~Environment Viewpoint~

I think my family was a minor factor in shaping the way I look at the environment. The only way I can really see how they contributed was my parents would have me turn off everything after I used it so the PG&E bill isn't too high. lol. Actually, I forgot to mention my dad is a big fan of energystar products & we just recently had solar panels installed on our roof. However, my outlook has probably been more influenced by outside sources. In 6th grade I can remember going to Woodleaf(an outdoor living school) for a week as an educational field trip. They do a good job about teaching kids to reduce, reuse, & recycle & also just plainly other ways they can help out the environment it's habitants. Then my senior year I went back to Woodleaf & was a camp counselor for the kids for a week. I would say that trip affected me more because I was older & really understood the importance of waste. They had this contest going on all week where at meal times each cabin would collect their waste & dump & whichever cabin had the least amount of "goober" as they called it would win a prize. This gave iniative to the kids to try not to waste so much & I helped encourage them as well. It's a really good program. Also, I read this book called Skinny Bitch last fall & it converted me to become a vegan for a short while, unfortunately that didn't last long because I love meat too much & you don't realize how many things have milk or eggs in them, it's basically everything. But I know veganism is good for the environment. :) I think I have a pretty good viewpoint, we always have room for improvement though, that's what I always say.

Toxins and You!

I do care that there are toxins in the environment because it does affect us long term. We breathe in these toxins, it goes into our lungs and disperses into our blood stream then into our bodies. This can result in altercations in our dna like premature aging(wrinkles), cancers, along with other negative effects. Apart from human beings, it also effects the environment we live in & animals around in a not so positive manner. Yes, we should do something about the mining waste in our community. I couldn't tell you what exactly per say because I'm not in the toxicity business nor have much knowledge of it's prevention but I'm sure with all our technological advances we could find a way to reduce the amount emitted in the air. I think if the toxicity is getting to the point where it's visibly effecting our environment then it's really time to start taking some action, however, we shouldn't always let things get to their worst to start doing something about it. As humans, I noticed we tend to do that a lot. If we do clean it up we could store the nastiness compressed into tight lock-sealed canisters, haha, I really don't know but it was an idea :] We can avoid adding more toxins to the environment by informing ourselves and others of the negative effects it puts on us & our environment. Also informing eachother about what does exactly emit toxins in the air, there are several things out there that do contribute most wouldn't know about. For example a cow's fart actually emitts a significant amount of methane into the air. Like they say knowledge is power so if more people just knew about the whole situation & simple things they can do to help, I believe they would!

Conservation of Species

I believe we should conserve species that are the most vital to our society, in which they provide the most benefits. Such benefits as food & fuel sources, or those that really aid in the daily processes of our earth. These animals include most domestic ones such cows, chickens, pigs, etc. ,however, I know these are not those that are generally going extinct. I think a species value depends on its benefits & how much it effects other species or the environment in which it lives in. We tend to conserve species that are more appealing to the eye. Species like cute, furry animals like polar bears, dolphins, etc. It's hard to say how we know exactly what species to save & which ones should go ignored. I believe all creatures share importance, if they had no reason to be on this planet they wouldn't have been created in the first place. It could be a natural part of their evolutionary process. It just seems difficult to really let a species just disappear in existence. Thankfully we have the technology & other things to record them in history but it still clearly isn't the same as having their physical presence there. We shouldn't eradicate all introduced species, if we did we would have nothing left. I think one reason we should conserve introduced species is because they provide their own unique beauty & wonder to this earth and without such extraordinary creatures our planet would be so boring. We could have a little more give & take rather than just being the selfish humans that we are and instead considering the others that surround us. I know I sound a bit contradictory throughout this whole post but it's because I don't have a very straightforward or strong opinion on this subject. It's not until now that I really stopped to think about it. So if I sound wishy-washy on this little bit we had to do, that's why.

Ecological Footprint

My ecological footprint was 4.21 Earths.
Carbon footprint = 45.9
Food footprint = 52.6
Housing footprint = 31.4
Goods & Services footprint = 33.4
Total = 163.35


I don't think my size was too large, all my scores were below the country's average but it could be because I eat alot of organic foods & my house has many energy-saving appliances along with our newly installed solar panels.

To reduce my footprint I could probably try being vegan again, I did it for 3 weeks straight but it was really hard & got expensive. Also, I could probably take shorter showers. I tend to take really long ones because I just love the shower, it's so relaxing. :) We have endless hot water installed and it's energy efficient so my showers aren't completely horrible, but they could be better.

I do care somewhat because I know it does effect the planet & we all wouldn't be living today without it, however, I honestly am not a strong activist for it. I must say though, compared to others I'm a fairly "green" person.

Long term effects could be Global Warming & that's probably why there is so much commotion about it because it could possibly happen with the way many of us abuse our planet.

I think it is fair that people in the U.S. are able to have a larger footprint mainly because we are a very industrialized country & as horrible as this may sound but we need to use a lot of resources to keep daily processes rolling.

I think there will still be stuff left over, it's been okay for many years now.

We probably should care because I have learned in my economics class last semester that most people are very short-sighted & only see the immediate effects when really we should be taking in secondary effects or a summation of what could really happen. It is a privilege to live on this planet but many take it for granted & don't really appreciate the earth we live on.