In a day, many of the decisions that we make will make an impact on the environment. Wether good or bad, the smallest choice or change can make a huge impact. Here are some of mine:

In a day I do many things, and use many products. Some of the things that my daily routine would consist of are: eating, traveling by car, showering, using lights, and washing my clothes. Looking in more throughly at each of these, for example eating, some important parts of that, that would effect the enironment, would be where the food is coming from, the packaging, and even food waste. These can effect the environment by the life that the animals will live (if it’s an animal product), the packaging that the food comes in, as it could effect the environment, and even throwing away food to create more of a land fill. Normally, all of my animal products that i eat are either free-range, or cruelty-free. The packaging for the food I eat is not always recyclable. Most of it is, while still not all of it is recyclable. While I also may not eat all of the food that I get, we do use a “food waste” bin, which is what is what goes into our greenwaste bin. Overall I feel that my impact on the biosphere (which is the sphere where all living things are, so it overlaps with the hydrosphere (which is the water sphere), lithosphere (which is the land sphere), and the atmosphere ( which is the air sphere).

Traveling by car can effect a lot of things. Since almost all cars that are used are run by gas and are not electric, the gas causes a huge impact, which is more negative than anything. Some of the effects to the envirnoment are Air Pollution, Fossil Fuels, CO2 in the atmosphere (burning a gallon of car gas can cause about 22 pounds of CO2 in the atmosphere), and more. All of these problems effect different spheres. Air Pollution will effect the atmosphere, Fossil Fuels will effect the geosphere as well as the biosphere, and CO2 in the atmosphere will effect the atmosphere. It is hard to defend something like transportation, since almost every electric car is not a very praticle purchase for most because of thier very high prices, while you can also look for cars with good gas milage, or an efficient use of gas, these aren’t always options for everyone. And, while you could just say “ride the bus instead”, as this is a good alternitive for someone to do so rather than having ten cars using the gas, you can have one big one. But this also is not always convienient for everyone. And while most people want to help the environment and use electric cars, it’s not always an option for most.

Everyday, I take a shower. This usually lasts for 20 minuets to half an hour. I don’t see how many problems showering for long periods can effect our spheres or really our environment here, since we don’t have a water shortage. If you where somewhere else in the world where there was a water shortage, then it could have a bigger impact on the spheres and the environment. If I did live somewhere where there was a water shortage, this could have a big effect ont the hydrosphere, as it would be low on water, which would effect in turn the biosphere as well, since the hydrosphere also effects animals and plants. This could effect many things such as the water cycle, since if there isn’t enough water or if there was no water, the cycle would stop, causing the lakes and rivers to dry up, giving us no source of fresh water.

I also wash my clothes regurlary. While this is not a daily process for me, I do do it quite frequently. I have water saving options on my washing machine, as well as cold water. While I normally will not use bleach to wash my clothing if I don’t have to, I will use deturgent, and recycle the containers once they are empty. I will dry my clothes in the dryer, but I will also hang some of my clothes to let them dry, to save on power. There is also a power saving option on my dryer, so this also helps save on power, to create less waste from the electricity that would have to be used.

Throughout my day, a crucial part for me, is using lights. I do this without even thinking about the impacts that this could have on the environment, each time I turn on a light, or leave one on. We do these things without even thinking, since it’s just such a second nature habit for us. We don’t always know where the light soure is coming from, or how it is getting to us, be we know that light is always something that is there and that we’ll have. And for that, I feel that we can sometimes take theset things for granted. If you look at our Engineering Brightness project, places like the Dominican Republic don’t always have access to light sources, or t any light at all throught thier day, so in my opinion I think it is at least important for us to know where the light we are using is coming from. Each time that we turn on a light, it is effecting the environment by its source. It can come from many different things, being, coal, solar panels, naturel gas, hydroelectric plants, oil and more. Some of these sources are better than others for the environment, but they all do create a form of waste. And this form of waste can be hard to recycle. For example, coal turns to ash, which is usually thrown away to landfills, which creates more intense landfills. Or some sources can create radioactive waste, which can stay radioactive for thousands of years, killing plant species, amoung animals and even humans.

Completeing these acts without knowning the direct consiquences is a big problem. While I do admit some of these things are nessacairy, and are quite difficult not to use or do, we all have to start making small changes one at a time. Because if we don’t, who knows what might happen. While I do feel that some of the things that I do on a daily baisis are good for the environment, I do also feel that a lot of them are not benefitting the environment, and these things that I do are not nessecairy to use all of the time. I plan to change some of the things that I do, by, trying to walk more to places that are close enough to me, for example, walking home from school, instead of being picked up every day, also I will turn off the lights whenever I am not in a room, or using that room. I plan to make as many small changes in my day to help make a big difference in the end. While I may not stop using all of my lights, or taking longer showers, or even walking everywhere, I do plan to do my best to change some aspects of my life that will and can better our environment, because we have to  stop what were doing and make a change. That’s why I feel this knowledge is so important, to understand what we do is impacting the environment and why it is, and to be able to understand what we are doing that can be changed to help make a better environment. We all can change it. There is my day.