Environmental Action Contract Living life in fast forward seems to be a moto that has consumed my lifestyle. Time seems to escape me considering I work almost forty hours a week, I’m enrolled in six classes, play soccer, and still try to have a social life. Unfortunately, after evaluating my choices that affect the environment, my ecological footprint is making a harmful impact on the environment. Throughout this paper I will discuss my impact on the environment and go through how I will change my behaviors to help the environment. A reduction in my ecological footprint may not save the Earth, but it will make a difference. I will be taking many steps these next few weeks to reduce my impact, and I plan on continuing these lifestyle changes …show more content…
Taking fewer showers would be ideal, but going back to the idea that I work a lot and play soccer I don’t think a lot of people would like if I didn’t shower as much. A better solution for me would be taking shorter showers. A majority of time I take up to fifteen minute showers. However, I am only actually cleaning myself for probably three to five minutes of the time. Setting a timer to a restricted amount of time to shower will help save water, and reduce un-needed time in the shower.
Although there are not many excuses to my consumption of unhealthy, over processed, and packaged foods, I am planning on reducing my consumptions of food like this. I have resorted to eating foods that are convenient rather than healthy (for myself and the environment). From now on I plan on buying more whole foods from the store, that are healthier for me. Also foods with less packaging that produce less waste. This meets using reusable water bottles, not buying packaged brownies, etc.
The final lifestyle change I am going to make is recycling. I was not raised in a household that recycled, therefore, I never picked up that habit as I grew up. My behaviors have lead to a lot of unnecessary waste. By starting to recycle I can make a better impact on the
Ever since the dawn of industrialization, humans have caused serious, irreversible damage to the biosphere. And as the world progresses and Canadians looks on, they realized the impact of their environmental damage. Sometimes new ecofriendly technology enters the market and replaces the old environment damaging one. But that is not enough, human society as a whole must completely rethink and change themselves individually to so that their actions causes minimal environmental backlash.
The U.S.D.A. Environmental Justice Strategic Plan of 2016-2020 was developed in an effort to provide equitable conditions throughout every community in the United States of America. The goals that have developed to reach the equality in all communities has to consider climate changes unlike other strategic plans. The key priorities for this strategic plan are many and varied. For example, one is to increase public participation, opportunities for minorities, low income, American Indians and Alaska natives. This plan is a malleable to adjust for the best results. However, it does contain parts that are immovable.
The article Simple Rules for Healthy Eating by Aaron E. Carroll which mainly focuses on what you should and shouldn’t eat more of. It also mentions how putting salt, fats, butter, and oil into your food is a necessity. This article makes me think about how eating heavily processed foods may be causing the worst health outcomes. I agree with what is being said in this article because the author list most of the food products that may be causing you or a loved ones to have health problems. Also, it mentions when eating at a restaurant you should take into consideration that not all of your food may be unprocessed. It also mentions how you shouldn’t judge what other people are eating because everyone has the rights to do what they want no matter
Before taking the quiz, I had a mere idea of how I was helping or harming the environment. I knew about recycling, transportation, and some energy sources—but was not aware of many other behaviors. After going through these quizzes, I gained a better idea of my overall impact on the environment; I am now aware that my individual behaviors make a considerable footprint. Nonetheless, after taking the quiz the second time with modified answers, I realized that simple measures can go a long way. Taking the quiz twice made a huge impression, since I gained a new perspective of the significance of individual behaviors. Tweaking just a few behaviors during the quizzes substantially reduced my carbon footprint, which is an astounding discovery. The quizzes, overall, were helpful because they changed my thoughts on what I do, and made me question certain actions. I began asking myself “Do I really need to drive to all of these places?” and “Why don’t I recycle more?” and “How can I save
"Save the Planet," "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," "Go Green." Quotes like these have become a commonality in today's age. We all are familiar with the large efforts to help preserve the environment. In "Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments," Thomas E. Hill Jr. sums up his essay by stating, "The point is not to insinuate that all anti-environmentalists are defective, but to see that those who value such traits as humility, gratitude, and sensitivity to others have reason to promote the love of nature" (688; par. 4) This excerpt provides the thesis behind Hill's argument. The author found that
As a nation, we have to look at what the future would be for our children, their children and the generations ahead. We can start with participating in recycle programs, investing in clean energy and ways to reduce destruction of our forests." Without Americans constant need to consume, the environment would have plenty of time to replenish the resources it provide us." "NIEHS Environmental Coloring Book." National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an official government website for Kids. 02 Apr. 2009 .
As much problems Americans tend to face with the diet, there are multiple solutions to help the situation. Starting with less processed
While I started my volunteer educational program, another man was well ensconced in his own. Al Gore took up a cause that many people seemed to be ignoring, our environment. The issues of climate change and general environmentalism are very important to me. I see similarities between the challenges of managing a clean environment for our globe and the challenges of managing good health to me. Through concerted efforts to make routine changes we have the capacity to live more ecologically friendly, and often healthier lives. I have seen that with just a few adjustments, I can control my diabetes to the point where most people do not even know I have it. Likewise, I believe that if we commit to making fundamental changes in the way we go about our lives, we can easily remedy several environmental issues we face today. By going to Berkeley Law School and focusing on Environmental Law, I can apply my own life’s lessons
If a writer would like to learn how to negate the positive effect useful information could have on an audience, reading Alex Shoumatoff’s article “An Eco-System of One’s Own” could help learn how to make valid arguments fall on deaf ears. This article was written to draw attention to or inform individuals in modern society that nearly every decision that is made -- from the time a person gets up until the time a person goes to bed -- is destroying the environment. Shoumatoff does this by organizing his essay following the unfolding of an imagined typical day, beginning with the “morning juice,” he continues with conceivable uses of energy and resources that one consumes before one even eats breakfast, the drive to work, lunch decisions, the drive home, and ends with the relaxation that should take place after a day’s work (269-276). The organization of this essay is very effective at showing how much destruction an individual may be doing to the environment in a typical day. However, the negative presentation of the material and barrage of sarcasm undercuts the applicable suggestions made to help resolve these issues.
I want to change how much processed food I eat because I want to live a healthier lifestyle. In, “Eating Made Simple” by Marion Nestle she discuss ideas on how to become healthier. Nestle notes, “Eat less, move more; eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; and
Support for these claims are documented through extensive research into numerous practices that individuals could take part in to diminish their carbon footprint and greenhouse gases emissions. These small changes include of catching public transport more regularly, replacing regular incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) which use 60% less energy than a regular bulb and buy more locally grown and produced foods.
Lindsay, very good post you mentioned that most people are unaware of the negative health consequences related to highly processed foods but did you know they are those same people who are educated and is unaware that there is an eating disorder called “Orthorexia Nervosa” which is an eating disorder or obsession with “healthy foods” or “pure foods”. Now, this so-called disorder has not been recognized clinically but it is making its way around the nutritional sector, my friend suffers from this food obsession psychologically and it is taking a toll on her natural life and body. As a child her mother kept telling her about “bad and good foods” and she lived her whole life eating what she consider healthy foods and it is tearing her body apart,
This essay reviews my personal carbon footprint and discusses ways to manage it and reduce some of the biggest areas of my resource consumption. The footprint calculator that I used required that I answer a series of questions about my consumption habits, and based on the answers I provided, showed the impact of my lifestyle on the planet. The footprint calculator uses data for selected countries, based on National Footprint Accounts. The online calculator asked questions to determine how to distribute the ecological footprint into different categories based on the country's average consumption profile. In addition to calculating the amount of carbon a person is responsible for through their daily activities, the calculator also estimated a total ecological footprint to represent the amount of land and sea area required to provide the resources a person needs and to absorb their carbon emissions.
Because carbon footprints are such hot topics in the news these days, it's an ideal topic for this particular paper. As concerns about global warming and potential climate change have continued to evolve the term "carbon footprint" has become ingrained in many people's consciousness. Though the large Fortune 500 companies focus on reduction of their own carbon footprints, individuals can help in their own small way as well.
As I mentioned before, the world has been using more than it created especially in the US. The only reason why we Americans can live like we do is because we use resources of other countries. If everyone in the world were to live like the average American, then we would need around 5 Earths to provide for everyone. One way to reduce our footprint would be to use less. Of course, everyone hears that we should reduce, recycle, and reuse, but how many people actually do that. One great example of a place where everything used is completely renewable and eco-friendly is the Govardhan Eco-Village in India. This village, while not possible everywhere, sets the tone for sustainable living. For sustainability they utilize various techniques like organic farming, water conservation, soil biotechnology, and waste management. This village has attracted much attention and has won many awards including the International Green World Award and International Zero Waste Award. Using this as a model, I believe that with serious reform, we can improve our cities and homes to leave a smaller footprint and to become more