Journal #13 - Reliance on Energy

My reliance on energy truly needs to be limited. We live in a world where we want everything to come easily to us. I’m part of that problem. As a driver, I know I have to carpool and ride a bike more if possible. So do so many other Americans. 

Journal #12 - Ecological Footprint

If everyone lived my lifestyle, we would need 3.97 Earths. I don't know if this was completely accurate though considering I live in a tiny apartment and some of the questions were slightly confusing. My housing footprint was 5.64 which was way less than the country's average at 31.58. The only thing that I was higher in than the country's average was my food footprint. I picked my diet to be more of a carnivorous one, although I want to try to change my eating habits to include more vegetables. With a college budget, it is not that easy to always shop at Farmer's Markets and to buy organic in supermarkets. In addition, with all my school work as well as having a job, it is hard to cook a real dinner at times. Overall, I think my footprint was low enough, and it has been reduced a lot from when I last did the ecological footprint quiz a few years back. In order to reduce my footprint further, I would have to change my diet as well as use more energy saving appliances in my apartment. I will even carpool more and drive less.

Journal #11 - Gardner Articles

Skipped entry.

Journal #10 - Aldo Leopold

To be continued.

Journal #9 - Tragedy of the Commons -- Externalities...etc.

The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently, and solely and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this to happen. This dilemma was first described in an influential article titled "The Tragedy of the Commons," written by Garrett Hardin and first published in the journal Science in 1968.


I definitely think what Garrett Hardin had to discuss truly is a tragedy. These days, no one really wants to join forces in order to help one another. This is why things such as Ecovillages come into play.