Sustainability Case

My personal high impact areas are: Shelter, mobility and food. Yes, I do expect that these areas can be environmentally significant as the earth can support an average ecological footprint of 1.8 global hectares per person, while comparing my ecological footprint being 5.4 hectares meaning that I would need three planets to survive. Thus, the footprint has served as a useful tool to educate me the need to adopt a 'virtuous lifestyle' and put emphasis on positive action such as recycling, reduced energy use at home, fuel efficient cars and of course buying fair trade goods.

Therefore it is of wide global recognition that the present consumption levels shows that I am using the world resources faster that they can be replenished and if these current trends continue, ecosystems services that are freely available today will cease to be unavailable or become more costly in the near future. In order to combat this crisis, I realized that I must change my consumption patterns in my daily lifestyle.

As a matter of fact, I should begin to recognize ecological limits and find ways to live with the earth's bounds. As far as my food consumption is concerned, I find that it is horrible, therefore I must take into account the quality of food that I'm consuming, thinking about the distance the food has travelled and think before purchasing them. Moreover, I must avoid heavily-processed food and opt for healthier alternatives such as eating fresh unprocessed food, thus maintaining a healthier diet and eat fish or meat once a week or less. Furthermore, I should consider that as manufactured food uses large amounts of energy, water, materials in production, packaging and produces large amounts of wastes, I should be buying veg rather than packaged food when I go to supermarkets. Moreover, I must try to consume seasonal food locally, for example organic foods which are healthier that the amount of fast foods I consume every day, instead I can have a green lunch comprising of a sandwich with organic tomatoes rather than consuming a product that is harmful to our health.

By responding positively to the computed level of impact that my consumption level can lead to the damage of the earth's resources, I should be changing the way I consume energy at home. For example, I can adopt small changes in the way I do things, such as controlling my water heating and regulating shower temperatures. In case I'm going for extended periods, I should make sure that I turn off my water system.

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