We have been discussing sustainable developments in class, the balancing of human needs with their impact on our environment. I have provided you with a source below, check it out. After you have investigated the website pick one of two options:
1. Choose one of the many issues presented and let us know if you think we could implement sustainable practices to remedy the problem.
2. Choose one of the "remedies" and let us know if it has had any actual impact on the environment issues it intended to solve.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/408/sustainable-development-introduction
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
On the website, I found many articles and issues that dealt with a sustainable environment. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment however caught my attention. This assessment spoke about many problems in general and stated many conclusions about our society today. One of them stated, "Everyone in the world depends on nature and ecosystem services to provide the conditions for a decent, healthy, and secure life." This is not only a fact, but also a slight problem or disadvantage towards society. It focuses on the point that without nature, we could not live a healthy, normal life. It leaves room to suggest that we, as a country, could make an attempt to rely on other services to balance out this usage. An example of this could be using renewable resources. This is using nature in moderation, and it also helps because it is replaceable. Besides little changes like this, I feel the world will have to rely heavily on nature to fuel our economy.
Kirsten, you make a good point. What renewable resource do you think we could use or do a better job using, starting today to help our society? Do not forget to use an outside source to support your opinion.
Kirsten i totally agree with you. As consumers we rely heavily on our own natural resources. We do use natural resources to supoply our needs and 90% of the time we consume it faster than we can replenish it. However i present the other side of the argument which is that we do not have the technology yet to help save these resources. My opinion on the subject is that use it while its here but while its here we have to do everything we can to find succesful alternate resources that way when the resource is gone it wont be such a large impact on every major industry.
I feel society could do a better job using fresh water and trees as renewable resources. (http://ge.ecomagination.com/site/index.html?c_
id=googgrefeb5)
As for what Jake said, i agree with some things. However, his statement, "use it while its here but while its here we have to do everything we can to find successful alternate resources that way when the resource is gone it wont be such a large impact on every major industry." i do not agree with. I do not believe we should use up any resource until it is gone, and then simply go to a back up resource to fuel industry. Changes must be made now so we do not completely wipe out a resource. I agree that our economy is completely dependent on things such as oil, and a back up of another resource is necessary, but not that we should use up one and then move to the next.
jake, u did make a good point but as kirsten said, it's not wise to just completely use a resource till it's over and then move on. And, we DO have the technology to replace most of the resources we use, like oil for instance can be replaced by solar energy or hydrogen fuel cells.Even though hydrogen fuel cells are just being developed and aren't efficient enough yet, solar fuel cells are. Also, new research all over the world is helping make solar cells more efficient, cheaper, and more environmental friendly.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html
Sai, in Jake's defense although you are right, and solar energy is becoming very widespread it's also very expensive and it isn't efficient enough to supply energy to the entire country. While great advances are being made, to provide the entire country with solar power would cost well into the trillions and would several years to install and transition during which time we would be in financial crisis. I'm not against solar energy, I'm just pointing out that we can't just drop everything and turn to solar power immediately, it will take a lot of time and money.
http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/articles/pv/bus_news.html
John... first of all i dont believe solar energy would cost well into trillions of dollars. Second of all, Sai was not saying that the whole country needs to use solar energy. He was just pointing out that it would be a great alternative to consuming too much oil. That way, our resources won't be depleted. Our country is smart enough to know that we should not just "drop everything and turn to solar power immediately." It is a slow process that will in the long run, save us money and natural resources.
well john i would agree that switching to solar energy would take time, but the money part is not 100% true. With all the advancements we had with solar energy, we are starting to find makes to make it cheaper. For example this solar cell made out of things you can find in a printer, it's not efficient yet, but it's cheap
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4253464.html
and Kirsten also made a good point john... we wouldn't make a sudden change, it wouldn't even be possible.
Sai and Kirsten, I agree that not the entire country needs to use it and the article i used was a little bit older so it would've been more expensive back then. I am in full favor of switching to solar energy and believe that we should begin to transition to solar energy. I understand that solar panels are becoming less expensive but efficiency is a big thing to consider while thinking about this. Like Sai said, the solar panel made from the printer is cheap but it isn't very efficient.
Also, when I said an immediate change, I meant a relatively instant change, roughly 12-16 months.
well john, the printer solar cell was just one idea of a cheap solar cell, there are more efficient ones out in the market at the moment. And, no country in the world, no matter how small it is, can change their power supply in 12-16 month period...especially not the U.S, since we are the leading country in the consumption of electric energy or any type of energy as a matter of fact.
I think that even though we should make the switch to solar energy or another type on energy that would be easier on teh environment its more important to have things that do more with less energy. For example Cars like hybrids. It will be a long time before we are no longer reliant on the fuels we use today. We must make sure that the top prioity is to get the maximum usage out of the least amount of fuel.
I think that even though we should make the switch to solar energy or another type on energy that would be easier on teh environment its more important to have things that do more with less energy. For example Cars like hybrids. It will be a long time before we are no longer reliant on the fuels we use today. We must make sure that the top prioity is to get the maximum usage out of the least amount of fuel.
I agree with Dylan on his views about utilizing our resources available sparingly and when necessary. In today's society, oil is a necessity. It is crucial that it is not wasted. There are advancements being made to help the economy rely less on nonrenewable resources.
I agree with both Dylan a Kirstin and some of Sai's points. Obviously, we can not convert our whole country over all at once to solar energy, but that's been established. I think clean energy would make a huge impact on our increasing environmental delemas concerning petrollium. According to this site, http://www.aesenergy.net/ there are many options out there including heating Iwoa with oat hulls. It may be a slow process, but in the end the change will be good.
Post a Comment