuals simply over consume.
Every ones quality of life is improved by less pollution. Never meet anyone who likes smoggy days, enjoys dirty beaches, or even wants litter to be thrown in front of their house. This is why education and awareness is the key to making real change. I have little faith in government interference. Laws that the masses do not really believe in make little difference (ie. people still talk on cell phones while driving; drug users have easy access to drugs; most people do not give up their guns because gun control law goes into effect). I also question regulation that is so burdensome that is drives industry out of the country. This is a double lose because it severely hurts American workers; while actually pushing companies to go place where they will have little or no regulation allowing them to pollute more. I'm not calling for zero regulation either but, rational, sober minded individuals need to consider the big picture in considering these governmental policies.
In the end one thing to consider is the Earths environment is huge and has what it takes to absorb all mankind has to throw at it. It is us that may not be able to survive the corrections the Earths makes to its natural cycle in order to deal with it.
Now just because I'm taking this class to meet degree requirements doesn't mean that I'm uninterested in environmental science issues. I am by nature an optimist, but doesn't mean I'm not a realist. The world faces some serious problems. Also I never cease to be amazed by human ingenuity. We are now beginning to see that our own ingenuity is a double edged sword. Does this mean we stop being innovative? Should we roll back technology? Lower our standard of living?......Of course not! We just need to learn to do it better. Humans are good at learning to do things better. People on both sides of side of environmental issues have this "either or" mentality. Am I being overly optimistic by suggesting that we can do BOTH? We both can advance technologically and economically, while still learning how to do things more efficiently as to not exhaust our natural resources or pollute our environment. This is where engineers come in. This doesn't mean we people have nothing to do. We do need to do with less. This doesn't mean without, but less, Especially less waste; lets face it we as individuals simply over consume.
Every ones quality of life is improved by less pollution. Never meet anyone who likes smoggy days, enjoys dirty beaches, or even wants litter to be thrown in front of their house. This is why education and awareness is the key to making real change. I have little faith in government interference. Laws that the masses do not really believe in make little difference (ie. people still talk on cell phones while driving; drug users have easy access to drugs; most people do not give up their guns because gun control law goes into effect). I also question regulation that is so burdensome that is drives industry out of the country. This is a double lose because it severely hurts American workers; while actually pushing companies to go place where they will have little or no regulation allowing them to pollute more. I'm not calling for zero regulation either but, rational, sober minded individuals need to consider the big picture in considering these governmental policies.
In the end one thing to consider is the Earths environment is huge and has what it takes to absorb all mankind has to throw at it. It is us that may not be able to survive the corrections the Earths makes to its natural cycle in order to deal with it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)