Looking Back at what I learned In Class.

What I have learned during this semester about sustainability and living a green lifestyle is learning a lot from our readings on Savitz and doing research and sharing things through my blog. I found that the more I researched I learned and it helped me improve the way I live and knowing how it can make it difference not matter how small it is. I felt that if I did one thing to help the environment that it is still a difference. Not only has this taught me but also had me become more aware of my habits that needed to change. I realize that the bigger key to change is becoming aware of what you are doing and this allowed me to make wiser decisions and questioned what I was doing that was beneficial to our world and the environment.

Reflecting On My Sustainability Challenge

Remembering what were my reasons and why I started my challenge and why I continue to try to be consistent with it has been quite a journey. I know living in Manhattan it can be quite challenging especially living in apartment knowing that you don’t have control of certain things. Such as the heat, and the hot water that is overpowering. My building is having issues with their pipes and water where we receive more hot water than cold this has been very challenging because I felt it was important to use less hot water and more cold water when it comes to washing dishes, but in all I feel that I do my best with what I have control of. When it comes to recycling and using less water and buying products that are more eco-friendly has been something that I have become use to doing and happy that I chose to do. I feel that I am helping and improving the world in some way and that I am setting example for some that might want to try. While it can be hard at first what I would remain to do is keep going until our world reaches a point where we don’t have to use anything that is harmful to our world.

Carbon Footprint Calculator

I took the footprint carbon calculator and I have to say that I was surprise that my carbon footprint in total is equivalent to 155 trees per year. I have to say that it is not bad for someone who just started, but I still feel that there is room for improvement. Living in Manhattan in an apartment building can be hard to lessen the the carbon footprint. For example I do not have control of the heating in building, but the things that I can control I work on. Overall, I am glad that there is a calculator that gives you an idea on how you doing which helps me to improve and do more.

Click on the link if you are curious to know about your carbon footprint. https://www.conservation.org/act/carboncalculator/calculate-your-carbon-footprint.aspx#/

Re-thinking Consumption In Our Age of Consumerism.

The modern world is all about sustainability and going green because people start to develop an environmental conscience. They begin to realize that planet Earth requires support and care not only on words, but some real action is needed. Therefore, people start to rethink their consumption, making it more eco-friendly, thoughtful, and sustainable. If some years before sustainability was associated in the minds of the people, especially business owners, with substantial expenses, now it equates to a competitive advantage. Sustainability did not go cheap and required serious investments to make it worth to the consumers. While not many people were interested in going green and supporting environmental development another couple of decades ago, now the situation has changed dramatically. The era of consumerism is gradually changing into the era of sustainable decisions and enhanced recognition of the crucial environmental issues. The basis of general engagement with sustainability can be found within the desire of the public to follow the influencers and socially-recognized individuals like celebrities, artists, politicians, and scientists. They set the trends by joining the cause and attempting to struggle for a better future for the next generations. Another important point regarding the causation of sustainable practices and thinking green is within the economic and market developments. The expectations of the consumers change as they start to demand from the manufacturers to produce the goods that have minimal or zero environmental impact. Sustainable production offers a serious competitive advantage over the companies on the market. A shift to sustainable technologies and productions characterizes the brand as the one open to the public, comprehensive, caring for the well-being without being profit-oriented and revenue-driven. In the eyes of the public, sustainability correlates with responsibility and reliability. Therefore, younger generations try to choose in favor of the preservation of the natural environment and biodiversity if not for the sake of the planet, than to ensure personal beneficence.  

The prevalence of sustainability as a priority of the consumers when selecting where to make a purchase and what specifically to buy can be explained by the deep “counterculture roots” (Miller & Stovall, 2019, p. 9). Those roots are associated with the detailed evaluation of the presented and offered product and assessment of the assortment on the market. The trend of the latest years suggests that consumption should be driven by the characteristics of the products, goods, and services. The primary focus should be kept on the sustainability of the manufacturing process because without going green the planet will soon go devastated. For sure, some of the consumers fall out of the picture and fail to comprehend the importance of sustainability. In these cases, only the increase of awareness and implementing changes to the public policies (Paddock, 2017, p. 123) might bring positive changes to collective actions through the individualized form of influence. When the public knows more and has a better level of awareness about environmental problems and the simplicity of their solutions.

The overall progress correlated with green business and sustainability that can be achieved through effective cooperation between the people and organizations is associated with specific actions. It can be done in the following ways: 1) rethinking consumption, suggesting that consumption should be improved by consuming less but more efficient. 2) Sustainable consumption should be driven by the recognition of shared responsibility for the future. 3) Every stakeholder within the given situation (organization, people, and the government) should collaborate and cooperate on the issue of sustainability and ensure effective participation in the developmental and implementation processes and procedures to make sustainable solutions a part of the future. Finally, 4) consumers should require sustainable solutions and implementation of the revised programs and green solutions for production and use of the resources.

References

Miller, J. C., & Stovall, T. (2019). The “right to consume”? Re-thinking the dynamics of exclusion/inclusion in consumer society. Consumption Markets & Culture. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/10253866.2018.1562712

Paddock, J. (2017). Household consumption and environmental change: Rethinking the policy problem through narratives of food practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 17(1), 122-39. doi: 0.1177/1469540515586869

Ted Talk: Are Mushrooms is the New Plastic?

I really enjoyed and appreciate that using a part of a mushrooms that could be used for the new plastic. The part of the mushroom that is being used is called mycelium, which is consider to be like a glue. Mycelium allows for it mold itself like the way you mold plastic. I found this to be fascinating. Who would of thought that a mushroom can be the answer to create the new plastic. This would be less harmful to the world and for the people. If you are interested in learning more just please watch the video. I think this would be something that you will appreciate.

Sustainability Action Calculator

I wanted to share my sustainability action calculation. Up above you can see that my impact of CO2 savings is a $1.09 and an average member is saving $4.23. I did find this calculation interesting. I can say that recycling is one of the ways that I feel I am working to help minimize waste. If you are interested in knowing how you are doing in taking action towards sustainability.

Check out this link http://www.yousustain.com/footprint/actions

Eco-Friendly Makeup Brands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziDZPbABp74
Today I was doing some research on makeup brands that are eco-friendly and organic. When it comes to makeup the packaging is mostly plastic and as we know it’s harmful to our environment, but we also need to take into consideration that makeup has chemicals like parabean and other harmful chemicals that is damaging to the environment and to us. I came across this young lady’s YouTube, Isabel Montes states: “There is currently no zero waste makeup brand.”With many women and young ladies are using makeup on daily basis I hope makeup brands can find a way to become more sustainable.
What I found helpful in this video, Isabel Montes shares the different brands that are cruelty free, vegan, organic and eco friendly. It seems like she really had to dig to find some of these brands that are eco-friendly because these are names that are not obvious, so I can see how it can be hard to find brands like that compare to bigger brands like Sephora since they advertise themselves much more compare to these small brands. If you want to find out more about what brands you can use, please click and watch the video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!