The FINAL Assignment - Curtis Hanson

Sustainability to me at the begining of the year to me meant using materials wisly, but mainly in a financial light. Living sustainably in an environmental light is much different. Living sustainablity environmentally is the process living so that the environment remains diverse and productive over an infinite time period. Three main ideas from this year that will stick with me are the effects of poverty, global climate change (positive feed-back loops that effect it), and finally ecological footprints. These three topics have many subtopics as well. Poverty can be related to the lack of education in developing countries, global climate change has many sources and ecological footprints are probably the most effective way to show induvidual people what effect they are having on our Earth. AP Environmental Science i'll have to admit was one of my favorite classes for my senior year. This class not only showed me the importance of living sustainably, but also has had a huge influence on my future career options.





Povery -

Poverty is possibly the most contributing part to living unsustainably. Poverty includes lack of materials, lack of knowledge and of course, exploitation. Developing countries are being exploited by businesses that buy there materials for cheap, pay their workers less and degrade the environment by exhausting fuels, materials and other natural resources. The fact that some developing countries lack environmental legislation make the process even harder to stop. Poverty ending starts with the introduction of effective education in developing countries.




Global Climate Change -

Is the process in where the Earth is slowly increasing in temperature due to increased emmissions. I mentioned positive feedback loops because i feel they are the most important aspect of global climate change. Feedback loops such as the methane loop in the polatr regions was something that really struck me as a problem. The fact that rising temperatures melt ice caps, releasing methane that was stored in permafrost, which contributes to the increase in greenhouse gases, which causes temperatures to rise, which causes moroe ice to melt, etc. I thought that process was the most siginificant example of a positive feedback loop.



Ecological Footprints -

The ecological footprint assignment we did earlier in the year also made me change the way i thought about the environment. The assignment, if done honestly, i believe was a great way to show what each induvidual is doing to the environment. I think i used 3 and a half earths. Even though i believed that i personally wasn't contributing significantly to the degradation of the environment, it turns out I was. That excersice truly made me think about how i lived my life, and how some really small changes can make such a big immpact on the environment.


-Curtis Hanson