Individual Report Reflection

Sustainability is when something is able to keep on going without altering the natural ecological balance. The concept of being sustainable for the planet is that we will get to a stage that the amount of energy and water and C02 that we are producing will not accumulate and will be the same now as it is in the foreseeable future. For a community to truly be sustainable it would have to completely rely on renewable energy sources and not use any coal gas e.t.c. The inherent problem with this is that the wind dies and the sun sets so the levels of energy would be constantly fluctuating. Currently, we do not have a battery big enough to store this energy but companies like Tesla are working on it with their new super battery in Australia.

 

My absolute number one factor for my own ecological footprint is flying, so much so, that on the footprint calculator when I didn’t put in flying I was using 0.6 earths but when flying was calculated in it went up to 2.2! I think that my second biggest is probably what I eat, although I very rarely eat beef I eat a lot of chicken and fish which are both also taking up some land area and producing C02 emissions

 

 

Flying has a big environmental impact mostly because of the amount of non-renewable fuel it uses, although nowadays, depending on what car you have, it is not that much worse than driving (especially if your car is not at full seating capacity). As for my food land usage, a few years ago when I first started thinking about my sustainability and carbon footprint, the first thing I did was swap out the beef for chicken and fish. I never had much beef but all types of farming (especially cattle) are very resource intensive. There is always energy lost when you have to use the land to farm crops for the cows to eat for you to then eat the cow, in that process, there will always be a lot of food wastage. Due to this beef requires 28 times more land to produce than pork or chicken (Carrington). I am still consuming butter, cheese and milk but because cows are able to produce far more of this than milk there is a lot less environmental effect.

 

Most of the time I fly I am going back to Australia for holidays to see family so I don’t really think I will stop flying but there are ways to make it more sustainable. I will try to take non stop flights because there is a lot of fuel usage in landing and take off. For flights under 300 miles, I will consider if I can take a car, bus or train depending on the situation, I will think about the amount of weight that I am taking in luggage onto the plane because any extra weight that is used will be decreasing the fuel efficiency, I know that there are also carbon offset programs but I am not sure I would ever actually spend that much but it will be something that I am considering. As I mentioned I have stopped eating beef but I am still drinking milk and eating cheese and butter, I will consider reducing these but I am not sure how much I will be able to. When I next need a toothbrush, soap or other toiletries I will buy from here this will reduce packaging and minimise waste. If I was to only make one change it would definitely be the flying and all the points I mentioned above

 

 

Heslop, D. Alan. “Political System.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 17 Mar. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/political-system/Stable-political-systems.

 

Weise, Elizabeth. “Flying Is Bad for the Environment, Here Are Some Tips to Make It Less Carbon-Intensive.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 27 Dec. 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/12/26/flying-bad-environment-heres-what-do/2350488002/.

 

Carrington, Damian. “Giving up Beef Will Reduce Carbon Footprint More than Cars, Says Expert.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 21 July 2014,

One thought on “Individual Report Reflection

  1. Sustainability – You have a good idea of what sustainability is and what it means for the future. You have identified some ways to be more sustainable but perhaps you could connect this to the idea of ecological footprint.

    My Ecological Footprint – You have identified to two main areas using your data and I appreciate having compared with and without flying. You have used this data well and observations seem appropriate. You have made connections to the impact on the Earth but you could go deeper into the science behind it.

    Making changes – You have analysed your personal situation appropriately and understand the limitations you have. Your solutions should have an impact, it would be good to know which lasting change you would make and why.

    Communication – You have supported your findings with additional research and you have a logical flow to you report. You have used data to support your understanding and included mostly relevant information (the packaging was a bit of a departure from what you were talking about.)

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