Mantanzas Pass

I thought the views from the edge of the water were very nice at Mantanzas Pass.  That was the most remarkable part of the venture.  The tide was out when I was there which gave me the chance to see the lower parts of the mangroves, I was surprised that so many of them were not deeper in the ground and that some ended where the water was when the tide was in.  I suppose that is because they cannot grow in the water.  I never thought too much about the mangroves being infused with the water's edge and how that would impact the plant.  

The most memorable sound in the mangroves was the movement of the lizards in the leaves and fallen branches.  It was sort of spooky actually because I was there alone.  I also didn't expect to be eaten up by mosquitoes in the middle of the day,  I was not prepared for that as I work a sleeveless top that day.     

My hometown has grown in population.  I grew up in a town called Savona, New York.  When I lived there you could not find it on the map,  I had 32 kids in my graduating class, and everyone knew everyone else.  Now there are more families there, the school system has merged with another small town near us.  They changed our school into an elementary school and the other town's school into a high school.  The community must be more widespread, and less recognizable or tight knit.

Savona had a lot of natural elements, there was the steep hill that we (tried to) ski on, there is the woods that we hiked and hunted, the ponds and lakes that we fished, and the farmers with their dairy cattle and fields of corn to feed them.  To sell that to build condos and turn it into a small city would take a lot from the environment and impact the ecosystem there.  There are other areas that would be less damaged by such projects, they would have to look elsewhere.

When they were running the highway through a neighboring town many of the homeowners did not want to give up the land and the homes that they raised their families in.  The state used eminent domain to acquire the land and people lost money on their lands.  I always thought that was wrong and that they should have tried to change the route of the new highway.  The road runs all along the base of the mountain, it took a great deal from the land and the environment.  I would not sell for less than the land it's value, especially if it is a natural setting, unless it was to be used for a natural project.

Footprint Calculator

After taking the Footprint calculator my footprint said that if everyone lived like I do it would take 3.9 planets to sustain us.  It appears the most of my footprint is created through my use of electricity (although I think my children make a much bigger impression in my footprint than I do, I am ALWAYS shutting off lights and fans after them).  I will have to tell them about this footprint, although I have used saving the environment as a motivator without success  but this may be a visual for them to understand the impact, in addition to this I could put up a clothesline, which I have considered for a long time to save the energy needed to use the dryer.  Second, to my surprise was food.  I understand that packaging makes a lot of waste but 17.8 tons of CO2, whoa!!!!  I buy products that have less packaging (for instance cereal in bags, large bags of cat food, large bottle of laundry soap, etc.) but if I were to buy more non packaged foods it would be helpful in reducing that number.  I didn't give thought to the land it takes to raise the crops and animals that I eat, 17.7 global acres needed to produce them-I don't even really like meats, but It appears that crops are the bigger issue in my overuse of this service.  Using the bus instead of driving saves quite a bit on the environment, and is my smallest piece of the pie.

If everyone lived in a manner that it would take 4.6 earths to support us, the population on the earth would need to be divided by almost 5 to determine the number of people the earth could sustain at this rate.  If there are seven billion people on earth the earth could sustain 1,400,000,000.

Sustainable Consumerism

Sustainable Consumerism is the wise use of resources, minimization of waste, using renewable energy sources within the capacity for renewal, all while meeting the needs of this generation as well as generations to come.  Globalization is a positive driver in this because the entire world population needs to make practices in this effort or else it will not be productive.  Capitalism can be a positive or negative driver in this based on the way things go-for instance, if renewable energy has a breakthrough and it can make a business profit then capitalism will be positive because a company will buy into it, on the other hand if we continue to make slow progress in the area of renewable energy then companies wont buy into it and capitalism will play a much more negative role.

When planning my shopping list I search through local ads, print coupons off the internet, and shop and many stores to save money on foods.  I buy things when they are on sale, and plan meals around what is on sale.  I do not see myself paying more for organic or local foods because I run on such a tight budget.  If I had no concern for money, or if my budget allowed for more spending I would definitely support these efforts. 

I am more likely to patronize chain stores because they have better deals.  Mom and pop shops are good for some things but mostly things are less expensive in larger stores.  However, using the chain stores will put the mom and pop stores out of business and create a monopoly.  This happened among chain stores even-Walmart and Target superstores put a hurting on Winn Dixie and K Mart to the point where they closed down a lot of stores or sell out to other chains.  People will go where the best deal is, especially now while the economy is in recession.  This can be a problem in the long run.  On the other hand if people bought only from mom and pop shops the competition would be fierce and that would drive the prices down.