Topic 3: Environmental Choices

Topic 3: Environmental Choices

Ecological FootprintMany people use more than their share of the Earths Natural Resources.SUSTAINABILITY natural resources are being replaced or renewed at least as quickly as they are being used.Many of our resources are shrinking forests, fish populations

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT-calculation of the total area of land and water needed to supply all of the materials and energy that we use as well as absorb all of the waste that we produce.Includes food, water, housing supplies, products, and energy we use.Which countries do you think have a large ecological footprint? Small?

Surface of our planet = 51 billion hectares-ocean -desert -mountain tops-land covered by pavement or concrete...=8.9 billion ha of useable land for 6 billion people.Our ecological footprint will get bigger depending on the kind and amount of energy, products, disturbances and pollution we are associated with.

http://www.mec.ca/Main/home.jsp?bmUID=1271052143652 Right now, most Western countries use more resources, more energy, and create more waste and then is sustainable.

HOPE: we can still reduce our ecological footprint and impact on our prescious environment by:Be aware of natural resources we consumeReduce the amount of energy we useReduce the amount of products we buyReduce the amount of waste we produce

Ways we could reduce our ecological cost of food:Use food grown locallyUse food grown organicallyReduce the amount of meat in our diets (vegetarian meals have a smaller ecological footprint because it is not consuming all the resources used in processing the meat)Reduce the amount of processed foods in our diets (lots of resources to get to us, energy, packaging)

3 Rs: REDUCELimit the amount of garbage you produceAvoid buying overly packaged, disposable or unnecessary products Use cloth re-usable bags

3Rs: REUSERather than throwing products away, find another use for them.Buy products that you can use again and again rather than disposable onesPlastic containers rather than saran wrap or foil, wash ziploc bags, buy or sell/donate used clothing 3Rs: RECYCLEIf you can not avoid buying a product that there is no other use for, look for ways to recycle them.Compost kitchen scrapsBlue bag or boxes, recycle centersIf you can, buy products made of recycled productsPET CyclePolyethylene terephthalate (PET) makes up plastic beverage containers10 million pounds/year are sent from Alberta to Georgia and is mostly used to make residential carpet and fleece!

Humans do not usually intend to cause harm to their environmentWhy do we have sustainability problems?