Assignment #3 - Thinking About Sustainability and Our Own Lives
Answer each of the following questions to the best of your ability.
On Sustainability
1. Which one or more of the four scientific principles of sustainability are involved in each of the following actions?
a. recycling a soda can
b. using a rake instead of a leaf blower
c. choosing to have no more than one child
d. walking to class instead of driving
e. taking your own reusable bags to the grocery store to carry things home in
f. volunteering in a prairie restoration project
g. lobbying elected officials to require that 20% of your country’s electricity be produced by renewable wind power by 2020
2. Read the following statements, choose the 5 that you find the most interesting, controversial, etc. and explain to what degree you agree with them and why you feel as such.
a. Humans are superior to other forms of life.
b. Humans are in charge of the earth.
c. All economic growth is good.
d. The value of other forms of life depends only on whether they are useful to us.
e. Because all forms of life eventually become extinct, we should not worry about whether our activities cause their premature extinction.
f. All forms of life have an inherent right to exist.
g. Nature has an almost unlimited storehouse of resources for human use.
h. Technology can solve our environmental problems.
i. I do not believe I have any obligation to future generations.
j. I do not believe I have any obligation to other forms of life.
Thinking About Our Own Lives
3. Gather and record as much of the following information as you can. This information will be used tomorrow to help you determine and calculate your impacts upon the Earth.
a. Ask your parents/guardians how much your home’s electric bill usually is. Also ask if the electricity you purchase comes from renewable resources.
b. Using the internet (ex. Google maps), determine the distance of your commute to school and any job, internship, etc. that you frequently attend.
c. Think back on any trips you have taken in the past year. Record where you went, how you got there (ex. car, bus, airplane), and research about how far away the place was.
d. Record as many different foods that you have eaten in the last week as you can.
e. Ask your parents/guardians how your apartment/house is heated (ex. oil, electricity, natural gas), how your water is heated, and how your stove works (provided there is one present).
f. Investigate the cleaning products in your home to see if there are any that are non-toxic or biodegradable.
g. Determine what you types of things your household recycles and how often. In addition, determine how often your household empties its garbage(s).
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