As humans, our reliance on our natural resources has always been essential in order to satisfy our wants and needs. These natural resources can range from something as easily accessible as water to oil and coal. As time progressed, our reliance on these resources has steadily increased; this excessive amount of reliance has lead to a variety of negative impacts on our environment. What is quite surprising is that, even with the advanced technology in today’s society, we as humans have inflicted much damage on the environment by slowly increasing our ecological footprint. In other words, a human’s increasing impact on the environment is evident with an individual’s ecological footprint. Although negative environmental impacts such as pollution, and depletion of natural resources has immensely increased over the past few decades, there is a variety of different ways communities or societies can prevent further damages from occurring.
Besides the introduction of new advanced technology that can reduce the depletion of natural resources, the most efficient and easiest way to prevent further damage through sustainability. Sustainability simply refers to the maintenance of something at a certain level. In other words, sustainability requires a community to be conscious of the resources they use, how much they use of it, and what they are doing to minimize the impact of this usage. I personally believe one of the most important aspects of sustainability understanding the differences between perpetual resources, renewable resources, and non renewable sources. Perpetual resources refer to natural resources that have a never ending supply. This includes energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, etc. Next, renewable resources refer to resources that can be replenished over a reasonable amount of time from consumptions and depletion. Examples of these resources are water, biomass, soil, oxygen etc. Lastly, non-renewable resources cannot be replenished within a reasonable, amount of time (human time frame). These resources can include coal, oil, and petroleum jelly. Being aware of the differences in resources will better clarify what it is one needs to do to reduce their ecological footprint. Another very essential aspect of sustainability is the three principles associated with it. The principles allow us to understand the three most important aspects of sustainability that directly affects and minimizes our impact on the environment. A very prevalent characteristic of many societies and communities in the 21stcentury is the advancement in technology. With these new advancements our reliance on electricity has increased immensely. Therefore, it is essential to understand the different ways of attaining electricity and energy in an environmentally conscious way. Furthermore, with perpetual resources such as solar energy or wind energy, one can reduce their usage of electricity that is generated from nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels. The second principle of sustainability includes the encouragement of biological diversity. This simply refers to the immense number of diverse organisms and habits. Although this may seem difficult to directly influence, but through simple acts such as reducing the usage of pesticides and fertilizers, or restoring habitats in the community can greatly influence the preservation of biological diversity. Lastly, nutrient cycling is the natural process of nutrients being consumed by organisms and eventually returning back to the environment. Ways in which humans disrupt this process is by burning fossil fuels or encouraging deforestation. These acts lead to the excessive release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and this later leads to further environmental issues such as global warming. Ways in which we can minimize the impact of this process is by referring back to the other principles such as the usage of solar energy in order to prevent further wastes related to fossil fuels.
One would imagine that the most developed countries would have the best impact on the environment, but it is quite the opposite. Developed countries tend to have a high demand for many resources and services. Therefore, their usage of natural resources is more evident and prominent when referring back to ecological footprint per capita. Although the United States has become the leading nation with the most detrimental impacts on the environment, there are many small communities in the United States that has initiated a more sustainable living environment. For example, in the text, Spoolman and Miller mentioned the conditions in Chattanooga, Tennessee. During the mid 1900’s this Chattanooga was perceived as one of the filthiest cities in the United States. However, around two decades later, many citizens united to initiate some kind of change that would improve the living conditions of the city. Not just improving the living conditions for the people, but preventing the increase of pollution in the air, and in local streams of water. Before this sudden initiation towards sustainability, the city had a variety of issues that was detrimental to the environment. For example, the industries located in the city contributed to the high percentage of toxic pollution in the air. Apparently, the air was extremely polluted that cars were unable to drive with their headlights on. Also, the main source of water that ran through the center of this town was coated in other toxic wastes that were released from these industries as well. What was astonishing about this history of the town is that apparently it took a small portion of the city, a small community, to implement new living conditions for everyone. Due to the weekly small town meetings, the inhabitants of Chattanooga were able to implement new social changes. Some of these new incorporations included introducing public transportation systems that used electrical buses instead of buses that required fuel. Besides mass transportation, they have also incorporated bike rentals in several parts of the city. In addition, they introduced a new recycling system minimized the release of toxic wastes in the air (Spoolman & Miller 25).
To see how ecological footprint is measured, I took a quiz that measured a rough estimate of my ecological footprint. Unfortunately, my results were not as positive as I had thought it would be. According to the quiz, if everyone were to live like me, we as humans would need four planets. This was of course disheartening and eye opening because I always thought of myself as living a somewhat sustainable life. However, I did realize that many of the questions involved where I live, and I live with three other people. Therefore, the people I live with have more control over what forms of energy and modes of transportation my household uses. However, these results did allow me to reflect on the things I can easily alter in order to fulfill a more sustainable lifestyle. I realized that simple tasks such as reducing the amount of electricity and water I use can help the environment an enormous amount. Also, by reducing my usage of plastic or paper, I will minimize my waste and my ecological footprint overall. In addition, by switching to more efficient and environmentally friendly modes of transportation, such as mass public transportation, I continuously influencing my ecological footprint.
In order to implement new sustainable developments, people will have to pay a costly price, what are ways in which we can work around it? (Because we do live in a nation that is driven by factories, business, and industries & money).
Word count: 1215
Caruthers, Teree. “Why Chattanooga, TN Is One of the Best Places to Live.” Livability, 12 Nov. 2018, livability.com/tn/chattanooga/real-estate/why-chattanooga-tn-is-one-of-the-best-places-to-live.
“Chattanooga, TN | 2018 Best Places to Retire.” Livability, 13 Nov. 2018, livability.com/top-10/retirement/best-places-to-retire/2018/tn/chattanooga.
Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. Cengage Learning, 2015.
Liz's Blog 