Envisci 1
Assignment in Environmental
Science 1
Submitted by:
Maria Angela H. Mariano
2010-33374
Submitted to:
Mr. Tolentino B. Moya, Ph.D.
Write-up:
Ecological footprint is simply a measure of the never ending human demands
on the Earth’s resources. By filling this ‘How Large is Your Footprint’
spreadsheet, I wondered how much “nature” my lifestyle requires. This sheet
estimates the amount of land and ocean area required to sustain my
monthly consumption patterns and absorb wastes on a monthly basis.
Even though the numbers were only rough estimates of what my family
really consumes, this computation of our ecological footprint has made a
great impact on my way of thinking when it comes to the conserving the
environment. After filling in data, what surprised me was the result of my per
capita footprint, which is 4.4 hectares. That would almost be the size of our
subdivision.
Thirty percent (30%) of my parent’s monthly income goes to food. This would
logically mean that most of the per capita footprint comes from the food we
consume. Even if we have a 50x50 meter garden area used for food, which
most of the urban homes nowadays do not have, it would still not be
sufficient to provide us with daily consumption needs. Since we are six (6) in
the family, the amount of food we have is good enough for a month.
When it comes to housing, the largest component would be our monthly
consumption of electricity, which is roughly about 260 kwh. That is equal to
more or less 3000 kwh of electricity per year. Also included is the city gas we
use, which constitutes about 0.05 cubic meters or 50 liters of gasoline per
month. We have lessen our consumption of gas by commuting from our
home to school or work, but there are still times when we have to use the car
for particular reasons, like when going to the province or attending social
events.
The energy intensity of our telephone/electronics equipment rose up to 14,
000 kw/peso. For a monthly bill of P1200, I did not imagine how huge blow
this would have on the environment until now.
Lastly, every member of our family gets to use 92 square meters of forest
lands just to cover our needs found in these areas, and more than 3000
square meters of the seas as well.
This assignment let me realize how much my family and I personally,
consume and destroy our Mother Earth. If other people knew about their own
per capita ecological footprint, they too would be fully aware of how much
they consume and put to waste, and how few and limited resources Earth
has to meet such needs. Truly, the saying, ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’
should be implemented because one small change could save us all.