5 Way to Live a More Sustainable Life!

Improving small habits throughout your daily routine can lead to a more sustainable life.  The human race can be extremely wasteful.  People who live in developed nations take many things for granted without knowing any better.  Below, are five small ways that can make your lifestyle more sustainable.   

1. Recycle

Recycling is great way to live a more sustainable life.  Throwing away valuable materials makes an enormous impact on the environment and the ecosystems that thrive within that environment.  Recycling can recover these valuable materials that are sourced from the irreplaceable natural capital of the planet.  

Me recycling my Starbucks coffee cup!

2. Drink tap water instead of bottle water 

Drinking tap water can help to reduce the amount of plastic.  If you don’t like the way your local tap water tastes, then buy a Brita filter.  Bottled water means garbage.   An enormous amount of plastic is used each year.  According to Food and Water Watch, that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce (mnn.com). 

Cincinnati tap water

3. Use a reusable lunch box instead of using plastic lunch bags

When packing lunches make sure to use reusable things such as a tupperware and cloth napkins.  I use a plastic tupperware bin for my sandwiches to help reduce the amount of plastic bags.  This relates to the plastic bottles because using reusable things helps to reduce the amount of oil used per year to produce plastic. 

Use a reusable sandwich container 

4. Reduce the amount of laundry you do

Jeans and towels do not necessarily have to be washed every time you do a load of laundry.  Some people think this may not be sanitary, but I personally disagree and think it's a very sustainable idea.  Many gallons are needed to do laundry and with freshwater becoming scarce, this would be an excellent example of how to live a more sustainable life.

Reduce the number of loads of laundry you do

5. Unplug household appliances 

Unplugging household appliances can not only help to reduce the amount of electricity used (which leads to burning of fossil fuels), but it can save you money too! According to the Huffington Post, phantom energy (appliances that remain plugged in) can account for about 10 percent of an individual's home's electricity use.  This number may not sound like much, but if on average your electricity bill costs $150 a month, then you can end up saving around $180 per year.  Unplugging appliances such as a toaster, stereo, cell phone charger, and coffemakers can help you live a more sustainable life.

Unplugging household appliances saves you money and reduces the amount of electricity used

Work Cited

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/21/save-energy-by-unplugging_n_136625.html

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/5-reasons-not-to-drink-bottled-water

Collaborative Environmental Management

The Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District (HCRSWD) is a County organization responsible for ensuring that the County achieves State required goals for recycling and waste reduction. The District accomplishes these goals through the implementation of waste reduction programs directed to residents, communities, businesses, and schools.The video below was pulled from the organizations Youtube homepage – it’s a bit cheesy, but worthy video on how to properly recycle. 

Under the business tab on the HCRSWD website there’s a page titled - “Environmental Compliance Collaborative.”  The Environmental Compliance Collaborative is a group of local manufacturing representatives who meet regularly to  network, gain information, discuss ideas, and explore solutions to environmental regulatory compliance.  Federal, state, and local environmental regulations pertaining to air, water, and hazardous wastes are discussed by regulatory agency representatives.  The meetings are held at Tech Solve (see below for more information). The goal of the meetings is to better inform manufacturers so mistakes are avoided.



Screenshot showing TechSolve’s motives, meeting information, and contact information.

HCRSWD has a Twitter (@HamCoRecycling) and a Facebook account in which they post imporant videos and articles regarding environmental management.  Social media helps to spread the word.  +

MY CARBON FOOTPRINT

I was very surprised by my result.  I’m usually fairly good when it comes to not eating processed food, driving an excessive amount, and running up the electricity bill. In my opinion the most mind boggling stat was that if everyone were to live like me, we’d need 4.5 planets to provide enough resources - 4.5!  

I agree with the results.  It seems a bit unfathomable that if everyone lived like me, we would need four and a half planets to provide enough resources, but when you think about it roughly half of the worlds population doesn’t have electricity and don’t live a normal American lifestyle.  When things are put into perspective it can really change ones mindset. 

According to the pie chart my highest category is services at 44%.  Second is food at 22%, third is goods at 13%, and lastly are shelter and mobility at 11%.  I found it interesting that the food was the second leading contributor to my carbon footprint.   In the future I will be sure to take into account the services that contribute to the carbon footprint. 

I also found it interesting that to support my lifestyle, it takes 20.2 global acres of the Earth’s productive area.  This equates to 21.7 tons of carbon dioxide.  The leader for acreage is the land needed for energy.  A global acre is the unit we use to measure the productivity of an average acre of land.  More specifically, it represents an aggregate, world-average productivity for all biologically productive land and water in a given year (Global Footprint Calculator Network).

Pie chart numerical values (top right): Services 44%, Food 22%, Shelter 11%, Mobility 11%, Goods 13%

GREENING THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM

The two potential solutions (both being complicated) to “greening the economic system” are to change the makeup of the system or find creative ways to adjust existing incentives and constraints towards encouraging environmental protection.  From my carbon footprint, I found that the two largest sectors were services (44%) and food (22%).  Food and services go hand in hand because growing, farming, processing, transporting, storing, cooking, and disposing of the food that you eat produce greenhouse gas emissions everyday.  66% of my carbon footprint are related to services and food, so what are some creative ways to green the economic system?

Kroger (grocery stores) could receive incentives from the city if they only use paper/mesh bag when bagging groceries.  Grocery stores getting incentives to use paper/mesh vs. plastic would be better because the process of making plastic bags comes from a non-renewable resource.   Local farmer markets receive a monthly income from state governments to promote organic foods.  Organic farming methods for both animals and crops have a lower impact on the environment than normal methods.  Not only is organic food better for the environment, but healthy too!  Lastly, recycling and reusing items around the household is beneficial.  Glass jars and plastic containers make great storage options.  All three of these ideas would help to reduce the overall carbon footprint.          

Environmental security is an essential concept within nations.  It may not get the most national attention, but it is tremendously important.  Natural resources can cause all sorts of conflicts.  Two main topics that I’d like to discuss in regards to ways the federal government/state governments are addressing environmental security threats are fossil fuels (natural gas) and climate change.

The United States has seen a significant rise in natural gas production over the past decade.  This rise is so great that natural gas could very well cause a shift from coal to natural gas for electricity generation.  According to a new Duke University study, “The cost of complying with tougher EPA air-quality standards could spur an increased shift away from coal and toward natural gas for electricity generation.  The study goes on to describe that the stricter regulations on sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and mercury may make nearly two thirds of the nation’s coal-fired power plants as expensive to run as powered by natural gas.

Natural gas is a much cleaner burning fossil fuel than coal.  Natural gas typically only produces one emission – nitrogen oxide.  I feel that the federal government is using this to address environmental security threats.  Their initiatives are that natural gas is abundant and that it is a cleaner burning fuel than coal.  I believe that the future for natural gas is strong.  The one thing that can be tricky is the boom/bust cycles.  These cycles are risks that should be taken for a cleaner energy source.  This brings me to the next topic: climate change.

Is climate change really an environmental security threat?  Yes, and it has received a considerable amount of attention through documents in many countries such as the United States, Germany and China.  I’m not trying to sound redundant, but burning coal for the next 40 years is not an ideal strategy.  Natural gas is cleaner for the environment and climate.  Years ago governments didn’t perceive climate change as a security threat; they depicted it as an environmental problem.  Al Gore has done a lot to describe climate change to the public through his novel, An Inconvenient Truth.  Climate change is something that will be present for decades to come.  

Work cited

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/03/climate-change-now-seen-as-security-threat-worldwide/

 

  http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/04/new-emissions-standards-would-fuel-shift-coal-natural-gas

 

 http://www.iar-gwu.org/sites/default/files/articlepdfs/Niloy%20Biswas%20-%20Is%20the%20Environment%20a%20Security%20Threat.pdf