Amount of Waste Per Year

"The average person generates 4.3 pounds of waste per day. This is 1.6 pounds more than most produced back in 1960." (Duke Center for Sustainability and Commerce)

 

 

But how much do I really produce in way per year?  

After keeping up with how much waste I get rid of per day, I calculated that I use on average about 6 pages of paper per day, I drink out of one plastic bottle with a paper label. On average, I am atleast getting rid of one glass bottle per day, and my random plastic pieces average to about 12 plastic candy wrappers. 

Plastic Glass Paper 2,190 Sheets of Paper 365 Glass containers 365 Plastic Bottles 365 Bottle Labels 4,380 Small Pieces

"Approximately 55% of 220 million tons of waste generated each year in the United States ends up in one of the over 3,500 landfills. Municipal solid waste landfills are the second-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 22 percent of those emissions in 2008" (EPA, 2011).

After completing my own research, I realized that I can make a difference when it comes to "saving" our environment. One important thing that I realize that I can do is use cloth bags when I go to the grocery store to save from using the plastic ones.

 

Fact Sheet: PVC Packing Tape: Polyvinyl Chloride

Does Money Have Actual Value?

 MONEY IS PRETTY MUCH WORTHLESS!

The money we use today, does not typically have any value other than the value the person doing the buying or selling adds to it. Throughout history, we have used many things as currency, and the items were judged based on the value the person perceives it has. To me, it made a lot more sense to trade items for their worth, like they did back in the day. For example, maybe two farmers could trade items such as cotton and farm animals. 

My fear is that we are putting too much value on our currency these days and soon enough, the value of the dollar will be worthless. The items we have and the items we can make is our future, not a piece of paper with a number on it. 

Today children are taught that money is important for the standard of living. Sometimes children make their priority "making money" rather than working hard to maintain a good life. 

Today, we need money, but tomorrow there could be a demand for something else: a tangible object or service for trade. 

Earliest Inhabitants of China

 The first settlers in China were looking for a suitable place for growing crops and ultimately living.

 

After researching the reasons why settlers first came to China, I have come to an overall Conclusion. There was a need for water and the Yellow River and another two rivers  provided sufficient H2O. The Climate was very suitable for the farmers to raise their crops. The main goal of the inhabitants was to survive and flourish with their crops. The weather seemed too perfect for this.  For instance, in the winter it is not too cold and the summers were also not too hot. 

There are many sources that claim to be correct on who the first settlers were, but they all tend to agree on the main reason for in habitation, which is the Yellow River. 

     The Yellow River is the Second Longest River in Asia. 

We may know why they came and settled in Asia; however, it is not certain who showed up first. One source claims that the first inhabitants were black Africans, while another source claims that the Chinese evolved from the homo erectus.
 

Rachel Carson: Contribution to the Environmental Movement

                                  Rachel Louise Carson

                                            (May 27, 1907- April 14, 1964)

HOW DID SHE CONTRIBUTE TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT? 

Carson was a conservationist who believed that synthetic pesticides were contributing to the environmental problems. Her book Silent Spring was a huge success in showing and scaring people about the environmental problems in the nation. In this great book she ultimately challenged the normal practices of agricultural scientists and used the book to request a change in the way humans viewed the natural world. 

Her book was credited as actually launching the Environmental Movement!

Her ultimate success was getting a ban nationwide of DDT and some other pesticides, and her movement also led to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

 

 

 She was awarded the Presidential Medal  of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter

Sustaining the Environment: Capitalism or Communism?

 

Capitalism and Communism can both be argued for in regards to sustaining the environment; however, Capitalism is the best route to take.

In his book, "The Principles of Sustainability," Dresner outlines the idea of "the tragedy of the commons" in which he describes herders that share one pasture. Because the herders share the pasture equally, there is no incentive for the herders to maintain the land, because there is a constant want for more produce. Each herder is driven by the competition to produce more so they overgraze the land (Dresner 25).

After thinking about this factor, why is communism still discussed when thinking about environment sustainability? 

 This is because people still believe that Capitalism has major flaws. The focus of Capitalism is on the individual and his or her own progression in life and the wealth of our nation is distributed unevenly. But my question is, would it be fair if the wealth was in fact distribute evenly? I believe that if we did act under a Communism system, people would have no incentive to work harder, and they would only work at the level they are required to. If you are given everything that you need, then where is the incentive to work for it? 

This is where the topic of sustaining the environment comes in!

For environmental sustainability to work, people have to want it. Yes, that means everyone works together for the cause. If people own their own land, they have the incentive to keep it up to better themselves. While, the herders who shared the land had no incentive to keep their pastures from being overgrazed. 

A part of the world I want to learn about

Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon rainforest is considered one of the world's greatest natural resource. Another term that it is commonly known as if the "Lungs of our Planet." This is because almost 20% of earth's oxygen is produced by the rainforest.  rainforest.