If everyone lived like me then we would need 5.1 Planet Earths to provide enough resources. To support my lifestyle, it takes 22.6 global acres of Earth's productive area (21.6 tons of carbon dioxide). Changing my lifestyle for a day was hard due to the fact that I have accustomed to my lifestyle. Being a college student living in a dorm, I was unable to change a lot of things such as where I live and the groceries that I have already purchased. I did change a few things though: I recycled all of my paper and water bottles, I did not ride in the car anywhere, and I ate less food and more produce. In doing this, I decreased my footprint by .2 Planet Earths to 4.8 Planet Earths.
Prior to calculating my Ecological Footprint I was not aware of the large amount of resources that I was using. I plan to move off campus sophomore year so I will definitely have more control over the amount of resources that I use such as electricity. I will have more control over decreasing the amount of resources, energy and goods that I use as an individual.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
NO TECHNOLOGY PT. 2
END!!!!
The task of living without technology for twenty four hours was not as difficult as I thought it would be. In the beginning, I felt somewhat lost. I missed not being able to shop online. I literally sit in front of my computer and shop online for hours at a time. I also felt disconnected from my friends and family members because I was unable to talk on my cell phone and log onto Myspace. After a while I adjusted to not being able to talk on the phone and Myspace by doing other things such as getting ahead on homework assignments and reading. Living for a day without technology helped me to realize that I could get a lot more accomplished without technological distractions such as my computer and cell phone. I was also able to enjoy activities such as leisure reading, that I rarely do anymore due to logging onto Myspace, talking on the phone and shopping online.
I feel that the use of technology in my generation is only a problem because we have become overly dependent upon it therefore we abuse it. By this I mean that since technology has advanced so much we forget that there are other ways to enjoy life besides sitting in front of a computer all day or talking on the phone for hours at a time. If we learn to appreciate the "simple" components of life that we enjoyed before a lot of these advanced technologies existed then we would learn to appreciate the importance of technology and identify the effect that it has on our lives as well as our generation.
The task of living without technology for twenty four hours was not as difficult as I thought it would be. In the beginning, I felt somewhat lost. I missed not being able to shop online. I literally sit in front of my computer and shop online for hours at a time. I also felt disconnected from my friends and family members because I was unable to talk on my cell phone and log onto Myspace. After a while I adjusted to not being able to talk on the phone and Myspace by doing other things such as getting ahead on homework assignments and reading. Living for a day without technology helped me to realize that I could get a lot more accomplished without technological distractions such as my computer and cell phone. I was also able to enjoy activities such as leisure reading, that I rarely do anymore due to logging onto Myspace, talking on the phone and shopping online.
I feel that the use of technology in my generation is only a problem because we have become overly dependent upon it therefore we abuse it. By this I mean that since technology has advanced so much we forget that there are other ways to enjoy life besides sitting in front of a computer all day or talking on the phone for hours at a time. If we learn to appreciate the "simple" components of life that we enjoyed before a lot of these advanced technologies existed then we would learn to appreciate the importance of technology and identify the effect that it has on our lives as well as our generation.
Monday, November 17, 2008
"One Challenge"
The "One Challenge" that I, as well as my friends, is going to face within the next four years is the rising college tuition fees. This is an economical injustice because how could we possibly look towards a successful future as a country without educated individuals take control? The generation that we live in constantly puts emphasis on how important it is for high school graduates to attend college but yet college tuition is so expensive that it is almost impossible for students to enroll in college. Expensive college tuition discourages students to even attempt to enroll in college because they feel that they will not be able to afford to pay for their courses. In order to make college more affordable for students, I think that more grants and scholarships should be available to them. Also, instead of taking away from a student's financial aid award if they have a job, I think that students who have a job should be able to receive a financial aid award that can pay off their tuition and still be able to work at the same time. This would enable them to afford to pay for their college courses as well as support themselves financially.
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