We've been critiquing companies as to what they are doing to contribute positively to the environment in which they operate. As we close this exercise, I'd like to ask you what can you do to make a positive impact on the environment?
National Geographic aired an interesting documentary titled "The Human Footprint" where they show exactly how much waste every American will generate in the course of his or her lifetime. This includes things the foods we eat, the personal hygiene products we use, the clothes we were and the resources that go into making those products. I'd like you to check out the link to National Geographic located here:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/preserveourplanet/index.html
Please take a look at the "Carbon Calculator" - and see what you can do to reduce your carbon emissions. Please post your thoughts to the recommendations here.
About Me
- Prof. Lisa Cherivtch
- I am a Professor of Business at Oakton Community College where I teach Introduction to Business, Global Business, and a variety of Marketing classes. I have over 20 years of experience in Product Development, Product Management, Sales, and Training. In addition, I am Liaison/Director for the International Trade Association of Greater Chicago. My passions are language learning, international travel, running, and dance. My teaching philosophy is to give students real-world experience in the safe environment of the classroom. While I do have a variety of things that I enjoy doing, teaching is definitely my greatest passion!
6 comments:
The changes they want made seem fairly straightforward. I know my house has Energy Star windows, for example, and we recycle. My car is reasonably fuel-efficient (23 mpg city/30 mpg highway). During the day when most of the household is at work or class, and at night when we're asleep, our AC and/or heat is virtually off.
Technically, I think we're doing most of these things to lower costs, but lessening our carbon footprint is a nice side-effect.
(19,888 is the pounds per year the site gave me for my approximated numbers.)
In order to lower our carbon emmisions and help the enviroment are very reasonable, they would just take some getting used to. We could definetly drive less, my brother could walk to and from from school on nice days instead of getting driven. We couold also change over to those special bulbs and start recycling since we do not do it at all right now. On warm days when heat or A/C are not nesessary we could just open the windows to cool down the house and drive with our windows down so we don't need to keep filling up on gas.
Its many ways to reduce carbon emissions and help the environment. Ones of them we can do everyday .For example; Take showers instead of baths - You waste many more gallons of water in running a bath than by running showers, Don't run the dishwasher unless you have a full load, unplug devices from electrical outlets - Some devices can still draw power even if they are turned off and switch from light bulbs to CFC bulbs.We can also in near future buy a car which will be able to do many miles from 1 Gal. For example some hybrids car as Toyata Prius,Ford Escape and Lexus RX.Those cars are still more expensive than normal car but profit which we can get by savings money on gasoline and saving environment can gets back as benefits.Also we can save energy at our home by install a programmable thermostat, install more attic insulation and seal up your home before winter. By those ways we can reduce carbons emissions and save OUR Environment
I believe that there is a lot what everyone of us can do for the environment. It all starts with being aware. It is important to understand that even little things that everyone can do matter. We can go to shop for groceries and instead of putting all stuff we buy into many many plastic bags, you can just put it bag into the shopping cart and take it to your car. Also we can reduce using the electricity by turning the lights off when we leave a room. We can also save water by not wasting it in 60minut shower-and cut it for lets say 20minut shower? We can use cars less and walk, drive bikes or run more. It is not necessary to use heating in the night when we sleep ...ect ect, there is a lot what one can do , I believe. The important thing is to stay aware of that.
Most of the things they ask you to change are things they've been asking for years. They want you to recycle newspapers, glass, and aluminum. Asking you to cut down on using A/C and heat when its not necessary. I think buying a more fuel efficient car is more about saving money with the rising gas prices but it can't hurt that your using less gas. These things aren't exactly new ideas they have just become more important due to the fact that gas prices have risen and that global warming has become a scary reality
Many of us are guilty of pointing fingers at the larger establishments and we do not realise that when we point one finger forward there are four pointing back at us. How ironic this may sound but we need to take a step backwards and look at how we live our everyday lives. I personally try to conserve as much as possible in the home by turning off light switches when I see them left on by others. I wash my clothes probably once per month, recycle bottles, papers, plastic and cans by placing them in their appropriate containers for disposal. When my computer is not in use I unplug it from the wall socket. When I go for shower, I do not have the water running until I am done soaping my body. Well, I do not own a motor car so I do not contribute to emitting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. I often times sleep without the heat turned on (turn it on and allow the house to warm up then turn it back off) continuously throughout the day. Also I try to eat mostly organic food items or natural foods.
With producing over 33,000 pounds of carbon releasing into the air there is still room for improvement such as thinking about unplugging electrical items totally from electrical outlets when not in use. We need to make an impressive change starting with “me” and stop putting the blame on others, which will not help the situation unless we do something for ourselves.
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