Overall Ecological Footprint

Overall, I have reduced my footprint quite a bit in only a few months. I went from a 5.52 to a 5.20. Although this does not seem like a really big step it is to me. I am still changing a lot of things so hopefully this number will continue to decrease and my overall impact will lessen. There are still a lot of things I am trying to change and I will continue working towards these goals once the quarter is over. I know one of my biggest issues is driving because I drive my car all the time. It is very convienent for me and saves me a lot of time when I don't have too much to spare. I really enjoyed doing this project and setting goals for myself because it made me realize how big of an effect we are truly having on this earth and if we don't decide to change things soon who knows what will end up happening. The way we are living right now, I don't know how this earth has sustained us up to know. We are depleting resources we will never get back and destroying others we will never be able to fix in our lifetime and even further. I am trying to implement some of these goals at my parents house to gain their help in building this awareness.

I think one of the biggest issues with this is that most people just are not aware of the impact they are having. If there was a way we could open peoples eyes to this I think a lot more would be willing to help and change their ways of life. Right now, a lot of people do things out of habit or convience. If we could change these couple things, step by step we can help lower our overall carbon footprint on this earth. I know this is not easy for a lot of people, but easy or not we need to start changing things so we have a place to live in our future. I'm not saying we have to completely change our lifestyles right now, we all just need to take continuous steps in the right direction, continually changing our lives for the better. With each step we can form habits and end up saving this earth for the furture.

http://www.myfootprint.org/en/quiz_results/

Final Ecological Footprint

I have been doing a lot better towards the end of this quarter remembering to do some of my goals. However, the one that I am still struggling on is driving my car. Now that I have two jobs, a lot of times I leave straight from school to work so I need to have my car. I know I could take the bus but I have ten minutes to get from class to work and a lot of time I am cutting it very short. If I were to take the bus instead I would not make it on time. On the other hand, I am doing really well bringing reusable bags to the grocery store. I have not forgot them at all for the past month. It is becoming more of a habit for me so it is a lot easier to remember this one. With the whole organic fruit thing, I am still having a somewhat hard time just because they don't last as long. Other than this, I have changed every lightbulb in my house to CFLs and am buying only energy efficient appliances from here on out. Overall, I think I have changed a lot over this quarter and am going to continue to change my ways and try to become as sustainable as possible.

Ecological Footprint Update

I am doing a good job at some of my goals but lately I have been slacking off on one in particular. I'm remembering to bring reusable bags to the grocery store every time I go, I am trying to turn this into a habit so I just do it automatically without really thinking about it. I also told my mom to start doing the same, and she thought it was a pretty good idea since she has the bags, she just doesn't really use them. When I am at the grocery store I have been getting better at purchasing organic foods. The only thing I have a hard time buying still are fruits and vegetables. I have found that organic fruits and vegetables don't seem to last as long as the others. Since I don't eat a lot of vegetables, when I do get them it normally takes me about a week to finally finish them and by then the organic ones have normally gone bad. The one I am struggling with right now is driving. Now that the weather has really started to get bad, it is tough for me to want to walk or catch the bus to school when my car is nice and warm in my garage. I am trying to work on this, but it is somewhat of a struggle for me at least when the weather is bad.

"Sustainable Surfing"

The surfing industry is a $7.2 billion business and its latest efforts are to go green. Their biggest issue has always been the "toxic business of making surfboards and the tons of waste generated from broken boards, old wetsuits and other cast-offs from the nature-boy lifestyle." Looking at all the parts of surfing that are not sustainable in this environment is pretty outstanding seeing as there is not a whole lot to the sport itself. One of the biggest things they need is the waves which is constently brought to them by the environment. Green Foam Blanks, a company started by surf industry veterans Joey Stantley and Steve Cox in San Clemente, California, have decided to make new surfboards out of recycled polyurethane. This is combine with a carcinogenic chemical compound and Green Foam. By doing this they are essentially reducing the amount of new polyurethane that has to be made. It continues to say old surfboards can be recycled too.

They have also come up with other ideas to reduce their sports waste. They have begun, "experiementing with using polyurethane waste and broken boards as filler for asphalt paving as well as making surfboard accessories out of neoprene wetsuit waste." These ideas are working really well so far, they are figuring out how to make products out of waste that many surfers need. Some of the products they have made so far include sandals, surfboard leashes and traction pads, all of which have been made from recycled neoprene. In order to help sell their products they have decided to put together a "guerrilla marketing campaign to get recycled surfboards in the hands of celebrities, respected surfboard builders and pro surfers." The more widely known they are for their efforts to become more sustainable and the more people see their product really works, it will hopefully create a buzz and trend to push people towards a more sustainable surf industry. One celebrity stated, "I understand that humans have to learn to do more with less, therefore the products I use, like a surfboard for instance, I prefer to be made with our environment in mind." If it all works the same, why not choose the more sustainable product.

Lastly, they are doing a pretty good job so far, but they are also working with a niche market that hasn't changed hundreds of years. He has begun working with surf industry retailers to create a "Green Room" within their stores that will "sell sustainable products like board shorts made of recycled plastic and environmentally sensitive neoprene wetsuits." Stantley will also continue to market this Green Foam surfboards under a new brand he calls the "G" brand.

I think they have done a very good job establishing a company and a product line that emphasizes sustainability. They are using materials that have all been put straight into the landfills and instead, they are creating useful products for surfers today. Essentially, they are trying to create a closed-loop system for their industry. This way, instead of the waste from old boards and wetsuits going straight into the landfills, they will be recycled and made into newer and more environemtally friendly products. Hopefully they can help change other manufacturers and show them the benefits they are gaining from doing this.

http://http//greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/sustainable-surfing-rides-the-waves/?scp=10&sq=Environment&st=cse

"Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976"

While reading this article I found it really interesting how federal regulations govern toxic subatances. A campaign called the Million Baby Crawl was developed by the Seventh Generation which is the manufacturer of green household cleaning products. This campaign was set up through a series of advertisements, YouTube videos and in-person promotions where Seventh Generation wants its supporters to post messages attached to something they call a virtual "crawler" which will be seen on their web-site. These messages are there to help show representatives in Congress the new legislation that would end up amending the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976.

This new legislation "allows the Environmental Protection Agency to test for safety and restrict the more than 80,000 chemicals used in product manufacturing." This sounds like a very good idea however since the first law was enacted only 200 chemicals have been tested and of those 200, only five have actually been removed from the market. Not only will this campaign help Seventh Generation in the household cleaning product market, it is helping them against their huge competition, Clorox and SC Johnson. They use to have a big hand in the market but now that greener products are being seen more and more on the grocery store shelves, Seventh Generation is having a much more difficult time differentiating themselves from its competition. With this "openly championing legislation, it enables Seventh Generation to show core green consumers what the difference between a green company and a company that sells green products." If this campaign pays off in the end, it will be a big step forward for the company and will help move it up in the competition.

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/campaigning-for-a-cause-and-customers/?scp=2&sq=Environmental%20Sustainability&st=cse

"Sustainability Field Booms on Campus"

This article talks about the rise in sustainability classes on college campuses. More and more students are requesting an increase in sustainability courses across campus majors. Since this is a really big topic in all lines of business I believe there should be an increase in the different sustainability courses offered throughout the campus. There doesn't seem to be very many thoughout our campus here at Western and we are seen as a sustainable university. I believe there should be a GUR set up based on the main points of sustainability, touching a little bit of all aspects of business. This way, students will get more of an insight and hopefully choose to continue to take more and more sustainable courses as they are offered. I believe this is a big part of life now but a lot of people don't really understand what it means to be sustainable and how important it is to increase these efforts.

For our group project we decided to see how much students on the Western campus actually know about this universities efforts to go green. For the most part, the students had no clue. We are trying to build awareness and get more students involved in our office of sustainability because I know personally I had no clue we even had this here until I took this class. By building awareness throughout the campus we can hopefully change the views of the students and get their hlep in lowering our overall environmental impact. This is something that should be done at all schools across the country and eventually should be implemented into elementary, middle and high school. The more people we get involved in these efforts the greater the impact we will have and hopefully will be able to lower environmental impact across the U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/education/20GREEN.html?scp=4&sq=Sustainability&st=Search

"Everybody in the Pool of Green Innovation"

This article talks about businesses collaborating and sharing ideas of how to become more environmentally friendly. A lot of this gives thanks to the open-source software movement. With this, many different corporations are using these forums for sharing different environmentally friendly innovations and in turn this helps to build communities around them. The very first forum to create a community was the Eco-Patend Commons, which "was started in January 2008 by IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes and Sony in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development." One thing I noticed about the different companies who are working with each other are that they are not competeing for consumers. Most of the companies are working in different lines of business. The article goes on to state the concept which is "companies pledge environmental patents to the commens, and anyone can use them - free." I believe this is all a really good idea because by sharing the different environmental technologies companies are developing it helps to maximize the social benefit without actually sacrificing their competitive strategy.



The following are a couple different examples the article gave.

• DuPont: "method for better detecting pollution in soil, air or water by using a microorganism that produces light when exposed to a pollutant." The picture to the right shows the sustainability goals DuPont wants to achieve by the year 2015. By doing this, DuPont will continue to improve its overall environmental impact and will also help other companies to improve theirs.

• Xerox: "removing toxic waste from contaminated groundwater, as well as a cleaning technique for semiconductor wafers from IBM that uses ozone gas and eliminates chemical contaminants that result from other processes.

Since the start of this, the commons has grown to 100 patents from 31, with 11 companies who are participating. There is also another commons called the Creative Commons which is "a nonprofit organization that previously developed licensing programs tohelp in sharing creative and scientific content," and it is planning to continue its efforts and take on environmental issues.

In early 2010, Nike and Best Buy plan to share an initiative called the Green Xchange. This is a program which will include both patented technologies and forums for continuing to exchange innovations. One of these innovations include Best Buy's system for rating the sustainability of a supply chain. The companies who choose to contribute in the Green Xchange have the right to either charge users a fixed annual licensing fee and restrict any licensing by rivals or for competitive use. No matter what they choose to do though all participating companies must register so there is a record of who is actually using what technology. One thing Nike came up with was their air-bag technology which they use in their shoes. This technology could be sold to non-competeing companies and could build a fairly large profit outside its normal business.

Overall, I found this article to be very interesting because it showed how different companies can all collaborate with each other to make a much better ending product. One company cannot accomplish everything so with the help of others they can all build on their products and lower their environmental impact. I understand not helping out the competition because you are essentially competing for the same consumer business, but by helping non-competitors you are lowering a much greater amount of environmental impact instead of only your own.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/business/01proto.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=sustainability&st=cse

Ecological Footprint

I have been doing a pretty good job lowering my ecological footprint so far. I have actually started to shop for some groceries at the co-op downtown because it is only a could blocks away from my apartment. By doing this I have purchased more organic foods and instead of driving to the grocery store I just walk a couple blocks down the street. This helps to also lower the amount of driving I am doing. To go along with this, I just got a second job at New York Pizza and Bar and it is also just a block down the street from my apartment. I now can walk to work instead of driving. Although I am still driving to school alot, I have limited it to only a couple days a week. I have been getting a lot better with taking the bus or walking to school instead. The hardest part about this is when the weather gets rainy and windy and driving to school just seems so much easier because I really do not like the rain. Overall, there are still a lot of things I need to continue to work on, but I am doing a much better job than when I started.

New York Pizza and Bar - Bellingham

So I went to dinner last night at New York Pizza and Bar in downtown Bellingham on State St. When we were all sitting at a table in the bar we noticed a little piece of paper that said "The Green Slice." it was a photo contest looking for people to what people thought "Going Green" meant. You can post your pictures on their fan page anytime before November 15th. The winner of this photo contest wong a V.I.P. night for two at New York Pizza which included dinner, dessert and drinks. I thought this whole thing was really interesting because this is a fairly new business and they are trying to do something to show people they want to be a greener business. I wasn't too sure how well this was actually going to work so I decided to check out their "fan" page. I was not too surprised with the results, there were only a couple pictures actually posted. New York Pizza was definately hoping to get more business with this and build their brand awareness throughout the Bellingham community. Since this is a new company, and they are not directly in the middle of downtown, they need to get their company out there more and make people more aware of what they have to offer. This "go green" picture contest was a way they thought they could not only build their awareness but also increase their overall target market. Whenever I go in there it consists of mostly college students in the bar later on in the night. The dinning room itself isn't too busy yet, but again they just opened. Their food is delicious and they have something for everyone so once they get out there and more people are aware of where they are, their business will definately increase.

Udated EF

This week I have improved on my efforts towards my ecological footprint. When I went to the grocery store I actually remembered to bring my reusable bags for the first time which was nice. I also purchased a lot of organic fruit, but I have noticed that sometimes the organic food does not look as good as the other fruit. I have also noticed the organic food seems to go bad a lot quicker than the other. This is one downside because I normally don't eat all m fruit within a couple days, normally it takes all week. I also took the bus instead of driving once this week. I need to work on this because I drive a lot more than I really need to. I went back to Seattle last weekend too for the Huskies game but we took the bus to the game and back home. It seems a lot easier to ride the bus in Seattle because there are so many more buses and stops because the city is a lot bigger.

"Food Experts Worry as World Population and Hunger Grow"

While reading this article, I found it very interesting to see how many people are not able to eat on a daily basis. The article stated, "the number of hungry people in the world rose to 1.02 billion this year, or nearly one in seven." To me, this number was astounding. It seems crazy how many people live day to day wondering if they will get enough food for them and their families while we sit here eating whatever and whenever we please. The article goes on to say, "the resources and techinical knowledge were available to increase food production by 50 percent in 2030 and by 70 percent in 2050 - the amounts needed to feed a population expected to grow to 9.1 billion in 40 years." With a growing population like ours, we all need to make more of an effort to change our ways and help others realize the impact we are having. We need to build awareness among our nation and spread what we are learning, teaching people how to change our impact for the better. Although there are ways of producing food at this measure, it is degrading our land at a substantial rate and we cannot replenish the land quick enough. There has been many failed efforts in the past to change world hunger and these still lurk around, waiting for the next victim. The article further explains, "the so-called green revolution of the 1960s and 70s ended the specter of mass famines then, but the environmental cost of chemical fertilizers and heavy irrigation has spurred a bitter divide over the right ingredients for a second one." Although we are trying to solve the problem of world hunger, we are not going about it in a sustainable manner. We need to find a way to grow produce at a rate quicker than we currently are, but without degrading the land with the fertilizers and other damaging effects.

Something else the article points out is the land used to make more biofuels. The article explains with the more crop land used for biofuels, "as scores of food riots in 2008 showed, oil prices and other income shocks can quickly drive millions more people into hunger, sending ripples of instability around the world." Yes, we are trying to lower our ecological footprint by using biofuels, it is actually having a detrimental effect on the land and the people around it. The idea behing biofuels is really smart and could work really well, we are just going about it all wrong and not considering all of the side effects, both good and bad. We need to come up with a way of creating more sustainable products whose production does not have such a detrimental effect on the earth itself.

Looking at this and thinking about my ecological footprint, it made me realize how detremental we are on the earth. Although everyone has an impact, I believe the United States itself has the largest impact and we are bar far the most wastefull country there is. When you look at how much we each and how little everyone else does, you can't help but think about everyone else. We throw away leftovers constantly without regards, but there are people across the world wondering when their next meal will be. This article has made me realize how impactful I am on the earth and how I really need to make more of a concious effort to change my habits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/world/22food.html?_r=1&hp

My EF so far...

So far I am doing pretty well with my ecological footprint. I rode the bus the other day to school instead of driving, which is by no means easy for me. I love driving my car so this has always been tough for me to do. This week instead of having steak like I usually do, I am having halibut for dinner. It is still meat, but it does not have the same effect on my footprint that steak would have. This week when I went to the grocery store all of the produce I purchased was organic. I have already changed all of the lightbulbs in my apartment to energy efficient ones, so this goal for now is pretty much done. I am going to try and convince my parents to do the same, but I think they already have energy efficient lightbulbs throughout the house. I have decided to add another goal to my previous three. I am going to try and bring reusable bags to the grocery store instead of constantly using their plastic bags. I think the hardest part of this will be remembering to bring the bags to the grocery store. I am trying to come up with some more ways to lower my impact, but haven't come up with too many feasible ideas yet.

GE's Ecomagination

After reading about GE and their continual efforts towards a more sustainable company, I found they were very compelling and trustworthy. Looking at their annual report they listed everything they successfully achieved and they goals for the future. All of this was very specific and detailed giving you a clear picture as to what they wanted to accomplish for their company in the future. There were a couple different parts that I found to be very interesting about thought they had some really good ideas that other companies should learn from and work into their goals.


They began talking about their "New ideas in wind energy take flight" which had to do with creating a newer and more efficient wind turbine. Although this is a huge challenge no one else has thought to tackle, GE is right there with new and improved ideas. They are trying to make bigger, longer, more areodynamic blades, but the challenge is making them light enough not to take away from the efficiency category. They have decided to make them out of carbon composites, "which are comprised of carbon fibers and resins, providing a sstronger and lighter alternative to the current materials." They have implemented this into many of their current products such as the fan case for the GEnx, "Aviation's newest aircraft engine platform for wide body aircraft. In both engines, reductions in weight have led to improved fuel economy and performance over previous generations engines." I found this to be pretty fascinating since GE is a worldwide brand who is constantly making efforts to be better and more sustainable across their entire company.

http://ge.ecomagination.com/

Personal Care Products

After looking up the lotion I use on a fairly regular basis, I was shocked to find out the ingredients in it and how they are affecting me. I use Queen Helene's Cocoa Butter Hand and Body Lotion; it scored 7 out of 10 on the hazard list. While reading the label, some of the ingredients i did not know and I also thought it was interesting to see how many colored dyes were added to the product. To me this all sounded crazy because it is just a lotion. The scores of its ingredients are as follows:

• 0: water, theobroma cocoa seed butter


• 1: mineral oil, stearyl alcohol, FD&C Red 40


• 2: Sodium lauryl sulfate, stearic acid


• 3: Glyceryl stearate, disodium EDTA


• 4: Propylene glycol, D&C Red 33, FD&C Yellow 6, Lanolin


• 6: Diazolidinyl Urea


• 8: Fragrance, Methylparaben

The one I found most astonishing was the fragrance. Most people buy lotion not only for what it does, but for the way it smells. The smell of a lotion is truly a big deal for a lot of people and it is one of the most hazardous ingredients. I honestly don't need this particular lotion so I don't think I will continue using it. With my job however, we are constantly using sanitizer for cleaning so it dries out your hands really quickly and because of it, we all use lotion for moisturizing purposes. After seeing the hazardous effects the fragrance alone has on this product, I am going to find a fragrance free lotion instead. I looked up another lotion I have used in the past and it scored a 3 overall. This lotion was the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing lotion and it happened to be fragrance free. I think I will definately go back to using this old lotion because it worked perfectly fine for what I was looking for. I am going to continue lookin up other lotions and personal care products in general to find ones that have the least impact on me and the environment.

"Where Computers Go To Die - and Kill" By Elizabeth Grossman

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/04/10/ewaste/

This article is about e-waste and where it is all going. When your electronics break down, you take them to an electronic recycling company where you believe they are recycling your electronics here in a safe and contained environment. This is not always true. A lot of the electronics we think are being recycled are actually being shipped overseas to third world countries where it is not being disposed of properly. Shipping e-waste to other countries has been illegal since 2000. This article specifically talks about the e-waste being shipped to China. The people living in and around these e-waste trash yards are being paid $2-$4 a day to sift through hazardous chemicals just to find the bits and pieces which are recyclable. The hazardous materials are causing lots of issues which include:

• Contaminated water: "Scientists found the level of lead and other metals in the water supply were 400-600 times the international standards for what is considered safe."
• Cancer concerns
• Environmental degradation

We are exploiting low-wage countries as a dumping ground for electronic waste. Many of the recycling companies are selling their e-waste to company after company and it gets sold so many times that once it finally reaches these third world countries it is extremely difficult to trace.

Something the United States needs to do is sign the Basel Convention, which we have continually refused to ratify in the past. The Basel Convention is an international agreement designed to curtail trade in hazardous waste. Under this convention, leaded CRT glass, mercury switches, parts containing heavy metals, and other elements of computer scrap which are considered hazardous waste cannot for any reason be exported for disposal. Although, under certain conditions, electronics can actually be exported for reuse, repair and recycling. Because of this, there is a huge gray area where we are getting away with shipping the e-waste.

With all of this occurring, we need to find a way to help preserve the world and stop the shipments overseas. Although this is going to be a very difficult and daunting task, it is something that needs to be done and the sooner the better.

You Tube Video: —http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr1zQrXM_7s&feature=related

Apple Unveils 'Industry's Greenest Notebook'

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/10/15/apple-unveils-industrys-greenest-notebook/

Apple is one company actually putting forth an effort to help change the sustainability of electronics. They have changed a lot of the products to contain far less toxic and hazardous materials. This was deffinately not easy and by no means lowered their cost of production. It is something Apple felt was needed and so far they are succeeding. So far Apple has introduced both the MacBook, 15-inch MacBook Pro and their new iPods, which are made from recyclable aluminum and come with LED-backlit displays containing no murcery and they are made with arsenic-free glass. Both new laptops meet Energy Star 4.0 requirements and contain no BFR's

(brominated flame retadants), which are said to cause cancer. To go with this, the internal cables and components are PVC free (polyvinyl chloride). When PVC is both produced or burned, it releases dioxins. These dioxins are "the most potent synthetic chemicals ever tested, which can cause cancer and harm the immune and reproductive systems."

Seeing all of the hazardous materials Apple has elimated from its products is huge. Although their price has not dropped, they have implemented some new standards which make their product far more recyclable than any other electronic. They have also implemented something they call a "take-back option." This take back option is which gives its customers the option of having them recycle thier old PCs regardless of who the manufacturer is. Apple will pay for all shipping necessary for you to recycle your old PC. This new option has shown really good results, "recycling volume grew 57 percent in 2007, and the recycling rate reached 18.4 percent of sales, according to Apple’s 2008 Environmental Update." This gives its customers more of a reassurance that the electronics are being disposed of properly and not shipped overseas.

According to this article, "recent research showed that one-third of adult Internet users think of Apple as the most eco-friendly consumer technology brand, compared with Dell at 21 percent and HP at 15 percent." This is very interesting seeing as HP is the number 1 ranked evironmentally friendly company in a Newsweek article from September 28, 2009. Overall, there is a lot that needs to be done in order for all electronic companies to be producing more sustainable products. This is definately a difficult area to be making stustainable, but so far there are several companies making huge efforts towards more sustainable products.

Canadian Study Scrutinizes Carbon Capture

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/canadian-study-scrutinizes-carbon-capture/?scp=1&sq=environmental%20issues&st=cse

My article for the week discusses the unintended consequences of carbon capture and storage (C.C.S) technology. A study from the University of Toronto's Munk Center for International Studies found there could be a huge environmental consequence of holding large amounts of carbon dioxide so close to the earth's mantel that was never seen before. They use this technique "for pumping carbon dioxide into dwindling oil wells to force out the remaining crude. The hazards something like this faces include the following.

• Scale: deep geological carbon dioxide storage would go from 5 megatons per year to more than 22,000 megatons annually by the end of the century. Thomas states "this will involve extensive new facilities and pipelines that would rival the world's oil industry infrastructure."


• Water contamination: The amounts of CO2 being dispursed is so large that experts fear the CO2 will actually displace the brine, instead of dissolving or binding with subterranean mineral deposits. This would end up contaminating the groundwater reserves.


• Water use: "The process required to capture and then compress carbon dioxide at a conventional coal-fired plant will need much more water than the same plany without carbon capture technology becaust carbon capture technology is energy-intensive."


• Unexpected leaks: earthquakes, geological fractures and old oil well all have a great potential of releasing CO2. Although the CO2 is suppose to be trapped under the rock caps, these unexpected occurrances can all release "contaminants buried with the CO2, as well as leaks of a gas that can poison plants, animals and humans.


• Liability: the fact that aquifiers straddle national borders, it would not be clear as to who should be held responsible in the case of an oil leak.

I found it very interesting to see how many different side effects this technique actually has on the planet. It is amazing how people can actually overlook consequences such as these just to get a single resource, in this case, crude oil. This article was very interesting because I did not know this was happening and I feel it is very important seeing the side effects it is having on the environment.

Update of my sustainability efforts

This past week I have been working harder on my footprint. Last week I rode the bus twice to school, which is actually a big step for me because I drove every day last year to school. This is not too easy for me to do since my car is something I use every day and I truly enjoy driving. I went and bought some energy efficient light bulbs to replace some of the ones we have in our apartment right now. I have not changed all of them yet but I do plan to throughout the next couple weeks. The one I am having the most trouble with is eating in a more sustainable way. I enjoy the foods I already eat and I am a slightly picky eater so changing this will definately be a challenge for me. When I went to the grocery store this week though, all of the produce I bought was organic. It was a little more expensive compared to the regular stuff, but it all tastes the same to me. Overall, I feel I am doing a little better with my footprint. I am interested to see how my score will change at the end of the quarter.

"The Greenest Big Companies in America"

Article: "The Greenest Big Companies in America" in Newsweek (September 28, 2009) by Daniel McGinn

I found an article listing the greenest big companies in America in this weeks edition of Newsweek. I found this article to be very interesting because some of the rankings were no where near where I would have thought. These rankings are based on their environmental impact, their green policies, and their reputation among their peers and environmental experts. There were some companies much higher on the list then I would have ever thought to be such as McDonalds which was ranked number 22. Another I thought was out of place was Nike at number 7. Many of these companies on the list have been changing their ways as of recently. Nike for example has more than 650 contract factories in 52 different countries which is a lot to look over and change and make sure they are following the policies Nike has set out. Nike has also written a set of environmental policies for these factories in order to cut down on their environmental impact on the earth. It says "its entire manufacturing process generates less waste than its retail packaging. New shoes are made from green materials, such as recycled polyester." I found this to be a really smart move for Nike since they are and will most likely continue to be a leading sports manufacturer. The number one company, which did not surprise me, was Hewlett-Packard. They have always been known for thier efforts to be leaders in environmental policies and recycleable materials. It states "the company's PC-recycling program, in which it pays consumers to ship back obsolete machines, has allowed HP to reclaim 1.7 billion pounds of e-waste over the past decade." To go along with this the company has industry leading policies which help encourage their suppliers to go green as well. Overall, I feel this is a very interesting article that will surprise a lot of people.

My Carbon Footprint

http://www.myfootprint.org/en/quiz_results/

To live the way I do, I would need 5.56 Earths. My food footprint is my consumptions category with contributes the most to my overall footprint. I am contributing almost twice as much when compared to my country.
I am going to try and change a few things in my life to lower my overall footprint on the Earth. I am going to try and purchase more things that are certified organic. Right now I do eat a lot of meat products. It is something that has always been in my diet so it is something I am more accustom to then other things. I do not actually look at whether or not the things I purchase are certified organic or not. This is something I can look to change by looking at what there is in grocery stores for me to purchase. Something else I am going to try and change is the amount I use my vehicle. I tend to drive quite a lot and don't really think about how much I am doing it. I almost never take public transportation because it is easier to just jump in my car. I am going to try and take the bus to school more and more each week because as of now I drive to class every day. There are certain days I do need to drive, but that is usually only a couple times a week for work. Lastly, I am going to try and purchase more energy efficient appliances and change the things in my apartment to be more energy efficient. I have learned a lot more about energy efficiency within the last few months, but I have not done much to change what it is I am doing. I still haven't changed simple things such as my light bulbs which will definately be a first step into changing the rest.