My Impact on Earth's Ecological Scale

Throughout the past three weeks, the Gifted and Talented II class and I have been calculating our impact on Earth's environmental stability. Personally, the information that I collected was not beneficial to the health of our planet. On the other hand, it did not amaze me, for I knew that humans are generally destructive in their ties with nature (through my observations). Overall, I perceive the world to be filled with those who are apathetic, those who live for Earth, those who live for themselves, and those who live as well as they can for both themselves and for the Earth.

Within the first week of data extraction, I derived a list of 100 of my most valuable items. The list acted as a direct representation of the type of consumerist-mindset that I house. It asked the large question, "Marcus, can you live with 100 items?" Overall, it showed me where my priorities were hidden. My "100 Items List" consisted mainly of books, all of which were non-fiction (i.e. Quantum Mechanics books, German books, Calculus books, etc.). A small section of the list was dedicated to a tiny amount of clothing and hygiene-products. I topped my list off with an iPad and a computer. To you, the reader, it may seem that my task was easy. Oppositely, the creation of such a list requires an in-depth sense of organization regarding ideals and an understanding of hypothetical lifestyle structure. The capability to couple these abilities will present you with a list, a list that I found to be satisfactory, but sadly "empty."

Our next job was to calculate the amount of items that we own. I must admit that this task had the potential to be the most pain-staking assignment that I have ever performed. Nevertheless, with the exclusion of individual LEGOs and of electronic components, I calculated that I had a bit more than 1408 items in my belonging. I was satisfied in knowing what I owned the most: books. After learning this, I was apathetic as to the numbers of my other belongings. Fundamentally, I was satisfied with the knowledge that I owned more books than anything in my house. I perceived the list to be yet another test of priorities and not of numbers. Think on this: Hypothetically speaking, would you rather own 100,000 varieties of energetic, colorful plants or 100,000 varieties of dangerous, synthetic chemicals? Although both items are extremely high in numbers, one set of items supports the ecological equilibrium of Earth, while the other set destroys the roots of all existent life. In this case, numbers have nothing to do with environmental friendliness.


Nevertheless, with our lists, we had to pick one consumer item and we had to trace and describe the path of production for that specific valuable. My group and I chose to describe the life of a compact disc (or a CD). In doing so, we were able to observe how much transportation, extraction (of materials), and production it took in order to create a small compact disc. Basically, a CD consists of four basic, but dangerously-manufactured materials: polycarbonate, lacquer, ink, and aluminum (rarely gold). Next, my group and I researched the synthesis, refining, and manufacturing processes for each material required for the production of one CD. The fact that a "simple" CD is made from such poisonous and toxic materials is appalling. Lacquer and polycarbonate were the two largest contributors to the "Environmental Enemies" list. The extraction and refining processes of aluminum metal are equally dreadful. Overall, I learned that the production of what appears to be "simple goods" is a gross underestimation.

After all of our projects were completed and presented, we took a small, though informational "Ecological Footprint" survey. At the beginning of the survey, it requires that you state the country that you live in, your annual salary, the size of your house, and the size of your family. The next sequence of questions asks you about your lifestyle (i.e. your diet, your usage of salary, utilities-specifics, etc.). By the end of the quiz, you are presented with a number. This number represents the hypothetical amount of Earths that would be necessary in order to support a society that is filled with people who live just like you do. The survey says, "If everyone on Earth were to live like you, we would need X Earths in order to sustain humanity." Now, you may ask, "What was my number?" 5.01 Earths. When I saw this, I was not surprised. With consideration to the fact that I am living in a first world, mechanistic, industrialized superpower, I estimated that my average "number" would be approximately 4 or 5 Earths; I was subsequently correct.


If you wish to take the Ecological Footprint Survey, click here!