Summary Report

Can I be more sustainable? That was the question I had hoped to answer with this blog. In order to determine an answer, I had to break the question down. First of all, what is sustainable and how can it bemeasured? I have looked at several definitions of sustainable, and found that everyone has a definition – and all are different. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines sustainable as:

“Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural
environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under
which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling
the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.

Sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to
have, the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our
environment.” (2012)

Another example is the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. They say “Sustainability is an economic, social, and environmental concept that involves meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, (2012)”. There are so many more definitions of sustainable – many of which we have looked at in class. Overall, I decided that anything which helps preserve, maintain, or improve the environment for current or future human needs is generally considered sustainable.

            Can I be more sustainable? I also had to determine where or not I could be more sustainable. Is it possible for me to do more? Are there things I can change, and things I cannot change? I came to learn that there is always room for improvement, but there are many restrictions upon what an individual can or cannot do. I had to figure out what I was doing to harm the environment, in order to verify a change. I did this by calculating what my “carbon footprint” was.

            One of my very first posts was the result of how many earths we the worlds population would consume is everyone lived the way I do. The results were surprising! I just re-took this quiz, and the good news is that the results were less! However, we would still need over 3 earths to support the population if everyone lives the way I do. I understand now that there are many aspects which I cannot change about my footprint. For example, we have a very large home, as 6 people live in the house. I am not able to change the size of my home, nor can I afford to buy new energy efficient appliances, low flow toilets or drip showers. I am also unable to change things like buying a hybrid car, or choosing where I live in relation to the school, all for financial reasons. There are some things I am unwilling to change, such as driving to school. I carpool to school most days, but often drive alone. However, the nearest bus stop is about a 30-40 minute walk from my house and to do this everyday twice a day is not something I am willing to commit to.

I gave myself some challenges throughout the process, which included:

1. Compost - fill 4 buckets in 7 day: I was unable to officially complete this goal, due to time constraints and a lack of support in my house, however we do now have a bucket for compost and I have explained the important of food energy. Although energy cannot be created or destroyed – it can be wasted or lost.
2. Lower thermostat in home: I lowered my thermostat to 18*C and this has been maintained throughout this blog, with the exception of between about 4-8pm which it goes up to 20*C.
3. Reduce Food Footprint: Through composting, and increasing my awareness of food the footprint calculator is proof that this worked!
4. Reduce shower time – use 25 minutes of shower time in 7 days: This challenge was very successful! I used only 24:39 minutes of water this week when showering! (Assuming I use none tomorrow) I was surprised that this challenge was as easy as I found it. I usually shower 4-6 times a week, and this week I showered 5 times. Ranging from about 3-6.5 minutes per shower. And it was better for my hair and skin!
5. Increase awareness – what else can you do?

Other things I did included using environmentally friendly cleaning products, such as vinegarwater, and switching my laundry soap to a pH “ Laundry Ball”. I also implemented many of the above strategies onto my family members. This was as well as many of the things I have already been doing.

Overall, my original question “Can I be more sustainable?” was answered with a clear – YES! Another main point to this project was to increase awareness and ability for others. I have put together a comprehensive list of everything that I feel people similar to me, mainly students, can do to improve their sustainability with focus on the Kelowna area which is posted below in hopes others can learn from my experiences.