Ten Dots

1.) Continue the environmental mission at college - it doesn't have to stop at Deering - find the environmental club in whichever school and make a difference; the environment will only improve if we all make an effort to make difference wherever we are.

2.) Volunteer - Like what we did with the invasive species, there is so much that people need help with because, of course, we're more efficient working together.

3.) Encourage and educate my peers and family that is unaware of environmental rules of thumb. By extending my knowledge into my community, that knowledge will hopefully spread into other communities and cause a chain reaction of environmentally informed people.

4.) I, myself, admit to having a bad habit of leaving lights on, electronics plugged in, or something running when I leave the room or house. I will be more considerate of not only my mother's money, but also of the amount of power that even a cord unconnected to a device can take while plugged into an outlet.

5.) As I'm sure my other peers have said, I will do my best to shorten my time in the shower no matter how good the warm water feels. Not only is this an extreme loss of water, same with brushing my teeth with the water running, but it also is completely unnecessary in general. Maybe I'll look into a bath... or maybe not.

6.) Since I hope to be able to travel in whatever career I finally choose to pursue, I will do my best to spread my knowledge to other places around the world whether it be a small or large. If people around the world or even the country see other people from different places pushing the same goal then maybe the movement will gain support and action. 

7.) Carpooling - the sure way to reduce the amount of cars on the road. Plus, it's fun to ride with other people - road trip! It's a win-win situation.

8.) Reducing paper and plastic waste - During the summer disposable plates and cups are often used, instead we could use reusable plastic dishes like Tupperware. Also, all year there is a mass use of plastic water bottles that are really only good for a use or two, metal bottles are the best bottles to use.

9.) Something that we don't see very often anymore is air drying clothes. During the warmer months I may try to incorporate this more into my laundry schedule. I've done it before and it leaves the clothes smelling fresh! Might be even fun to do.

10.) Asking for plastic instead of paper - This is a simple way to help the environment because it keeps the amount of plastic bags going to the landfill at a minimum. One step up would be to buy the reusable cloth bags - I do have some, but constantly forget to bring them into the store, I will try better to do that as for it'll make for a more environmentally friendly trip. 

Hannah's DOTs

1. I will limit myself to five minute showers in order to conserve water. I think this is extremely important because I did a blog post on the importance of conserving clean water. This is something that we all take for granted as we take 10, 15, 20 minute showers while people across the globe work hard to find clean water.

2. I will make sure that the lights are turned off and the outlets are unplugged when I leave a room. This is important to conserve energy and reduce my carbon footprint. It was not until I studied a bit more on energy conservation that I realized how important it is to turn off a light or unplug a tv. We also learned a lot about reducing our carbon footprint through our ACE training.

3. I will wash my clothes with cold water instead of warm water and advise others to do so as well. This was another suggestion that I learned from Rowanna and Brian. They taught us how important it is to wash with cold water to reduce energy. I read in an article on realsimple.com about this topic. It also says, “Since about 90 percent of the energy consumed while running a load is used to heat the water, the average household opting for cold can eliminate as much as 350 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually. For most homes, this will amount to about $40 in savings a year.” This also saves us money.

4. I will ask for paper cups instead of styrofoam at Dunkin Donuts. Most people do not know this, but you can ask for a cappuccino cup. This is important because we cannot recycle our styrofoam and the contents will outlive you. It is also scary to imagine the foam going into our ocean and killing marine animals.

5. I will start using a reusable water bottle. I spend lots of money and waste a lot of plastic using Poland Spring bottles. It is important globally because I am reducing the amount of plastic being used. If I do use a Poland Spring bottle, I vow to recycle it so that it can be utilized into making new plastics (like the recycling facility that we went to at Ecomaine.)

6. I will carpool to work and school rather than all of us taking our own cars. This will reduce our carbon footprint because we will be using one car instead of multiple ones. We will be reducing our CO2 emissions along with saving ourselves money.

7. I will buy “green” recycled materials whenever I can. I found this article on buygreen.com about the benefits on buying green and local. It says, “By using natural alternatives such as environmentally friendly bags, we help to stretch this non-renewable resource.”

8. I will turn my thermostat down when I go to bed or to school in order to reduce my use of gas and electricity. This will save my parents money in the longrun and there is no sense in keeping the room warm when I am not there. I have blankets to use overnight and it is a small and easy way to make a difference.

9. I will continue to recycle boxes at home, but will try to introduce composting to my household. Using my extensive experience working with composting, and using the information that I learned by our field trip to help out the students at Riverton Elementary with learning more about composting, I will teach my parents the importance of composting. In the warm weather we can use a worm box and make fertilizer for our summer garden.

10. When it is nice out, I will ride my bike to work rather than driving. Since I am only blocks away, there is no sense in polluting the earth with the short car trip. I read an article on adultbicycling.com about the benefits of biking rather than driving your car, “Most people in the United States use their cars to make even short trips of a mile or less, causing major pollution damage. There’s a way to help us all out of this mess - bicycling to work and the store.” This benefits the earth by reducing the pollution along with keeping our fresh Maine air clean.

I could think of a bunch of other ideas, like DHS adding another local food day, or using automatic sinks in the bathroom to prevent leaking faucets, but these are the ten most sensible ideas that I could think of.

DOTS

1. Take shorter showers. I’ve always had a problem with taking short showers. Globally, this will help the environment by conserving water. Throughout my overpopulation posts, I learned that one of the many consequences of overpopulation is the draining of resources, including water.

2. Drink from metal water bottle, not plastic. Mr. Sproul has gone off on many tangents questioning why anyone would drink from bottled water when we have perfectly good tap water in Maine, all while a Poland Springs water bottle stood on my desk. It also wastes plastic and research has shown that tap water is healthier. Nationally, this will conserve water (about three times more water is used for a water bottle than actually put in), lower toxic fumes that are created when making bottles, and help the landfills, oceans, and other areas that recyclable bottles help destroy (although I always recycle!).

3. Correct others when they misuse bins. Speaking up has been something I’ve been working on. I see people putting their bottles, food, and trash into the wrong bins all the time. Since monitoring the stations, I’ve now started to correct people. I want to continue this within Deering and around the community. Hopefully, people around the world help out others, so we can teach people how to properly recycle, compost, and redeem.

4. Continue environmental events. I’ve never been great with keeping up with the news, but the blog posts have kept me informed about environmental news. I hope to continue keeping up with the news so I know what’s going on with the environment locally, nationally, and globally.

5. Eat organic. Recently, I’ve been trying to eat less processed food and more organic food. Not only does this benefit my body but also the environment. There are a great amount of pros for eating organic food: it’s local - so less transportation costs, less chemicals and pesticides, cage free animals, it reduces farm pollution, it support local sellers, and usually the food has more taste!

6. Save energy. To help save energy (and money!), I’ll remember to shut off the lights and unplug things like the hair dryer and toaster. Globally, this will help conserve energy.

7. Lower the printing. I will print back to back, and only if I must print something. Saving paper will help our forests, and waste, air, and even water pollution.

8. Bike more. Not only is biking good for me but it also helps the environment by saving gas. Cars are a huge contributor to pollution. WIth new hybrid technology hopefully we can decrease this amount of pollution from transportation.

9. No styrofoam. I want to cut down on styrofoam and help Portland become a styrofoam free city! At my work, The Woods at Canco, they use so much styrofoam. I’m not sure if it will convince them to change to their cups and boxes, but I want to inform them of the harm of styrofoam for the environment. Also, I will avoid any styrofoam at home and places like Dunkin Donuts. Eventually, I think our country, and then world will be styrofoam free.

10. Finally, I want to continue my environmental work in college. Throughout high school, especially this year, environmental club / the independent study has been a great experience. I hope to use what I’ve learned to continue advocating, studying, and improving the environment within my school, the country, and throughout the world.

Dolphin Cruelty Around the World

Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of articles about the cruelty of dolphins. In one that Ms. McWilliams posted, dolphins were stabbed and slaughtered during a coming of age ceremony. In a recent article, Caroline Kennedy, the U.S ambassador to Japan, mentions the cruelty dolphins endure in Japan. They have an annual dolphin hunt where they round up about five hundred dolphins in an unknown bay. They either kill the dolphins for meat, let them back into the oceans, or sell the to a marine park. Kennedy tweeted, “Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing. USG opposes drive hunt fisheries.”

In 2009, a documentary called “The Cove” showed animal activists fighting against Japanese police to find the location of this dolphin hunt. This reminded me of the documentary “Blackfish” which I have previously posted about. However, the reception was much different. Unlike “Blackfish” most Japanese criticized the movie because they thought that this dolphin hunt is part of the Japanese culture. I think it’s interested how reception to documentaries about very similar topics, in this case animal cruelty, can be completely different in different cultures. I think this is true for many major issues in the world, including climate change. Many people have different opinions and believe some things to be much important than others. I think these issues can be hard to overcome when everyone is on a different page.

Dystopia

Just a simple search of dystopia will give you this definition: "an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one." In no way, shape, or form does this sound the least bit pleasant. Looking farther in this topic lead me to an article titled "Dystopia at the Bay." Dystopia, contrary to having such a blatant definition, can be understood in many different ways. This article tells the story of a man who finds "dystopia" at the a train station simply because the trains were shut down because of a power glitch. After announcing the shut down of the trains he heard the news story about a controversial voter topic of building new condominiums. He eventually comes to the thought of "a city without its nurses, its teachers, its artists, its waiters, its bus drivers, its cops, its musicians and writers and grandmothers as residents is a monoculture — as sterile as a forest of a single commercial tree species" (Egan). All this thinking came out of a simple news story. 

Basically dystopia can come in all ways and means. Not only does this story show the true nature of dystopia but it also reveals how people truly think. I feel like people ignore their inner thoughts on the environment and all they have to offer to it. If people do their duty to the environment, given all the take from it, the world can avoid dystopia and the dreaded consequences it comes with.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/06/opinion/dystopia-by-the-bay.html?_r=0

Sustainability Design

In my last post, I mentioned industrialization and how modern technology allows us to create more sustainable buildings / technology. Today, I read the chapter called sustainable design. Sustainable design is building and designing products and architecture to benefit the environment. This is important for the environment because buildings are a large percentage of energy use, material use, and portable water use. Sustainable design also benefits the economy and society because they lower future costs and it has many health benefits. Portland, Oregon has started a program to reduce emissions from transportation. Portland is has the largest percent of bicycling commuters in the country and enacted the Climate Change Action Plan.

“The focus of design has been on creating a building that is affordable, serves the purpose for which it was intended, lasts a long time, and is comfortable for its residents. Green building considers these factors in addition to the building’s environmental footprint.” This quote shows that finally many people are altering the focus of the design to help the environment and not just accommodate low costs and other purposes. In many buildings, sustainability has become a key part in the design process.

I think it’s interesting how sustainable design has financial benefits because it seems many people avoid this for that reason. However, it the long run it lowers utility costs extremely.

In the “What can you do” section of the chapter it mentioned going to town meetings to talk about transportation policies and action plans. I think it would be very interested to attend a meeting similar to that in Portland.

Ten DOTs

1. Educate yourself and others about the relationship between people and the environment. It is so hard to care for something you don't understand, and that is why there isn't enough action being done regarding the environment. I think once our connection to the environment is understood, one can really appreciate the Earth and why we need our living to be sustainable. 
2. Volunteer locally, and maybe internationally if you get the opportunity to. A lot of environmental organizations are nonprofits and they can only make a change if people are up for it, and being around people who care about the same thing is really motivating.
3. Support environmentally friendly technology. Technology has become a big obstacle to becoming greener. There are so many innovative technologies that are very sustainable, but they aren't as supported as non-sustainable ones. For example, electric cars and pellet fuels.
4. Advocate for environmental policies, just like we did for Protect South Portland's Ordinance. This is one of the most effective ways to create change in the community. 
5. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost. Obviously. 
6. Advocate for environmental design. Choosing environmentally friendly building designs and products  will make a huge difference. Plus its not something you have keep up with, such as recycling. 
7. Conserve energy as much as possible. Unplug electronics when not needed, carpool when you can, use cold water when washing the laundry, I'm sure you are aware of these already.
8. Conserve water as much as possible. Use the minimum amount of water needed for laundry, don't leave the faucet running, don't take too long showers, lessen the amount of water the toilet uses with each flush, ect. 
9. Support international organizations like Heifer that help those in developing countries become more sustainable. 
10. Continue being a part of environmental clubs or organizations in order for our awareness to persist.