Beating Gas Prices While Lowering Emmisions

With gas prices averaging $3.94 a gallon the costs of driving a 97 ford explorer can add up just as quickly as the emissions.  The amount of emissions i create with my vehicle is 3x stronger than the average electric hybrid car, increasing my carbon footprint at the same rate.  I have been able to use my vehicle under 10 miles a week making my C02 emissions 51 ilbs per month.  This costs an average of this is 5 dollars a week and was a minimal change of life style. 

The Carbon Footprint and What We Can Learn From It

The Carbon Footprint shows our personal contribution to global climate change through monitoring co2 emissions we produce daily.  The big two categories of emissions are transportation and home energy consumption.  Home energy comes from anything use in your home that needs fuel or power to operate, the bi product of this is chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and hexafluoride (SF6).  Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission is comes from all of our vehicles and machinery that need oil to run.  The effects of these emissions is changing our home the planet earth, now trapped inside of our biosphere we live amongst these emissions as part of our home on a larger scale.  Humans have the biggest impact on the environment and our population is increasing as well as the amount of emissions we create.
Greenhouse Gas emissions are transferred into carbon equivalent units for measurement, this allows for comparison of the potential threat posed by different gases.

My carbon footprint household average is 1806 lbs. [819 kg.] of carbon dioxide per month.
This is equivalent to 903 lbs. [410 kg.] per person.
My emissions are 84% from home energy and 16% from transportation.

I learned by monitoring my energy use for this project I could use better strategies and lower my emissions for future months and save money by investing in more energy efficient apartment devices.  Overall I felt the carbon footprint helped me monitor my energy use and the awareness has benefited me slightly with minimal effort.

Learn to build from Nature

This is a Link I thought was a good video to watch

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pawlyn_using_nature_s_genius_in_architecture.html

Michael Pawlyn shows how we can learn to live from nature by copying its design to build a self sufficient world.  

Eaarth

http://www.billmckibben.com/

History teaches about the future when thinking about how we got to this point.  Investigative thinking has lead us to question our world around us and previous actions can have a reaction.  The birth of mankind has been recorded on this planet and over time there has always been change, it is time for us as inhabitants of this planet to adapt for a new world is coming.  There are no new frontiers left to conquer the race to gather the earths resources is slowing.  Now all that is left to do is change the way we life and think, the earth is like our body it has its own methods for maintaining a level of homeostasis.  What we do to the planet has an effect the evidence is lining up.  This change from producing goods to recycling that same material will help rebuild the world.  Jobs that where once for producing plastic will be for making that same plastic into a raw material.  Resources are key to every aspect of our worlds, resources are what allow human life.  We can no longer afford to spend the strongest efforts of mankind fighting over the last bit of resource left in the earth.  "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."  Albert Einstein.  Its time to look at a bigger picture this world was here before humans so we only found this planet then explored it, we did not create it but we can destroy it.

Recycling at Home Part 1 Small Scale

Recycleing is a simple way for everyone to do their part in helping reuse materials.  All the materials that are created non degradable wont go anywhere without recycling.  The basics of recycling are so simple that they could be implemented into a kindergarden learning plan, and should be.  My feeling is that recycling is to easy to not be done, the bigger picture is how do we get this to spread and make it the norm for those who were never taught.  Awareness is the big picture these simple methods need to be spread to others and land fills could someday be compost sites. 

Recycling for home main categories

Paper & Cardboard

Glass

Metal
Plastic



This is my home system takes minimal space and energy. 

Another concept of recycling is buying recycled from the start.  It completes the system gives income to the companys making progress for a sustainable future.

Kerala India, an example for all?

Bill McKibben takes us to a remote area of southern India where people live simply taking only what they need to survive.  People that wouldn't understand why we race to accumulate material goods that are just temporary satisfaction.  Where do we draw the line between want and need?  The number of possessions we have only tend to complicate our lives.  Kerala has managed to give the members of its community a similar quality of life comparable to the U.S. that is sustainable and can be passed to a next generation.  Importance is placed on education, overall community health, family, and  emotional well being things easily over looked in the materialism of the American dream.  Are we truly happy with all our possessions that we disregard as trash into our environment, has anyone stopped to think that progression of man kind can happen without the race to profit from our environment. 
Talking about something is a start, Kerela is an example for the world especially our young United States culture.  There is evidence in our world that resources are limited and also reusable, why push for more expansion when we can be content with what material possessions we need.  Simplifying and reducing society doesn't mean education is sacrificed, with less time working to create the unnecessary goods we can spend more efforts toward educating everyone.  There needs to be change, but change won't come without leaders driving the change and educating others.  My goal to take away from Kerela is to improve the "inefficiency" in my life and set an example for the simpler more progressive future. 
I will be posting more on what i do for inefficiency in my life and comments, suggestions, and personal examples are welcome.