Hoyt 1
April Hoyt
University Studies: Portland
Professor Batchelder
14 April 2014
Impacting the World
As a human being and an inhabitant of the planet Earth, I have the responsibility for the
upkeep of the Earth and to preserve its resources. The resources that the Earth contains are in
danger of running out and if we don’t start conserving these resources, we only have ourselves to
blame for the slow destruction of the planet we call home. To allow for a better understanding of
how much resources we use up, for this University Studies class, Portland, we were assigned the
task of keeping track of our fuel and water usage.
While living in Portland, I expected my fuel and water usage to be higher than it would
be compared to areas where the resources are much closer. What I expected was true because
according to the Ecological Footprint calculator, almost four Earths would be needed if everyone
lived like me. I honestly didn’t expect this high of a number, but looking at my fuel and water
audits, the number may be accurate. This fuel and water audits spanned three days, where we
kept track of the amount of water we used during tasks such as showering, washing dishes, and
drinking water. Keeping track of the fuel usage was a little harder. Having a car in Portland was
impractical for me, for most of the places that I needed to travel to were within walking distance.
Instead, other things had to be taken into account, such as food consumption that was needed in
order to power those walks.
Hoyt 2
While reading “What’s Your Consumption Factor?” written by Jared Diamond, it gives a
very interesting view on the difference between first world and third world countries on the
subject of resource consumption. Since we are continually growing in population, even more
people are using up the resources that we actually need to use sparingly. In his article, he says “if
most of the world's 6.5 billion people were in cold storage and not metabolizing or consuming,
they would create no resource problem” (3). What Diamond said would be ideal, but not exactly
realistic, making it so that another idea is needed in order to keep up with demanding and
growing population.
In the fuel audit, much of my transportation was walking, as I have no need for the
luxuries of driving around. I thought that that doing so would shrink my carbon footprint, but it
doesn’t do so, at least, not by a significant amount. Michael Pollan renowned for his book The
Omnivore’s Dilemma, writes in his article “Why Bother?” an interesting point concerning
walking:
Is eating local or walking to work really going to reduce my carbon footprint?
According to one analysis, if walking to work increases your appetite and you
consume more meat or milk as a result, walking might actually emit more carbon
than driving…If determining the carbon footprint of food is really this
complicated, and I’ve got to consider not only “food miles” but also whether the
food came by ship or truck and how lushly the grass grows in New Zealand, then
maybe on second thought I’ll just buy the imported chops at Costco, at least until
the experts get their footprints sorted out.
This part of the article made me rethink my views on whether or not I was actually saving fuel
by choosing to walk versus driving around in a car.
Hoyt 3
The habits that allowed for a large consumption of water stems from the fact that I seem
to take this resource for granted. I am used to being in an area where water is readily available,
be it in drinkable form or used in an areas such as a bathroom. I personally feel that it is because
I live in the United States of America versus a third world country such as in places in Africa
that I have taken for granted this resource.
Another factor that allowed for my water usage number is the fact that I was raised in a
family where we upheld cleanliness. As a kid I was used to showering twice a day, as well as
washing my hands before and after dinner. Even with this factor thrown in, I feel that my water
consumption has stayed steady throughout the years.
Earth is a planet that contains limited resources that is shared with over 6.5 billion
people. If we all as a whole conserve little by little, we could potentially change and aid in the
recovery of our home planet. It is our duty as inhabitants of Earth to continue to preserve its
resources in order to prolong the longevity of the Earth.
Hoyt 4
Works Cited
Diamond, Jared. “What’s Your Consumption Factor?” Edge. 2 Jan. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Pollan, Michael. “Why Bother?” The New York Times Magazine. 20 April 2008. Web. 14 April
2014.