Re-calculating my Ecological Footprint

Ecological Carbon Footprint:

New Ecological Footprint:

Well, I'm going to be straight. This calculator is Bull****. At the start of the quarter, prior to my goals, I took up 3.5 earths, but now at the end I take up 3.7 earths. I'm pretty upset because I actually met the goals I had set for myself to reduce my EF.

My goals at the start of the quarter:

1. Consume less meat, from 4 meals a week to 2.5

2. No more vending machine food

3. Use less electricity.

How did I do?

1. I ate meat around 3 times a week, which is near my target goal.

2. No more vending machine food, definitely.

3. Use less electricity? Take a look below.

Here is why I am upset with the EF calculator. My first calculator showed that I consumed 3.1 plots of energy land, but my second had increased to 3.25 plots. On the contrary, here is my actual electricity consumption sense the start of September: 

Evidence like this solidifies my original hypothesis that this calculator is flawed, which fills me with an ornery attitude towards this aspect of the class. However, I am more than thrilled with my accomplishments with energy consumption!

Were you able to achieve the EF reduction goals you set for yourself? 

      I would say that out of my three goals, reducing my electricity use was the biggest accomplishment. My electricity bill last year averaged between $40 an $50 dollars. However as the temperature outside has been dropping, so has my energy bill. For the month of November my bill was $18.26. WOW. 

      My next best accomplishment was not eating vending machine food... sorta. Throughout the quarter I made noticeable cut backs with my vending machine consumption. However, there were some late nights when I needed a snack and had to revert to the vending machine. This only happened a few times, so I say count it!

      Finally, my third goal was a variable achievement. This is because I was inconsistent. Some weeks I ate no meat at all, and others I had a meat based meal every weeknight. Overall, I would say I averaged 3 meat based meals throughout this quarter.

Will you be able to continue these practices? Why or why not? 

     Out of all of my goals, I will most likely continue to strive for low energy consumption. This is because I am broke and can't afford high energy bills, but also due to a great system I have implemented with my daily life. This system consists of putting all plug-ins onto a power strip, letting natural light illuminate the apartment during the day, and finally using candles at night for lighting. 

     In regards to the food goals I had for myself, I will not continue with those practices. Frankly I am not self-righteous enough to care about the cost of where my delicious steak came from, its still delicious steak! Finally, vending machine food may be unhealthy, and most likely I will consume less. Still, it provides the convince I need for my heavy work load. 

Free Range Chicken

The other day in class a discussion of free range chicken versus caged chicken came up. While this video does poke-fun at consumers who care about eating free range chicken, it raises the question of does it matter where your chicken came from?

A trip to the grocery store used to be a trip to the grocery store. Now it's a minefield of moral dilemmas. In re chickens, a blogger named Joseph Haines has framed the question thusly: All chickens, including laying hens, eventually get the ax. Which of the following do you want on your plate?

(1) A caged chicken who, after a life of misery, hears the blade whistling down and thinks: Free at last, or

(2) A cage-free chicken whose final thought, after an existence of ease and comfort, is: Ooh, bummer.

See the problem? We're still eating the flesh of a fellow creature. It's up to each individual to decide what actions will make them feel better about killing chickens.

Although Marketing 474 is not an ethics class, a lot of the arguments tied into sustainability practices drag in the "morals" of a businesses practices. In class it was implied that free-ranged chicken is the way to go. Maybe some did feel that free-ranged chicken is morally correct, but we never discussed if free-ranged chicken is correct course of action to make the world more full of sustainable products.

Currently there are a lot of blogs and news propaganda claiming that factory farms are bad for the environment. It is difficult to find researched evidence of these claims, but after some deep digging through google I found a case study on chicken factories and pollution.
http://www.pewenvironment.org/uploadedFiles/PEG/Publications/Report/PEG_BigChicken_July2011.pdf_

According to the PEW case study on the pollution impacts of chicken factories, "Rough calculations of per-acre manure volume are not necessarily indicative of pollution issues, but agricultural experts have warned of a growing problem of excess manure." So, the excess manure a lot of news articles were claiming as the key source of environmental impacts tend to be misguiding.

Although the PEW had a hard time showing direct evidence of chicken farms contributing to pollution, there was one great example of how they may still be impacting the environment:
"University of Georgia researchers found in 2002 that 13 counties in the state had excess phosphorus in the soil. Of those, 10 were areas where poultry was concentrated."

Whether or not factory farms are bad for the environment, it's hard to find concrete evidence supporting either way. Until then it is important to keep in mind that although some people may feel morally obligated to give chickens a better life, they aught to keep a balanced view of the environmental impacts of free-ranged chicken until concrete evidence shows otherwise.

If there is better evidence of factory farms and pollution, please feel free to comment with a link to the research. I'm not saying that factory farms are either good or bad for environment, I'm just saying I would like to see more concrete scientific research showing statistically the environmental impacts of free-ranged and factory farmed chicken compared.

Go Live in Trash!

If you don't mind me asking, do you consider yourself an environmentally conscience individual? Do you keep a look out for new ways to lower your environmental impact? Should humans be more responsible with their actions? Well, if you answered yes all I can say is...

YOU SHOULD GO LIVE IN TRASH!

Yeah, you heard me, you should go live in trash. No, no, no I'm not trying to insult you. I'm just trying to inform you of a new way to help reduce your impact by choosing to live in a house built with BituBlock!

BituBlock? What's that? Good question meritorious reader. BituBlock is a really bright idea that Dr. John Forth of University of Leeds developed in order to help save resources and reduce emissions for concrete. BituBlock is a high-performance product that is about six times stronger than traditional concrete block. It’s made by mixing waste products like recycled glass, metal slag, sewage sludge and incinerator ash with a sticky binder called bitumen, also used in road paving. The mixture is compacted in a mold and heat-cured, which oxidizes and hardens the bitumen

While high recycled content is a vital part of sustainable construction, BituBlock’s landfill diverted ingredients are just part of what makes it so groundbreaking. Concrete is the most widely-used construction material with over ten billion tons produced annually. About 7% of global CO2 emissions come from concrete production. The primary source of CO2 emissions generated by concrete manufacturing is Portland cement, responsible for 74% to 81% of total CO2 emissions. In BituBlock, the bitumen binder replaces the Portland cement. 

So when I say "Go live in trash," all I am suggesting is that if you find yourself ever thinking about building or buying a house it might not be a bad idea to make it/see if it is made with BituBlock. 

Greentrepreneur

Entrepreneurs, the business people who are making bold courageous moves to become in charge with their own business. Here in America, entrepreneurs are seen as a hero who will bring work and prosperity to the community around them. Heroes such as Steve Jobs, Mark Cuban, and Elon Musk come in to mind because they made such a huge impact on a majority of people's lives. 

Many people go into entrepreneurship for many different reasons. Reasons from pursuing passion to trying to make a quick buck, these people all risk it to gain some sort of power. Some do morally great with this power, others not so much... but it is important to keep in mind what that entrepreneur should do with the power they wield. To make a pop-culture reference, Spiderman's Uncle Ben makes the iconic statement that entrepreneur's aught to carry with them when their business throws them into power. "With great power, comes great responsibility."

If there is underlying value that I have been learning from MKTG 474, it is that we as humans need to be responsible with the earth. We have put ourselves in power, yet forgoing many of the responsibilities that come with ruling the earth such as taking care of the earth itself. 

That's why I really applaud the efforts of Universities like Boston University who offer programs such as GREENtrepreneurship. This program gives prospective entrepreneurs the  tools and know-how to go into the clean energy sector, and start taking on that responsibility the power our energy sector wields. 

According to Paul McManus, managing director of the Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship & Commercialization (ITEC) at Boston University, “The program addresses a simple but acute problem: a lack of experienced entrepreneurs and seasoned executives in the clean energy sector. Our goal for this program is to help individuals accelerate their transition into the clean energy sector.”

Here is a quote from a student who took the greentreprenuer program "“This group really helped accelerate the iterations in the business, gave me access to new relationships, finding resources, being exposed to funding sources and ideas. I made some new contacts that will be valuable through the entrepreneurial journey."

Although Western's business is making strides into creating majors in areas such as sustainability, would it be a bad idea to consider programs like greentreprenuership as well? Many student's in the business school have expressed their interest of opening up their own shops one day. Western has the opportunity to really feed this interest of business students with the right tools to open up a green-conscientious shop.