Products/Waste and Recycling

"One way to decrease the quantity of resources consumed is to design products for longer life by making items that are more durable, items that can be upgraded, or items that are easy to repair. The result is that fewer total resources are demanded per product use." (Robertson 2014)

I think this is becoming an ever increasing problem that the world is facing. In modern society, we use technology for everything. If we are continuously throwing these technologies away because there is something new on the market we will not have any important resources in the future. Companies that make things like phones need to produce better quality products that we can upgrade internally instead of having to buy something new every time. I know I have seen Motorola produce a phone that has attachments, such as a camera, that can be added to the outside. This provides multiple uses for this one devise which helps cut down on waste from the company.

Technology Waste posted on computerweekly.com

"Packaging design is a subspecialty within the engineering fields, with several professional societies, professional journals, and industry organizations devoted to more sustainable packaging." (Robertson 2014)

When I think of ways to cut back on waste I never think of the packaging things come in. with companies like Amazon and Ebay we are shipping millions of things throughout the world. Each one of these things needs to be packaged so if you add up all the waste from those packages it is crazy to think about. If a company could come up with a way to reduce the materials used in packaging or find a way that their packaging could be used for more than one use this would greatly cut down on waste. Companies should start using biodegradable materials in their packaging which can be used in compost or it will be easily broken down in a landfill. Companies use to package everything in packaging peanuts but over the past decade the use of these packaging peanuts have been reduced. This is a start in the right direction.

Packaging Waste posted on treehugger.com

"Composting, long a practice of organic gardeners, is increasingly part of many municipal waste management programs, which provide composting of leaves and yard debris." (Robertson 2014)

Composting could help with sustainability in a bunch of ways. First it allows you to use waste as fertilizer for plants instead of having it sit in a landfill. Second it promotes residences to start growing their own gardens that they could use their compost. This garden could help feed the household or at the very least reduce the amount of food that is bought at a grocery store. I know at my house we have a compost pile that we use to fertilize our fruits and vegetables that we have in our back yard. This is a never ending cycle for us because we use the fertilizer to help grow plants and then we add the waste from those plants into the compost pile which will in turn become fertilizer. If most households had something like this or if a community got together and used this technique, we would start take a big step in the way of sustainability.    

Composting posted on bluetreelandscaping.com

Robertson, M. (2014). Sustainability Principles and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Climate

"Before the Industrial Revolution, that is, before 1750, the carbon dioxide concentration was about 280 ppm. with the discovery of coal and oil, it began to climb. It is now around 400 ppm and rising by about 2 ppm per year." (Robertson 2014)

It doesn’t take a genius to see there is some sort of correlation between the burning of fossil fuels and the increased CO2 in the air. Everyone knows that the increased amount of CO2 in the air relates to the increase in temperature. If we continue on this path of unrestricted use of fossil fuels, the ppm in the atmosphere will continue to increase exponentially. Finding alternatives to fossil fuels has become top priority for many car companies as they develop new technologies for cars. They will eventually have to replace most if not all of the cars that are on the road today with cars that don’t add a substantially amount of CO2 to the atmosphere. It would the best of both worlds if they could find a car that would take in CO2 and clean up the air while not polluting it.

CO2 in the air posted on doityourself.com

"Changes predicted by computer models reviewed by the IPCC include heat waves; extremes of weather conditions including floods, droughts, and hurricanes; melting of glaciers and polar ice; sea level rise; changing ocean currents; changes to terrestrial and marine ecosystems including extinctions; and changes to human lifestyles including agriculture and economic issues." (Robertson 2014)

We have already started to see some of these changes in our lifetime. Each year seems to be hotter than the last, we have increasingly bad droughts in the west, our glaciers are melting so the sea is rising, and many animals and plants are using their habitats. There seems to be some efforts to prevent this from happening but there is not enough. Currently, our government wants to cut funding to the EPA and other governmental agencies that are trying to protect the damaged environment. This is very counterproductive to we should be doing and it will hurt us in the long run. If we don’t start doing more now, the ice caps will continue to melt, more plants and animals will lose their environments or become extinct, and we will eventually have crop shortages because of the heat.

Changing Climate posted on oliveoiltimes.com

"Emissions trading is, in a way, the inverse of offsetting. an offset is a reduction in emissions created by one entity and purchased by another entity. emissions trading, also known as a cap and trade system, refers to the buying and selling of permits to pollute." (Robertson 2014)

I didn’t know there was such a thing as emissions trading in the world. I don’t know what the limit is on the amount of emissions a company is allowed to use without going over their limit and it would be interesting to see the science that goes into deciding the number. I think that if a company is under their allowed emission usage they should not only get to see back their permit but they should also get tax breaks that encourages companies to try to be under. Additionally, companies that go over should have to pay more to get the permits because in a way they are breaking a law. This would greatly encourage companies to either stay right at their limit or under so they don’t have to pay a bunch of additional money.

Emission Trading posted on greenreport.it

Robertson, M. (2014). Sustainability Principles and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Livable Cities

"Urban planning deals with the layout and function of towns and cities. Variables within the patterns of urban development are sometimes described as the 'five D's': density, diversity, design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit." (Robertson 2014)

Im not sure how well Fort Myers was planned out. It is quickly becoming a very dense city that has a random design to it. There are neighborhoods going in everywhere; it doesn’t matter if they are next to a Walmart or if they are in an open area. I also don’t think that the public transit is that good down here. We have busses and other forms of transit but it doesn’t seem to be the easily accessible to people who live on the outskirts of the city. It would have been nice to see what Fort Myers would be like if the city planners laid it out a lot better than it currently is.

Urban Planning posted on http://urbanblightphotoessayassignment.weebly.com/

"New Urbanism is an urban design movement closely related to smart growth, focused on the elements of a neighborhood that make it attractive and successful, with a strong sense of community." (Robertson 2014)

Its cool to visit a city that is planned out in a practical way. One of the best planned out ones I can think of that is close would be Lakewood Ranch in Sarasota. It is basically a giant neighborhood that is planned so that it can operate basically by itself. They have their own schools, groceries, and entertainment within the layout of the city. You can feel a strong sense of community pride when you enter the limits. But when you go from a place like that to somewhere like Lehigh there is a big difference. Lehigh seems just has houses built basically where ever someone wanted one and there is no real plan for the neighborhood. It would have been nice if they would have thought it through and tried to plan out a nice laid out neighborhood.

Urbanism posted on http://globalbasketball.com/global-basketball-summer-league-new-york-city/

"Urban planners are working to complete the streets, that is to make them convenient and safe for all users, all travel modes, and all abilities." (Robertson 2014)

I think this could be a big step towards sustainability in many urban environments. There are a lot of bike lanes around here which is good to promote bike use instead of driving cars but I’m not sure how safe they are. Especially with Florida drivers, I think there needs to be a barrier, either concrete or plant, in between the bikes and cars. I think this would get a lot more people to ride their bikes places because it would be safer for them to do so. In cities like Vancouver there are a lot wider bike lanes that are clearly marked with green plant that gives the biker a safer ride than the ones down here. If we were to change the bike lanes down here it would take a lot of effort by civil engineers to rebuild the streets and the bike lanes that go along with them.

Safe Bike Lanes posted on http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/biking-in-arlington/bicycle-facilities/

Robertson, M. (2014). Sustainability Principles and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Douglas/ Water

"In California, 80 percent of the demand for water lies in the southern two-thirds of the stat, most of which receives only a few inches of rainfall a year, while about 70 percent of California's available water falls as precipitation in the less-populated northern third of the state." (Robertson, 2014)

This may be the biggest problem that we will face in the near future. Over the last 10 years we have been hearing more and more stories about water shortage in places all around the world. In California they have been implementing different techniques to try to conserve the little water they have left. When I was out in California a couple of years ago you can see the lack of water everywhere. Water reservoirs and canals on the side of the road are dried up and show no sign of water. We need to develop new techniques to try to distribute water throughout the states when some of the state doesn’t get a lot of water. If we could find a way to get some of the water from the northern section of California down to southern California we would have less of a problem than we have now. But as of right now we have not developed a technique like that yet.

Water Shortage posted on www.southbayresidential.com

"In parts of the arid US West, 70 percent of residential water may be used for keeping lawns green." (Robertson, 2014)

This is crazy to me. I understand that we want our lawns to be nice and pretty but if we are running out of water something has to give. I work the night shift as a security guard and when I drive around my neighborhood there is so much waste of water. Lawns get watered two times a night and sometimes the sprinklers are pointed onto the street and are not watering anything. Another thing I see is the water running when it is raining. Why would we need to water our lawns when it is raining outside? If we can change some simple things it seems like we can cut back on the amount of water we use for our landscaping.

Watering Lawns posted on Huffington Post

"The saw grass stands drying to old gold and rustling faintly, ready, if there is a spark anywhere, to burst into those boiling red flames which crackle even at a great distance like a vast frying pan..." (Douglas, 2011)

This is what happened a couple of weeks ago. Right now we are in the dry season and haven’t gotten rain in a couple of months. This causes the grasses in the everglades to dry out and when a spark hits the dry grass, either by man or by nature, all the grass goes up into flames. This is a natural phenomenon that has happened for centuries but it effects us now because we are trying to develop as close to the everglades as possible and the flames can start to damage humans. Natural the flames would just die off but since it was threatening us we had to put it out. We see this battle with nature all over the US with wildfires damaging infrastructure.

Everglades Wildfire posted on Wild Fire Today

Douglas, M. S. (2011). The Nature of the Everglades. In University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future. Acton, MA: Copley Custom Textbooks

Robertson, M. (2014). Sustainability Principles and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Food/Food Inc

"Permaculture emphasizes the use of perennial plants rather than annuals and avoids disturbing the soil by digging and plowing. Chickens and other animals have a variety of roles to play including nutrient cycling, pest control, and food production and are often part of permaculture farms." (Robertson, 2014)

I think that this is a really good concept in theory but I don’t know how practical this would be in today’s society. The larger scale producers of meats and grains would not be able to produce the quantity that they do if they couldn’t plow the ground and had to only rely on perennial plants. It also seems that it would cost them much more money than what they are spending now to produce their crops and of course they wouldn’t want to spend more money when they don’t have to. I think this would be a good practice for small self sustaining farms or farms that produce small quantities of things. It should be a relatively easy switch for them to implement this idea with out to much money spent.

Permaculture posted on eco-evolution

The first wow moment that I could think of in the Food Inc movie was when they were talking about how farmers could be sued if some of Mosantos seeds blew onto their land, even if the farmer wasn’t using them. A farmer shouldn’t be penalized if the wind or animals pick up seed somewhere else and bring it to their property. It would be almost impossible for the farmers to tell the difference between the two seeds unless they tested every plant that was growing. Plus Mosanto is a big enough company that if this where to happen they could almost sue the farmer out of their farm and therefore destroying their lives. We are almost punishing people for wanting to produce their own crops instead of selling their land to a big company and that doesn’t seem right at all.

Corn Field posted on pinterest

The second wow moment was the drop in food safety inspections by the FDA. It said that there has been a drop by almost 42,000 in only 30 years which is ridiculous. The way we produce food now there should be more inspections done because there seems to be a lot more deadly disease outbreaks. The way most of our food is produce helps bread diseases and we are just willing letting them go unchecked. There should be more legislation in place that says the factories that produce our food should at least be check once a year. This would cut down on outbreaks and would lead to a better quality of food produced. Its crazy that we don’t think that we deserve at least disease free food.

FDA food inspection posted on marlerblog.com

Robertson, M. (2014). Sustainability Principles and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Carson/Pollution

"Carbon dioxide is essentially for keeping Earth's temperature warm enough for life, but when it builds up faster than the earth system can accommodate, climate regulation is disrupted." (Robertson 2017)

This is the problem that we are seeing now. Due to many reasons, we have produced to much carbon dioxide that has built up in the environment and it has disrupted the natural climate. Its only February but it feels like summer in Florida and other parts of the country. This weather change disrupts plant growth, animal habitats, and many other things critical to our lives. We need to find a way to scale back the amount of carbon dioxide that we are producing and maybe even work to reduce the amount built up in the atmosphere. If we don’t do this we will continue down the same path that we are on and it may become the end of our existence. 

Global warming posted on Insurance Journal by Alex Morales

"Since DDT was released for civilian use, a process of escalation has been going on in which ever more toxic materials must be found." (Carson 2011)

When DDT came out everyone thought it was the cure all for all our crop problems. People would spray it everywhere. This even included spraying it in the presence of humans, even kids. If we did that today we would probably be arrested because we know what it could potential do to people. DDT has opened the door for other companies to produce other chemicals that kill more insects or that kill insects more efficiently. We again spray this on our crops without knowledge to what it does to the ecosystem when it is presented to it. It seems that we are repeating the mistakes of the past and Im sure that we will be talking about these chemicals the same way we talk about DDT today.  I know Counting Crows wrote the song “Big Yellow Taxi” that mentions DDT. They talk about not wanting someone to spray DDT on apples they would rather save the birds and the bees that it affects. I wander if another band will sing a song about the chemicals we put on our plants today.

DDT spraying posted on Sustainable Pulse

"We train ecologists in our universities and even employ them in our governmental agencies but we seldom take their advice." (Carson 2011)

This seems to be the biggest problem that we have when it comes to effective change in the way we produce crops. The people that are in position to enact change don’t do it because they are in the pockets of the companies that produce the chemicals. They are making a bunch of money with the way we are producing crops now so why would they want change. It doesn’t matter how many ecologists or experts say what we are doing is wrong if these people are always in power. It all comes down to money and the people in power don’t want to lose the money that they make in order to change the way we do things

Bribe posted on SEC Whistleblower

Carson, R. (2011). A Fable for Tomorrow. In University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future (pp.151-160). Acton, MA: Copley Custom textbooks

Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

The Biosphere/The Human Sphere

"A terrestrial ecosystem is never static and lives in a state of dynamic equilibrium, periodically undergoing some kind of disturbance to remain healthy." (Robertson 2014)

I remember learning about this when I was in middle school. An ecosystem will periodically go through something like a fire that will destroy it and then it will slowing grow back to what it was before the fire. Its allows the ecosystem to refresh the plant life that is there and to allow new plant species to grow. If this didn’t happen, the ecosystem would recycle the elements that are in the plants and it would become stagnant. I remember on our wet walk we talked about two different areas; one where a controlled chemical burn happened and one where nothing has happened to it. The area where the chemical burn happened had begun to regrow the plants that where present before while the other area looked over crowded and some of it was dead. Sometimes the environment needs to hit the reset button and these disturbances allow it to do that.

Forest regrowth after a fire posted on http://envirosci.net/111/succession/fire_ecology.htm

"The replacement fertility rate is the number of births per woman that will keep the population constant at zero population growth. for humans, the replacement fertility rate is 2.1, slightly above 2.0 to compensate for infant and child mortality." (Robertson 2014)

When you think of the stereotypical American family they have two children to each mother. However, this is not the case many times. I know my mom has 5 kids, which is way over the 2.1 children to each mother. Additionally, I know a lot of family that have more than the 2 kids so that is part of the reason that the human population is growing at an astounding rate. This isn’t just happening in America also. In many underdeveloped parts of the world the more children you have the more hands you have to work to make money for the family. This means that family’s will have way more than 2 kids so they can make enough money to live. Also it use to be the case in China where you could only have a certain number of children. Im not sure if that is the case anymore but I don’t know if that is the answer to this dilemma. Its going to be nearly impossible to come up with a solution to this problem that makes everyone happy.

Family picture posted on http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/biblical-womanhood/book-review-start-your-family/

"Growth as the core economic paradigm has been developing for several hundred years and has become solidly entrenched since the last century. Although an end to growth seems inevitable, moving to a different economic model will involve dramatic change." (Robertson 2014)

I agree that we need an economic shift if we are going to start to try to live sustainable but I am not sure how possible that is. We have always lived as a capitalist economy that promotes growth and competition. This doesn’t take in account what it is doing to the natural world when we are producing the products that we want. It will take a dramatic change in what we are doing now to get us away from this thought process and Im not sure people are open to that idea. It will take agreement with all countries around the world to make this shift because just a couple of countries doing it will not have the effect that is needed on the environment. I also think that it maybe too late to make this shift. It is going to take many years in implement this and by the time that it goes into effect and actually makes a difference in the world we may have done too much damage already.

Capitalism posted on http://speakingofdemocracy.com/tag/capitalism/

Robertson, M. (2014). Sustainability Principles and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Shiva Biodiversity

"Microbes have had no conservation movements or campaigns for 'microbe rights' for their protection. Nor has it been recognized that in the final analysis microbes are more powerful than'Man'." (Shiva 2011)

I don’t think we will ever see microbes have a conservation movement. People get behind movements for things that they like or that are cute. No one really likes microbes or thinks they are cute so they are not high on the list for a conservation movement. That shouldn’t be a bad thing either. When the author talks about conservation movements, she makes it sound like a conservation movement for something that is close to a human is wrong. Conservation for any animals or ecosystems should be a good thing and not be put down by the author.

Microbes posted on Conservation Magazine by Richard Conniff

"According to the dominant paradigm of production, diversity goes against productivity, which creates an imperative for uniformity and monocultures." (Shiva 2011)

I agree that diversity goes against productivity. With crops, its hard to be productive if you have to produce 50 different versions of each crop. Not all the crops grow under the same conditions and at the same rate so a farmer is unable to look after all the crops. I agree that monocultures of crops is bad for biodiversity but Im not sure at this point of time we have found a better way to produce enough crops for everyone while still promoting biodiversity. Demand is too high right now and our population continues to grow that if we cut back on production of animals or crops people will not like the drop in availability of things.  We will have to find a happy medium between diversity and production that will allow us to promote biodiversity while still producing enough for everyone and that is definitely easier said than done.

Rows of corn posted on Linn-Benton Community College

"Industrial agriculture, forestry and fisheries convert rich, diverse ecosystems into biologically impoverished chemically intensive monocultures, writing a death sentence for millions of species while claiming higher 'growth'." (Shiva 2011)

I don’t think that it just claims higher growth; industrial agriculture and fisheries do produce a higher growth rate than if it was a more biodiverse farm. One of the bigger problems with this way of farming is all the chemicals that they use in order to produce the amount of crops they do. All the chemicals in the environment kill the other plants around which hurt the environment. Maybe if we were able to find a way to keep the chemicals out of this technique it will help out the biodiversity in the long run. I know that these genetically modified crops were a big deal a while ago and to my knowledge I don’t think that much has changed. As our population and demand continues to grow I don’t see a change in the near future. I don’t think people will support biodiversity over the easily availability of products that they want.

Fishery posted on ZME Science by Mihai Andrei

Shiva, V. (2011). What Is Biodiversity and Why Is It So Important? In University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future (pp. 38-57). Acton, MA: Copley Custom Textbooks. 

Leopold's The Land Ethic

"In short, the plant succession steered the course of history; the pioneer simply demonstrated, for good or ill, what successions inhered in the land." (Leopold)

In the early days of America, I don’t think the settlers really cared what they did to the plants and the environment that they where settling. They where most likely just trying to survive no matter what the cost and that in turn hurt the land they were living on.  It would be interesting if the pioneers knew what they would ultimately do to the land if they would change anything in the way they settled.  I would think they would try to change a couple of things but it would be really hard change most of their practices. It’s hard for people to empathize with nature because people can’t relate to nature especially when they are more worried about what they need to do in order to survive themselves. Also, if they wanted to change the way they did something they might not have had the technology or knowledge in order to change it. With modern technology, we are able to see more of the long term effects of everything. Back in the day they couldn’t see what they would ultimately do to the land.

Rolling Hills of Bluegrass by Ulrlch Burkhalter posted on flickr

"One basic weakness in a conservation system based wholly on economic motives is that most members of the land community have no economic value." (Leopold)

I think this is the biggest obstacle to a conservation system in society today. Everything in the world revolves around money and if something that has no economic value, society doesn’t really care about it. People will be more likely to want to save something if it benefits them in the long run economically. Songbirds and wildflowers aren’t things that come to mind when you think about economic growth. This might be the wrong way to think but I don’t know if society as a whole will ever change this way of thinking. The one way that we could begin to change this way of thought is to start teaching the value of these things early on in school and emphasizing it throughout school. This will bring up a new generation that sees the value of nature and will think of new ways to conserve it but it will take a lot of years in order for this to happen.

Rise and Fall of Ecological Economics by Mark Sagoff posted on the Breakthrough

"In each field one group (A) regards the land as soil, and its function as commodity-production; another group (B) regards the land as a biota, and its function as something broader." (Leopold)

To me it sounds like group A are more scientists and/or business people while group B are more, for lack of a better word, tree huggers. Group A seems to care about the land just enough not to ruin it and make it unusable for the future. Group B also care about the land but they don’t want to hurt the whole ecosystem that it comes with also. I think that we need viewpoints from both of these groups in order to help conserve the land and to educate others to help others conserve the land. Group A and B seem to even each other out and come to a happy medium in order to help all aspects of the land.

Tree Hugger picture by Narendra Shrestha posted on NBC News

Leopold, A. (2011). The Land Ethic. In University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future (pp.58-77). Acton, MA: Copley Custom Textbooks

Louv Nature Deficit Disorder

"In the United States, as the federal and state governments and local school boards have pushed for higher test scores in the first decade of the twenty-first century, nearly 40 percent of American elementary schools either eliminated or were considering eliminating recess." (Louv 2011)

This seems crazy to me especially for elementary school children. Young kids cant sit inside all day and expect to focus 100% of the time. Recess allows them to almost reset their minds and allows them to be more focused the rest of the day. I remember when I was in elementary school we had a big open field to play on along with a jungle gym and basketball courts. It would allow us to go outside and explore outside instead of sitting indoors all day looking at the whiteboard. Every elementary student should have recess and not just them running to the fence and back. 

Kids at recess posted on PinStake

"Some researchers now recommend that parents and educators make available more nature experiences-especially green places to children with ADHD, and thereby support their attentional functioning and minimize their symptoms." (Louv 2011)

I like this way of treating disorders such as ADHD. I think in the modern age we are quick to recommend medicine to kids because how readily available we can get them. These medicines can cause all sorts of problems to the children that take them. If we take kids away from all the technology and distractions that modern technology has given us and put them back into nature I think it will have a calming effect in most cases. Just taking a walk in the park, going for a hike, or going fishing seem to have a calming effect on people that do it. I know when I get stuck on homework or get frustrated with something just taking a walk by myself calms me down. I agree that we should explore this for kids with ADHD instead of medicating them right away.

Lynn Canyon Vancouver, BC, Canada by Zachary Frederick

"Another parent reported that his son could hit golf balls or fish for hours, and that during these times the boy was 'very relaxed' and his attention-deficit symptoms minimal." (Louv 2011)

I think a lot of this is because when you are out fishing or hitting golf balls you only have one thing to focus on. While Im writing this blog post I have Facebook open, Netflix going, my phone sitting right next to me, and Im reading my book. Young kids these days also have all these distractions. They are worried about what is happening on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram 24 hours a day. This may not be the total cause of ADHD but it doesn’t help. When you are fishing or golfing you don’t care what is happening on Facebook or watching the next episode of The Office. It simplifies life for you and it allows you calm your body. 

Child Fishing posted on http://blog.kidobi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/child-fishing.jpg

"For years, Ybarra had dreamed of puling at-risk kids out of their urban environment and exposing them to nature. with the blessing of the judge, he acted." (Louv 2011)

 I think this way of rehabilitation will only work for a certain type of person. They have to be willing to change or realize what they have been doing to get in this position is wrong. I know a lot of people that haven’t traveled outside the town they live in or the city they live in and that is wrong. I think everyone needs to travel and experience what true nature is. This past summer I went to Lake Joffre in British Columbia and when we hiked to the top of the mountain I saw a glacier for the first time. You always hear about them on TV or in books but when you see them in person it is a different story. I think if kids who are troubled go into nature or travel to a remote village they see what they are doing to get themselves in trouble really doesn’t make sense and they  can begin to change their way.

Lake Joffre Glacier Pemberton, BC, Canada by Zachary Frederick

Louv, R. (2011). Nature-Deficit Disorder and the Restorative Environment. In University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future (pp. 1-14). Acton, MA: Copley Custom Textbooks.

Orr Biophilia

"Moreover, it is possible to adopt the language and guise of biophilia and do a great deal of harm to the earth, knowingly or unknowingly."(Orr, p 193)

I would assume that this is where most of the people of earth fall. You have the people that do everything they can to save the environment, you have the people who don’t care about the environment and they knowingly do stuff that will hurt the environment, but most of the people want to help the environment and they don’t know how to help it or they don’t know what they are doing hurts the environment. Everyone knows the basics, like recycling and biking instead of driving places but unless they take a class in environmental protection they most likely don’t know what else to do. Either our society needs to teach more classes on how to protect our environment or we will continue to, either knowingly or unknowingly, hurt the environment.

Photo Taken by Zachary Frederick at Lake Joffre in Pemberton, BC, Canada

"We also have reason to believe that people can lose the sense of biophilia." (Orr, p 196)

I agree with the fact that people can lose a sense of biophilia. I think this happens when a tribe or a culture that hasn’t experienced modern technologies finally experiences them. They see how hard their lives were before they got these technologies and how easy it got after. I think this happens a lot in many cultures. People stop worrying about others when their lives get easier. They will in turn stop worrying about the environment. This paints a picture of a selfish society but I think that’s what we have turned into. It will take reeducation and a separation from technology to truly force people to care about the environment. I also think that since people can lose a sense of biophilia, they can also gain back that sense of biophilia. If societies begin to move make into nature instead of cities, people will begin to appreciate the environment. This will help improve our environment.

  

Photo taken by Zachary Frederick at Lynn Canyon in Vancouver, BC, Canada

"It means rebuilding family farms, rural villages, towns, communities, and urban neighborhoods. It means restoring local culture and our ties to local places, where biophilia first takes root." 

(Orr, p 206)

I think that this would be the best start to changing the environment and changing people’s mindset about the environment. If a town or culture truly has to live off the land they will be more willing to pay attention to what they are doing to the environment. Family farms will promote ways to use the environment to our advantage without ruining it. If a farm ruins the environment they are working in, then their farm will no longer produce the crops they need.  Urban neighborhoods will allow us to keep the modern technologies that we all love while still living around and in the environment without running it. This will teach future generations how to appreciate the environment while still using it to our advantage. If we continue to move into cities and distance us from the environment, we will continue to destroy the environment.

Photo Taken by Zachary Frederick at Lake Joffre in Pemberton, BC, Canada

Orr, D. W. (2011). Love It or Lose It: The Coming Biophilia Revolution. In University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future (pp. 186-211). Acton, MA: Copley Custom Textbooks.

What is Sustainability?

"The third 'E' represents equity, that is, social equity or equality. Equity includes freedom from unhealthy living conditions and equal access to food, water, employment, education, and healthcare. Equity means providing opportunities for all people, not just a privileged few, to grow and flourish in their own way." (Robertson 2014)

I think the third E might be the most important E of the three. Most everyone agrees that restoring the ecosystem and improving the economy are good steps to achieving sustainability, but when it comes to equality we have not taken appropriate steps to begin to achieve it. The gap between the poor and the wealthy in the United States seems to grow every year with no solution in sight. This is even worse in other parts of the world. If everyone can work towards equality it will help us achieve the ultimate goal which is sustainability.

The Three E's of Sustainability posted by Luis Camargo

"the ESA is also intended to help threatened or endangered species recover. once a species has done through a listing process and has been listed as threatened or endangered, FWS and NMFS are required to create a detailed recovery plan... Existence of this law has not prevented species from going extinct at an accelerating rate..." (Robertson 2014)

I think it is interesting that these laws has not at least slowed down the extinction of animals. I know just recently that honey bees has been added to this list. I know that the US cannot regulate outside of there borders so these laws are not in affect everywhere you go. The whole world needs to come together and figure out a plan to slow down the extinction of animals. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this once cloning is figured out. Through cloning you would think that they would be able to reverse at least some of the affects of extinction and would maybe be able to bring some species back. Scientist are already try to extract DNA from fossils to see if they can bring back animals that have been extinct for thousands of years. This could get dangerous though and should be regulated on what type of animals are allowed to be brought back. We should learn our lesson from the Jurassic Park movies.

Jaguar, Endangered species, Costa Rica by Jose Lino

"Many of the agreements made at the Rio Earth Summit have not been realized...Their report found progress was uneven and identified trends including widening economic inequalities and continued deterioration of the global environment." (Robertson 2014)

I think this sections perfectly sums up why we are not moving faster as a planet to obtain sustainability. It seems that every nation person/country is out for themselves and do not really care how that affects anyone else. All these countries come together and agree on certain rules to follow to help better the environment and instead of following these rules, these countries do whats best for them. This has widened the economic gap between the rich and poor and it has further hurt our environment. That is going against all three E's that we learned about. Within the past month you have seen reports from China about the smog levels in their cities. It is almost to the point where you cant see anything when you are driving. Its going to take something irreversible to happen to the environment in order for these countries to start taking steps towards sustainability and by that point it will be to late.

A view of air pollution over the CCTV building in Beijing, China by Sean Gallagher

Sources

Camargo, L. (2013, June 13). The Three E's of Sustainability. Retrieved January 17,2017, from  http://www.sustainabilitycoalition.org/the-three-es-of-sustainability/

Gallagher, S. (2012, January 20). Behind the smog that ate Beijing – Sean Gallagher – photographer, Beijing, china. Retrieved January 17, 2017, from Sean Gallagher Visuals, http://gallagher-photo.com/2012/01/20/behind-the-smog-that-ate-beijing/

2013, j. (2013). Jaguar, endangered species, Costa Rica. Retrieved January 17, 2017, from http://joselino.photoshelter.com/image/I00002gnJhKMozpg

Robertson, M. (2014). Sustainability principles and practice. Abingdon,Oxon: Routledge.