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Chelsea Reinhardt COMM 4282 Larry Erbert 11 December 2012 Sustainability An important part of environmental action is sustainability.

What will the future look like? How can we change what we are doing now to better suit our needs, as well as preserving our planet? Sustainability is integral to these efforts. It is a new way of thinking, and in a broad scope, much can be done in this arena. It is estimated that we are using one a half Earths. Clearly, we only have one Earth (Living Planet), and thus need to investigate further our options for the future. To understand sustainability, one must first understand the environment, and what we are doing to it. We are using 50% more resources than we currently have, or can maintain at a reasonable cost to nature and ourselves (Living Planet). Of this amount, Americans are responsible for using more resources than most other countries. In fact, the U.S has the fifth highest ecological footprint (Living Planet). An ecological footprint is the amount of land and resources used, much like a carbon footprint but takes it further (Best Foot Forward). It involves your choices about where you drive, what you eat and where that food comes from, the amount of energy, water and electricity used in your home, where you get said energy, and how much waste you produce, and how you dispose of it (Best Foot Forward). For instance, someone living in a small to medium home who eats local and organic foods, recycles everything or reuses their materials, composts their old food, relies on public transportation, and has solar panels and a wind

turbine will have a much smaller ecological footprint than someone who lives in a large house, relies on the power company, never recycles, doesnt compost and buys imported foods. Many sites including www.bestfootforward.com have quizzes that estimate your ecological footprint, and gives suggestions as to how you would decrease your footprint. There are a few things you can do to change your ecological footprint as noted above, including recycling, gardening, buying locally, and using public transportation. These are all important steps to being sustainable. According to the Sefton Councils website, a few key things to make your lifestyle greener are: being energy efficient, reducing waste, shopping smart, traveling wisely, and supporting your community (sefton.gov.uk). Turning down the heater by 1 degree can reduce climate change and save money, as well turning off appliances, leaving them on standby or unplugging them entirely. Additionally, buying energy efficient appliances and making sure your house is properly insulated will save money and the environment (sefton.gov.uk). Reducing waste is two-fold plan. Much of what we buy ends up in landfills, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. By buying less, we save money and reduce what trash we are putting into the environment, and potentially the ocean; reusing items is also very important. Reusing an old pickle jar for leftovers is effectively saving on trash production and money. Recycling and composting is also extremely important. By recycling, we can reduce our trash and influence companies to make greener products in more sustainable packaging (sefton.gov.uk). For instance, P&G no makes some of their Pantene bottles from 59% recycled materials. Many cities will also pick up kitchen and garden waste, and composting is highly nutritious for gardens. After Christmas is over, a great way to reuse

your old tree is to trim the branches and use them as mulch in your flowerbeds and gardens. As a consumer, you should be concerned with and know exactly where the items youre purchasing come from. Being knowledgeable about where the items we are buying come from is an important of being a green consumer. When we buy locally and organically, we are helping to reduce the amount of waste, emissions, fuel resources and so forth, that go into shipping a product around the world (sefton.gov.uk). If we buy veggies, meat and eggs from a farmer down the street, we greatly reduce our dependence on global traffic, and can feel good buying locally as we are not contributing to the carbon footprint. And once you get your veggies, meat and eggs, what are you to carry them home in? Bringing your own reusable bag when you go shopping reduces the amount of plastic bags floating around the streets, oceans, and landfills tenfold. Americans use 100 billion plastic bags every year, according to the city of Stillwater, MNs website (Reduce Waste Through). They go on to say that if 25% of families used ten fewer bags per month, we would save 2.5 billion bags per year (Reduce Waste Through). To encourage the use of reusable bags, some stores offer a discount, including Target. When you bring your own bag, Target deducts 5 cents from your total, and you are not polluting the environment with plastic bags! If shopping directly with the farmer is not your style, you can grow your own vegetables, and in the City and County of Denver, it is legal to have up to 8 chickens and two goats per lot (Denver Urban Homesteading). Each chicken produces one egg per day, so not only would you not need to go to the store, buy eggs, and use a plastic bag, but you

could walk into your backyard and gather a few eggs. Growing vegetables is also very cheap. Seeds are only a few dollars for a hundred seeds, and some plants will yield fruit year after year. When summer comes to a close, you can make use of canning and freezedrying your fruits and veggies. There are also organizations, like Denver Urban Homesteading, that will recycle your chickens, and turn them into frozen poultry (Denver Urban Homesteading). Food is a main staple, and finding better ways of growing and transporting it is important, but traveling wisely is also an extremely important step of becoming more sustainable (sefton.gov.uk). Biking, walking, carsharing, and taking the bus or lightrail are all viable options for decreasing your carbon footprint, saving money, and in some cases, losing a little weight. If using a car is absolutely necessary, investigate more fuelefficient cars. Recently, many carsharing organizations have popped up, including WeCar, Getaround, Zipcar, and many more. Carsharing is designed to reduce carbon emissions while benefiting people who may not have daily access to a vehicle. Essentially, you rent out your car on days you wont be using it, and you have access to 24/7 self-serve access to a network of vehicles stationed around your city, which can be reserved by the hour of day via smart phones, Internet and call centers when you do need a car (carsharing.net). Another aspect of living greener is participating your community. People are creatures of habit, and tend to follow others. If you go to community meetings and discuss ways your city or town can increase their green habits or lifestyles, you are likely to be heard (sefton.gov.uk). Speaking up about getting free recycling for cities that dont have it can spark activism, and action on the citys part in getting access to free

recycling. Additionally, people tend to follow others, and your neighbor who never recycles may start recycling if they see you doing so. Community gardens are popping up in urban areas, and not only do they encourage people to get involved with their community, but they promote eating locally and sustainably, as well as teaching kids about food growth, consumption responsibility. There are many urban gardens in and around Denver for only $35 a year per plot (Denver Urban Gardens). Going green seems to be the trendy thing to do right now, but people are waking up to the fact that we are killing the planet and cannot go on living this way. Individuals are acting out, and many large companies are going green also. Some of the companies on the list are Bank of America, McDonalds, The Home Depot, AnheuserBusch, Starbucks, Walmart, Coca-Cola, Dell, S.C. Johnson, and many other household names. Bank of America reported that despite customer growth by almost a quarter, they decreased paper consumption by 32% from 2000-2005; the company also runs an internal paper recycling program in which they recycle 30,000 tons of paper each year, which translates into 200,000 trees saved per year. In addition to this, they also offer their employees a $3,000 cash back reward for buying a hybrid vehicle (25 Big companies). McDonalds is working with PETA and making efforts in determining how to treat their animals more humanely, and Home Depot is turned around in that they no longer gather their wood from old-growth rainforests (25 Big companies). They have also reduced their energy consumption by 20% since 2004 by changing lighting, cooling and heating systems throughout their stores (Companies You Can Trust); Anheuser-Busch started trimming its beer cans 1/8 of an inch in diameter and in doing so, has reduced their metal consumption by 21 million pounds per year. Starbucks has saved roughly

28,000 trees per year since 2006, simply by using recycled coffee cup sleeves, and Walmart launched a campaign to eventually power each store by 100% renewable energy sources; Dell recycles computers and computer parts, and they accept printers and computers from other companies to properly dispose of. S.C. Johnson has eliminated 1.8 million pounds of harmful organic compounds found in Windex, and 4 million pounds of polyvinylidene chloride has been eliminated from Saran Wrap (25 Big companies). Cities are also taking strides to be greener and more energy efficient. Housing in Stapleton, CO is all Energy Star certified, and in some cases, it is LEED certified as well. The city infrastructure stresses reusing water, and conserving water and energy. Recycling is available throughout Stapleton, and a city composting service is also available in some areas (Environmental Initiatives at Stapleton brochure). The Green movement is taking over and many companies, cities, and organizations are recognizing the need to become more sustainable. Making the sustainability movement a high priority requires planning, activism, and campaigning. Communication and environmental studies were made for each other in this respect. In order to spread the word of sustainability and energy efficiency, many things need to happen. Firstly, knowledge needs to be spread. Campaigning is an integral part of making sustainability a part of everyday life. Going to schools, colleges, businesses and speaking with them about becoming sustainable and changing our lifestyles is step one. We need to teach others about sustainability, the environment, and how we can all work together to change the course of the planet. Teaching classes, making art, speaking at seminars, communicating with executives and heads of communities would increase their awareness, and they would

increase the awareness of those around them. This would be the finest use of the trickle down effect. Additionally, becoming an activist is another route to increasing awareness. Organizations like Greenpeace petition all day long for environmental changes, and contact companies and countries to change their ways. One of the best ways to make things happen is going to the source. To get free recycling in your city, approach the city officials. To do your part and eat sustainably raised foods, visit the farmer who grew them, or purchase them from a farmers market. Teach other people about the environment, and how important it is; teach other people what they can do to help stop our destruction of the planet. We can teach others in so many ways about the environment. The best place would be to start with children. They are susceptible to ideas both good and bad, and learning early on how to properly eat, behave, use transportation, and so on can increase their awareness as adults. By showing them how to plant their own foods, they will learn the process of growing, harvesting, and eating, and learn that there does not need to be modified foods, and we dont need to rely on foods that are transported here, when we can grow the same ones in our backyard. Campaigning, teaching, and effectively communicating the dangers of maintaining our current destructive lifestyle, and the positives of changing our ways will turn the country and planet around before it is too late.

Works Cited "Business Pundit." Business Pundit RSS. N.p., 29 July 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.businesspundit.com/25-big-companies-that-are-going-green/>. "The Car Sharing Network - Car Sharing in Your City || Your CarShare Resource || Car Sharing North America." The Car Sharing Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.carsharing.net/>. "Chickens." Chickens. N.p., 08 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.denverurbanhomesteading.com/new_page_3.htm>. Gerken, James. "Living Planet Report 2012 From WWF Looks At Ecological State Of The Earth." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 May 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/14/living-planet-report2012_n_1515196.html>. "How Can I Be More Sustainable?" How Can I Be More Sustainable? N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.sefton.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=6601>. "Mission and History." Denver Urban Gardens. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. <http://dug.org/mission-and-history/>. Price, Erika Parker. "Companies You Can Trust Are Going Green: Home Depot." Going Green Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.goinggreentoday.com/blog/companies-you-can-trust-are-goinggreen-home-depot/>. "Reduce Waste Through Reusing a Shopping Bag." City of Stillwater. N.p., 2005. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.ci.stillwater.mn.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC>.

"What Is Your Ecological Footprint?" What Is Your Ecological Footprint? N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.bestfootforward.com/resources/ecologicalfootprint/>. "What's Next." Whats Happening. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.stapletondenver.com/community/whats-next>.

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