According to my ecological footprint, if everyone lived like me we would need 5.3 planet Earth's to provide enough resources. It also said in order to support my lifestyle it would take 23.7 global acres of Earth's product area and 26 tons of carbon dioxide. I am in some ways shocked by my results because it is crazy to see these numbers but then again I am not really that shocked because I don't believe I live a very sustainable lifestyle. Now that I am living on my own in an apartment and not in my parent's house I have the choice to live how I want too. My mom recycles everything, where as I might recycle every now and again if there happens to be a recycle bin around. I don't exactly go out of my way to recycle, especially in my own trash. This is a lifestyle change I would be willing to make. I don't really think about how much electricity I am using, I do things like leave my charger plugged in at all times or leave the fan on in my room even if I leave. My parents used to get onto me for those things and not turning off the tv or shutting of the lights. That is also something I would be willing to work on and hopefully change while living on my own. However, a big part of my ecological footprint was mobility which I assume is transportation. I prefer driving my own car to places I want to go. I actually commute quite a ways to work, as does my mom and I think the only reliable way to assure you get there is to drive yourself. I personally would not be willing to change that aspect of my lifestyle as I am sure my mother wouldn't either. Things that are in walking distance, I will walk to instead of driving. There just doesn't really seem to be much around me in walking distance. I live in apartments right next to campus and as we talked about in class it just isn't set up for things to be in walking distance. Even in my parents HOA the club house where my brother goes to play sports is a 25 minute walk so typically they will drive. I am also not a fan of public transportation such as busses or trains. If needed I would be able to ride one however my mother is a complete germaphob that I know she would never make that lifestyle change.
This class has brought a lot of things about our environment and they effect we each have on it to my attention. Before this class I never thought twice about it. It is good that I am more aware of what is actually happening to our environment. Although I would love more restaurants, shopping, and food around me I see what tearing down and building is doing. We are slowly running out of resources and that is scary to think about the future. It may not directly affect me, but what about my kids or grandkids. It is important to be more aware of what is going on and how I contribute however because of how I was raised I believe some changes will be hard to make to my lifestyle that I don't know if I am ready to make. I think as a global community, making changes that we talked about in class such as smart growth is a good start.
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