Ecological Footprint

What would the world look like if everyone lived like me?

That's the question that's proposed with the ecological footprint game, a game that is pretty interesting to try out. It basically calculates your ecological footprint on this planet based on how you live your everyday life. It takes into account your transportation, eating, shopping habits, etc, to figure out how many planet Earths we would need in order to sustain the human population if everyone lived liked you. I took the test and was shocked to learn that it would take 4.6 Earths to sustain my lifestyle. I never really considered myself as having that devastating of an impact on this environment. I think that perhaps my lifestyle is a bit lazy. I don't like carpooling, I prefer driving alone. I like being able to go where ever I want to and be able to leave whenever without having to compromise because I'm traveling with someone else.
Although I'm sure this can cause a lot of traffic and emission.














(Photo courtesy of http://tucowsinc.com/news/2007/06/tucows-goes-to-the-traffic-conference/)

I'm also pretty bad with leaving lights on in the house and things plugged in.
There are times when I will unplug appliances and tvs when I know that I will be away from my house for a long time. However I still leave my phone charger in the wall whenever I leave my house just out of habit and laziness. I think my lifestyle isn't that bad for the environment. I don't litter and I don't really waste water or electricity that much. I will turn a light off if I leave a room. I think part of my reason is that my electricity bill isn't that high and since I don't see the effects of wasting electricity here or there in my bills each month, I don't think there's much to be made if I change my habits. I'm not willing to change my driving habits because I do live far

(photo courtesy of http://www.gearfuse.com/driin-mobile-phone-holder-shackles-cables-from-causing-chaos/)

away from the places I need to be at every day, whether it's work or school and I just feel that carpooling doesn't apply for everyone. In terms of food, I feel that I shouldn't have to change my lifestyle unless it affects my health directly. Fortunately I don't need to change my shopping habits since I don't even shop at all anyways. I also won't change my household since it's my house and where I want to live and I feel that no one should have to live uncomfortably if they don't want to, strictly from a size perspective. I will however, take steps to recycle more and stop creating as much waste since I do agree that I throw away too many garbage bags each week when the trash comes. I will begin to take steps in separating out paper, plastic and aluminum each week.



















(Photo courtesy of http://eltterengganu.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/save-our-world-be-the-protector/)

Food Intake/Packaging

I love to eat. I never really cared too much about where food comes from or how it's made, just so long as it tastes good. With this journal entry, I decided to keep track of how much food I eat and how many calories I intake. For breakfast every morning, to start out with, I eat a bowl of cereal, Apple Jacks to be exact.
(Photo courtesy of http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=61444)

I poured the amount I typically ate, which was about 2 cups, and a cup of milk totaling the calories to be 240 calories according to the nutrition label on the side of the box. For lunch, I always eat a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread. Today was no different. I use Oscar Mayer Turkey Breast meat, Arnold's 100% Whole Wheat bread and Borden's Dairy Singles, White American Cheese. Two slices of cheese are 140 calories, two slices of Turkey are approximately 32 calories, and 220 calories for two slices of whole wheat bread, totaling 392 calories for lunch. For dinner I ate a Red Baron pepperoni pizza. The total calories for the entire pizza equaled 1240 calories!

(Photo courtesy of http://www.caymanshoppers.com/page10.html)


I only drink water each day since I gave up Soda for lent, and I drank 6 bottles of Aquafina water, each equaling 16.9 fluid oz, or 12 glasses of water.





















All in all, my food is essentially pre-made, coming from factories and grocery stores. The Aquafina water I purchase isn't exactly the best way I could go about getting my water in terms of being eco-friendly, however I do purchase the new Eco-Fina bottles. According to aquafina, their new Eco-Fina bottles use 50% less plastic than their 2002 bottles, and save 75 million pounds of plastic each year (http://lighterfootstep.com/2009/03/aquafinas-new-eco-fina-bottle-greenwash-or-progress/). After doing some research I wasn't able to find exactly how much energy is put into making the other items of food that are pre-made, that I eat however I could find some other alternatives. I could perhaps purchase food to make my own pizza and actually buy organic tomatoes, to make my sauce for it. In terms of my lunch, I feel there isn't really any other way to make that more sustainable.
Outside of food, I also go about my business each day, handling items that may have a standing effect on the environment. Each day that I go to Publix I always get a plastic bag to put my groceries in. I could instead use the Green Publix bags.













(Photo courtesy of http://sustainability.publix.com/what_we_are_doing/community.reusable_bags.php)

To this day, over 700 million plastic bags have been saved since the introduction of these reusable bags (http://sustainability.publix.com/what_we_are_doing/community.reusable_bags.php). Another way I could save on the things that I handle personally could be using a lunch box instead of a paper bag to carry my lunch to work. Every day I use a plastic sandwich bag and a paper bag for lunch when I go to work and I never really considered how wasteful that could be. I never really thought about how much energy goes into making plastic bags in general. Oil needs to be pumped up from the ground to power refineries and then shipped to these factories, requiring energy to get the oil and then transport it. The factories run on electricity to power and change the oil into material that will then be made into plastic. The machines operate to fix the plastic into bags (http://www.midamericanenergy.com/eew/help/act_bags_plastic.html). Looking back at this, I think that I will take a stance and begin using reusable bags instead of plastic bags for my grocery shopping.

Estero Bay Historic Cottage and Matanzas Pass Preserve

(Photo courtesy of Robert Wozniak)

Our class had the privilege of visiting the Estero Bay Historic Cottage. There, we had a talk with a nice old lady about the history behind the cottage and the town itself. She spoke with us about a time before there were condos and hotels and all these stores around the cottage. She discussed with us about the history, and how there was a massacre in the area, which gave the name for the preserve, Matanza, which is Spanish for massacre. We got to see the shells and also the other things that were originally around, such as old tools and seashells. I really enjoyed the talk the old lady gave us and thought she was well spoken and actually kept my interest with her personal anecdotes. The cottage itself was very quaint as well, although it must be extremely cold in the winter.


(Photo courtesy of Robert Wozniak)
After we looked around the cottage, we talked about Conservation 20/20 which is essentially a program involved in using tax payers' dollars to set aside land to be preserved.



(Photo courtesy of http://www.conservation2020.org/background.html)

They focus primarily on undeveloped lands in natural habitats. According to their website, they have four main objectives. 1. Protect and preserve natural habitat. 2. Protect and preserve water quality and supply. 3. Protect developed lands from flooding. 4. Provide resource-based recreation. (http://www.conservation2020.org/background.html). I think tax dollars used to pay for these pieces of land is smart and should be done for certain high risk areas, however I think there should be a limit as to how much money is used and how often people are taxed. I think at a certain point it becomes the responsibility of private funders to help preserve these lands since they are in a better position financially to do so. The preserve itself was a nice, serene place and I would like to visit more places like it this semester, and probably will during my time of volunteering, even though I'm not familiar with any of the others on the list. In addition to learning about Conservation 20/20 we got a chance to walk around the boardwalk and observed the environment around us, observing native species in their habitat such as the Turkey Vulture, Sabal Palmetto, and Mangroves.

(Photo Courtesy of Robert Wozniak)

Mangroves are extremely important to the environment in Florida. It provides resistance to the constant shore erosion that goes on along our shorelines and also provides a habitat for many small organisms such as small fish and crabs and provides protection for them. In addition, it also helps with carbon sequestration. All in all, it was a quaint time.

Water Rights and Water Usage

Water is the giver of life. All living organisms on this planet need water to survive in some shape or form. It quenches the thirst of both animals and plants, and even provides shelter for aquatic creatures. In my opinion, I think it's the one thing on this planet that everyone, and everything has a right to. I don't think it's some commodity that you can just market off to people who are in dire need of it. I understand that a businessman like Pickens wants to make typical business moves, and he already sees into the future a world with a booming population and an inevitable problem with needing water. I understand that he's taping into water that is underground, and needs to be "rescued" and wouldn't otherwise be used for farming. I fear though, that all of this is simply a prelude to an environment where water is directly owned to specific people as opposed to one large body of government, and an environment where water only goes to the highest bidder. I feel that a lot of people will get hurt like this and we'll turn into this reverse Water World society. I don't think any single person should hold rights over it and give it to someone else for profit. I understand diverting water from one area to another to help out with forest fires but this is not what that is. The article about Pickens describes a scenario where the owner will have the ability to simply sell the water to the highest bidder, and that buyer can do whatever they want with the water. I can think that among businessmen, eventually greed will overrule the altruistic nature of society and everyone else will suffer because of it. Local residents that are losing this underground source of water have absolutely no say in anything since their wallets aren't deep enough and that isn't fair when it comes to something like water. Not to mention, how this may affect the natural order in the animal kingdom. Even though this may be underground water that Pickens is referring to, there is no telling what precedent this may set with other people trying to possess water. As of now it's underground water, but pretty soon it could turn into specific lakes being drained, or other unknown aquifers. We don't have an idea of how this may affect the animals in the environment, but there is definitely no way of immediately writing everything off as saying they won't be affected whatsoever. In Florida, I feel that there isn't really a chance of this happening as of now because we are already aware of the damage that civilization and roads have done to block off Florida's natural flow of water and I think measures would be taken to stop any sort of monopoly on water in Florida.
I decided to take on the task of actually seeing where I was with my water conservation and measure out how much water I use in a normal day, keeping true to my usual routine and not adjusting anything. I went online and did a little research, seeing how much water is typically used for everyday tasks and decided to make my calculations. I take about 15 minutes to shower and I found out that I use about 30 gallons of water each time I shower. I used the toilet about six times that day, and I found that for each flush, I'm using around 3 gallons of water. I have a phobia about my hands being dirty so I wash them a lot, at least 5 times a day and I measured the amount to be a gallon of water for the total amount. I'm pretty conscious of water running when I brush my teeth and wash my face though, and I don't leave the water running when I'm brushing or when I'm scrubbing my face, using about 1/2 of a gallon for the total of both activities. I drank a gallon water as well because I love staying hydrated and don't really drink anything else except for ice tea. All in all, I used 50 1/2 gallons in my day. I think that I'm pretty conservative with water. I don't use anything in excess unless I have days where I do laundry and wash dishes. I don't typically do dishes every day, I usually let them sit in the sink for a few days and I decided not to do dishes so my typical calculation wouldn't be inflated. I don't really see any way that I can conserve water, other than not flushing my toilet after each use and cutting back on my hand washing, however I feel those are necessary for sanitary purposes. Other then that, I'll try to improve on my shower time and cut back to 10 minute showers to use less water.

Future of Food

My favorite food to snack on are Snickers candy bars. I just find them absolutely delicious and impossible to resist. I have never really thought about what actually went into making them though and for this journal entry decided to do some research. The actual ingredients that go into making them are as follows: milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skimmed milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, artifical flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, butter, milkfat, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, and egg whites (www.snickers.com). The company that manufactures the product, Mars Incorporated, actually goes about a sustainable way in growing their cocoa for the candy bars. According to their website, "Mars is proud to be the first global chocolate company to commit to fundamentally changing the way sustainable cocoa farming practices are advanced by aiming to certify its entire cocoa supply as being produced in a sustainable manner, by 2020. In April, 2009, we announced a commitment to source 100,000 tonnes of Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa per year, by 2020.

Our commitment to sustainable cocoa sourcing is making a difference that is helping to ensuring the long-term sustainability of essential raw material" (http://www.mars.com/global/index.aspx). The cocoa is grown across many different nations, including Africa, Asia, South and Central America (http://www.mars.com/global/index.aspx).

I attempted to research Snickers candy further but wasn't able to find out much else about the candy treat. There wasn't anything listed in terms of where the other ingredients were made, or how much fossil fuels were used to produce them.

On one of our field trips, we got to watch a documentary called, The Future of Food. It was an interesting documentary looking at the progression of food processing and how we're going the route of gene manipulating crops. I enjoyed the movie because I never once really thought or cared much about how my food is processed and made. I simply accepted food and enjoyed it, not really thinking about any consequences. This movie opened my eyes into the gene manipulation behind making these crops. I'm not exactly hungry to eat crops that were genetically inclined to resist pesticides. I would rather eat something that is strictly all natural. I also feel that it isn't in the consumer's best interest with these corporations hurrying to patent seeds and control the food market. I think once corporations hold rights over all types of foods, they have too much power and will look to extort the consumers for as much money as possible as opposed to putting out the best product. I think in the future people should know about their food and how it's processed and whether or not it contains manipulated genes. They have a right to know what they're putting in their body because I think many people are like me and don't know too much about the crops that are genetically modified.

Field Trip #2- ECHO

Our second class field trip saw us visiting a farm off campus known as ECHO. ECHO stands for Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization. This is a demonstration farm which is put on exhibit for people to visit and learn more about the organization, and also a place where agricultural items can be purchased, such as fruit, fertilizer and plants. ECHO reaches worldwide to many developing countries, assisting them in their hunger needs by providing the tools they need to become self sufficient in developing farms. On our field trip, we got a tour of the farm, and first were introduced to tools that are brought to the developing nations.
Some of the tools we saw were interesting, such as bicycles hooked up to motors and machines that actually grounded corn as you would pedal the bike. There were also pots that were put into clay and were made as such to heat up faster.
The farm also had its fair share of animals as well. There were many ducks and a large watch goose on duty as well as the typical farm animals including the chicken, rooster and goats. I really liked how they actually used the animals in an unassuming way, collecting the feces from underneath the cages of rabbits and having that later used in fertilizer. They also had tanks as well with earthworms in them that were also used to make good soil to sell. This was called the Vermiculture Demo.
The farm itself was rather large however somewhat easy to navigate around. There wasn't really anything that stood out negatively about the farm. I like how they had basically everything running under the most basic mechanics and under the most ecological friendly ways. I think it reiterates the point home to any who visit that the farm and organization really want to push the agenda that they want to help out and improve developing nations that are facing a hunger crisis. Me personally, I would love to have an organization like ECHO around because I don't have much confidence in my ability to grow anything. I have never grown food before, nor have I tried to have a garden of my own and I would definitely need some advice as to how to go about starting one.