assignment 1.1 pup190

8/11/2019 Assignment 1.1 PUP190

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PUP 190: Sustainable Cities Assignment 1.1

Assignment 1.1 by Brandon Shockley

What is an Ecological Footprint?

In a general sense, the ecological footprint, is the load or amount of strain a person has

on the environment. An environment / ecosystem has a finite carrying capacity, in which it can

sustain life by regenerating its resources. If the load goes beyond the carrying capacity of the

environment, the result will be an offshoot. The offshoot is the deficit of the load versus the

carrying capacity. This will eventually lead to an environmental collapse if no action is taken to

reduce the load. You can also grow the carrying capacity to help alleviate the weight of the

load that the environment bears. The ideal is to have a reserve in the carrying capacitys equity.

What were the results of your test and what, if anything, did you find surprising ornoteworthy?

I have always considered myself somewhat of a green person, however if every person

were to live in the manner in which I am accustomed to we would need 4.1 earths. I do believe

my estimate was fairly high, though because of the lack of options. For instance, there is no

mostly vegetarian option. I do eat meat, but the amount that I eat is very very little. I was also

unsure about some factors as well; like the materials used in building my apartment complex.

Nonetheless I do believe there are areas of great improvement I could make and will make in

the future.

What changes can you make in your life to reduce your Ecological Footprint?

I believe that the biggest improvements I could make in my ecological footprint would

be in the food category. I am a price oriented shopper and while I rarely buy pre-made I do not

usually buy food that is organic or shop in places like farmers markets. My goods and services

footprint is the next largest area that could use improvement. I rarely recycle because I do not

have convenient access to it. I am not sure if it is worth driving for me to recycle.

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If everyone lived like you do, how many earths would be needed to sustain thepopulation, and what does that mean? (Why cant we continue consuming resources at thecurrent rate? What would happen if nothing were done?)

If everyone on earth lived how I lived, we would probably already be past the point of

collapse. 4.14 Earths is the break even point for the life that I currently live. I can only imagine

what it was some years ago, before I made a conscious effort to reduce my ecological

footprint. This is the first time that I have used a calculator to estimate my footprint, however

and it shows areas in which I could vastly improve upon. Obviously even my load which is

significantly lower in most categories compared to the rest of my countrymen, would lead to

collapse and certain doom. We can not continue sustainably on such a path.

What changes would you suggest to others to reduce their Footprint?

I think reducing the amount of meat that we consume is one of the biggest

improvements we could make as a society. I must confess that the idea is not merely my own

however. A TED talk by Graham Hill entitled, Why I am a weekday vegetarian truly

enlightened me on the subject. A quote from one of the smartest men who ever lived further

backed up my thoughts on meat consumption. Albert Einstein once said, It is my view that the

vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would

most beneficially influence the lot of mankind. Although Einstein was speaking to alleged

effects on persons temperament and not sustainability.

What is the relationship between changes in your consumption level and your Footprint?

(What happens to your Footprint as your consumption level changes?) Why is thissignificant?

It is important to understand the correlation between the amount that we consume and

the size of our footprint. The rate of consumption and footprint are directly proportional. That is

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to say that the more that we consume the larger our ecological footprint will be. It is significant

because in knowing the correlation we also know how to combat this issue.

What are the two most significant categories of your Ecological Footprint and why?

The two most significant categories of my ecological footprint are food and goods and

services. They are only slightly lower or equal to the rest of the population. This is troubling

because the average level is absurdly high to begin with. The reason that my levels are where

they are is because of convenience / laziness and / or access to platforms that could lower the

footprint. There are also monetary concerns. Unfortunately do what is best is not always the

least expensive or the easiest. I hope that I am able to reduce these areas however.

What adjustment would you make to these two categories to significantly reduce theirenvironmental impact?

I would love to recycle more, although I do have reservations about recycling after

reading some papers and watching an episode about recycling on Penn & Tellers BullSh!t

which aired on HBO. I would also love to be able to eat more sustainably. These are the two

improvements which I believe that I could begin to make starting now.

What have you learned from working through this process?

This process has been very enlightening. It also shows me more specifically not only

where I can make improvements in my own ecological footprint, but what improvements make

the largest impact on my footprint.

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assignment 1.1 pup190

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