Week 1 DQ1
Post a response in your own words defining environmental sustainability.
Then, list three behaviors of your own that threaten environmental
sustainability. How could you change those behaviors to reduce threats to environmental
sustainability?
Environmental
sustainability is the capability to continually practice habits and procedures
that will maintain or improve the quality of the environment. Three of my
behaviors that threaten environmental sustainability are: I do not recycle to
the best of my ability, I usually have every light on in the house longer than
I need to, and I still accept styrofoam food containers. In order to recycle
more I need to find where the facilities are that except the recyclables I use
in order to turn them in. I can remember to turn off lights that I am not using
or do not need. There are a few things I could do about the styrofoam food
containers, I could petition the cafeteria at work to stop using these
containers or I could bring my own from home.
DQ2
Review Ch. 2. Post a reflection on your own
worldview and compare it with the worldviews presented in the text. Provide
examples of the benefits of your view to defend your position.
My view of the world,
this is not a concept I actually have thought about. After reading the two
extreme world views I would have to say I am definitely well into the deep
ecology worldview. I believe all life forms have value whether we as humans
recognize it. I also believe that even though we are more intelligent does not
mean we have the right to abuse the earth for our own betterment. I believe
that if we as humans do not change soon and radically there may be no Earth
left for our children or grandchildren to live in. We are headed for a severe
natural disaster that will shake the entire Earth and very few people in this
world recognize it and even few are willing to do anything about it. How many
people out there throw trash on the ground, or walk past trash on the ground
and say to ourselves, “its not my problem”. But they are wrong, it is their
problem, it is my problem, and your problem and everyone’s problem. And this is
only one example of how we abuse our Earth. This is a living, breathing
environment and every push or pull we do has an effect for good or bad. Each of
us needs to recognize that something is wrong and what we do to help the
destruction and alter our actions for the betterment of this Earth as a whole.
I guess this would be my worldview, inadvertently told while thinking about what
I believe.
I would say this is
pretty close to the deep ecology worldview. I envision a world where every
person on the planet recycled, did not use non recyclable materials, had
medical herbs more readily available and widely used, had jobs that were satisfying
to themselves and helped in some way the world and/or their neighbors, never
went hungry, parents had more time to spend with their children, school was fun
and educational, and no individual every did without anything they need.
Week
3 DQ 1
Review Ch. 5, The Flow of Energy Through Ecosystems. Then, complete
Appendix C. Post your response to the following:
Identify the fruit or vegetable you selected and
relate the second law of thermodynamics to the changes in energy observed in
Appendix C. How did the amount of energy gained compare to the amount of energy
lost as heat at the second through fourth trophic levels?
Considering the amount of energy required to
produce animal-based foods and goods, should humans change their habits so they
consume products closer to the bottom of the food chain because it is more
efficient?
The fruit I researched
was the blueberry. According to the second law of thermodynamics as a primary
consumer the total energy available is 84. The energy gained, ten percent, is
8.4, and the total lost, ninety percent, is 75.6. As a secondary consumer,
which humans are when we eat meat from an animal that ate the blueberries, the
energy available is 8.4. The total gained is .84 and energy lost is 7.56. As a
secondary consumer we can only use one percent of the total energy the producer
originally had available. The other ninety-nine percent is lost and is unusable
by any energy user.
Confronted with this
data I would definitely say it would be more beneficial as a consumer to be the
primary consumer instead of the secondary consumer. We all hear that we should
eat more fruits and vegetables because they are healthier for you. It has never
been explained quite this way before and is a lot easier to see the importance
of consuming more fruits and vegetables and less meat in our diets.
DQ2
Use the Ch. 6 Biome animation located under the Week Three Materials
section of your student Web page to identify which biome you live in by
clicking on the colored area of your general location. Post
a brief description of your biome by responding to the following:
Provide a one-sentence description of
typical precipitation and temperature for summer and winter. Use terms such as
cool, cold, warm, hot, dry, and wet.
The area of the world
where I live is in the temperate forest biome, we usually have hot, dry summers
and cold, wet winters.
Week
5 DQ 1
na3. Discussion
Questions
·
Go to the Emissions Calculator Web site at http://airhead.cnt.org/Calculator/?sid=a743a150a5f5ff4c72817e723b7c8c14.
Fill out the survey to the best of your knowledge to calculate the total pounds
of air pollution your household emits.
Address
the following: What was your highest contributor? What can you do to lower your
total? What is your greatest challenge in lowering your total? When you review
other students’ posts, suggest how they might control air emissions for their
situations.
After
using the emissions calculator, my highest contributor to air pollution was our
SUV. We have a 93 Jimmy that is needed to get me to and from work and the kids
to and from school. My boyfriend usually goes out to friends at night and
sometimes that can be a lot of miles in a day. We go through about ten dollars
of gas a day with all of our running around. In a perfect world, one thing that
could be done to lower our total is to reduce the need for the car by walking
or biking more.
The biggest challenge in lowering this is the temperature
during the winter. Today temperature stayed in the single digits with periods
of negative degrees, with wind chill even lower. Sub zero temperatures make it
hard to walk or bike when we need to go somewhere.
This
graph-your emissions profile-measures the pollution you created over the course
of a month. You emitted 1443 pounds of air pollution in December.*
Say
what? 1443 pounds is a lot of chocolate, but is it a lot of pollution? You can
judge by comparing yourself with the second bar on the graph, which represents
the emissions profile for an average American--1,654 pounds. Many would argue
that just one pound of pollution is too much, but we live in an imperfect and
complicated world, so set your own goals for where you would like to be on this
graph tomorrow or next year.
Your
biggest source of emissions in December came from the category: Driving. We
have provided some suggestions
for how to cut emissions in this area. Some of the changes we suggest are
easier than others, but we hope they all help you imagine ways that you can fit
emissions reductions into your life and better prioritize your emissions
reduction actions. If you only had time to cut your emissions in one area, what
should it be?
Your
emissions profile tells you how much pollution results from your lifestyle; our
product search tool helps you easily improve your profile by providing
emissions data on a variety of common household products.
And
as a registered AirHead
user, you can come back every month and re-calculate your emissions to
track your progress. If your emissions seem uncharacteristically high this
month-because you took a plane trip or because, say, natural gas prices are
unreasonably high-check back again for the satisfaction of seeing your profile
improve. We're not interested in artificially inflating your profile; browbeating
isn't really our style.
DQ2
·
Review the variety of indoor pollutant hazards posted on the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Web site at http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/insidest.html#Refguide.
Address the following: Describe at least three potential indoor
air quality (IAQ) hazards in your home. What are the possible health impacts of
each hazard? Do you believe your health is at risk based on your exposure to
the three IAQ hazards? Why or why not? What can you do to reduce exposure to
the hazard?
The number one most
potential indoor air quality hazard is cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke can
cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, lung cancer or heart
disease. A second potential hazard would be Nitrogen Dioxide that can be found
in tobacco smoke and will have all the same health hazards as environmental
smoke. A third potential hazard could be a biological. My youngest daughter
still wets her bed. This can cause a few potential health hazards due to breathing
in affected bedding. These effects can be eye, nose, and throat irritations,
shortness of breath, dizziness, fever or digestive problems.
Our health is at risk
from the cigarette smoke in the house since it has two potential health hazards
and is the most prominent air hazard in the house. To reduce exposure we can
quit smoking or at least moving any smoking outdoors. An air filter can also
cut down on potential air hazards, along with opening windows for ventilation.
Week
7 DQ 1
·
View the Don’t Say Goodbye VLR located under the Week Seven Materials section
of your student Web page.
Address
the following: Identify a viewpoint given in the video that highlights the
importance of biodiversity. Do you believe that every species is connected to
one another as expressed in the video? Why or why not?
The viewpoint expressed
in the video is that all life is connected, no matter how big or small. When
one species goes extinct it threatens the life of everything else on Earth.
This is a viewpoint I share, I believe that all life needs all other life. This
planet evolved, it weeded out the bad stuff and nurtured the good stuff. The
circle of life has worked for millions of years. Plants grow up from the
ground, they feed off the ground, animals eat the plants, and some other
animals. When animals die they decompose back into the ground and fed the
plants. If we take one item out of that list the whole process breaks down. Not
to mention the numerous medicines and such we have discovered in places previously
thought of as nothing good can come from.
DQ
2
·
Choose one of the following terrestrial resource challenges: loss of
agricultural land or reducing solid waste.
Address
the following: What are the challenges of managing your chosen terrestrial
resource issue? What human activities contribute to the problem?
The terrestrial resource
challenge I choose is the loss of agricultural land. There are two major
challenges to managing loss of agricultural land. One challenge would be
overpopulation. With more people needing more space to live, eliminates land
that could be used for agriculture. Another challenge would be erosion that
loses precious topsoil. Topsoil is the most fertile part of the earth to grow
healthy crops. Without the topsoil it is harder to crow the fruits and
vegetables that are increasingly necessary to feed this ever growing
population.
Week
9 Capstone DQ
1. Capstone
Discussion Question
·
Post your response to the following: If you were an
environmental researcher and were given funding to assist with one
environmental issue, which of the following topics would you choose to spend
your funds on?
o Human population
o Atmospheric pollution
o Water resources
o Terrestrial resources
o Energy conservation
·
What influenced your choice? What would the ultimate goal of
your research be?
If I was given funding
to assist on the environmental issue of my choice, I would definitely chose
energy conservation. Energy conservation could save the climate and save money
in every household. These are only two reasons I choose this issue. Saving the
environment is a very important issue, and energy conservation could go a long
way in making the environment better. The ultimate goal of my research would be
to find and develop a universal energy source that would not only heal the
environment but also improve the lives of every individual on this planet.
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