Dana+C

Week 4: Putting It All Together   By now, since we have been discussing it in class for the past month, each one of us should have a good understanding of what sustainability  is. For the past 3 weeks, my posts have been centered around innovations and what businesses should do to protect the earth. Now, I'm going to focus on the individual, **//YOU //**. To start off, let's look at A merica. Although Americans consists of only 5% of the global population, we consume 25% of the world's energy. Here's another surprising statistic: //By his/her first birthday, the average American will be responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than one person in Tanzania generates in his/her lifetime.//  Now, what is the human carbon footprint? During an average //American's// life, he/she will... While reading my classmates' posts, I found one common impediment to solving the earth's sustainability problems: the ignorance of the average human being and subsequently, the need to educate them. Dr. Eric W. Sanderson, director of the Human Footprint Project, says: //**<span style="color: #7fe07b; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">"human influence on earth can be positive or negative, benign or catastrophic. Recognizing this responsibility is the first step each of us can take to transform the human footprint and save the last of the wild." **// <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alex Laskey, founder and president of Opower, explains this idea in his Ted Talk: <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> media type="custom" key="23269628" <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">How do we get people to pay attention to the harm they're causing to the earth and reduce their carbon footprint? Laskey believes the solution is more psychological, and explains it through a behavioral study done years ago in a neighborhood during an smothering hot week in California. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Graduate students put signs on every house in a neighborhood, asking them to turn off their A/C and turn on their fans instead. One quarter of the group had signs that said, "if you turn off your A/C this summer, you'd save $54 a month!" Another 1/4 had signs promoting eco-friendly activities and the other quarter's signs were centered around being good citizens. So, did any of the signs in these groups work? **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">NOPE **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">, not even the one about saving money. However, the last 1/4 of the neighborhood, which had received pamphlets that said, "when surveyed, 77% of your neighbors turned off their A/C and turned on their fans. Please join them in doing so," there was an immediate impact. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Laskey concludes: "if something is inconvenient, even if we believe in it, moral suasion, financial incentives, don't do much to move us. But <span style="color: #7fe07b; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">social pressure <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">? <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">That's powerful stuff, <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> and //<span style="color: #7fe07b; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">harnessed correctly, it could be a powerful force for good. //<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">" <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Laskey's company, Opower, partnered with several utilities companies that want to help their customers save energy. Opower sends its clients customized energy reports, that show their energy consumption levels compared to their neighbors, who live in similar sized homes, and give them targeted recommendations to help them reduce their energy levels further. Laskey claims that this is working, and I'd agree, since average homeowners and renters have saved over $250 million in home utilities bills. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">By motivating people to pay attention, and change their behavior, Laskey and Opower have already ensured future reductions in home energy consumption. **<span style="color: #7fe07b; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">We can do the same. ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Like we keep saying, it is very important that we keep throwing this information out to the public, and make sure that they absorb it. Although peer pressure is generally thought of as negative, it can be positive. This is one of those cases. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">While looking around on National Geographic, I found a [|360 degrees Energy Diet] you can use to reduce your carbon footprint. You get points for each eco-friendly activity you do in the 6 sectors (What You Buy, Food [review of what Berenice talked to us about on Monday], Transportation, At Home, Water Use & Waste Disposal and Reduction). The more points you earn, the more you have done to reduce your carbon footprint!! <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> ( [] )
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">burn 31,350 gallons of gasoline
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">read 5,054 newspapers (or 43 trees)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">throw out 64 TONS of garbage
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">use 1.8 MILLION gallons of water
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">click here to find out your personal carbon footprint

<span style="color: #79f180; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; line-height: 27px;">Week 3: Obtaining Clean <span style="color: #1f1ffe; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; line-height: 27px;">Water <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">On Mo <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">nday in class, we talked abou <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">t water and how much of it is available for us to use. Since less than 1% of the earth's freshwater is accessible to us, it is very important to conserve our water resources, keep them clean, and discover ways to tap into other ones.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">In many <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">developing countries, there is also a lack of available, clean drinking water. The earth's population is over 7 billion, but less than 2 billion people have access to a high-quality, regulated water supply. Lack of sewage treatment leads to dirt contaminated water full of viruses and bacteria. Each year in developing countries, 3-4 million people die of water-borne diseases, such as cholera, and dehydration.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Also on Monday, Mrs. L <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">il showed us [|Michael Pritchard's Ted Talk] on his Life Saver water bottles that turn pathogenic water into drinkable water. Basically, you fill the bottle up, pump it a few times, and then clean water comes out. I thought that these bottles, along with [|life straw] and the playground that pumps water, were really cool and beneficial inventions, so I wanted to research to see other similar water purifying devices.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 105%;">One invention, the [|PureMadi] ceramic filter, **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 105%;"> **designed by University of Virginia students, faculty and alumni**, **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 105%;"> caught my attention: **

media type="youtube" key="dQBwzmqMNDY" height="250" width="400" align="center" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The University of Virginia has focused its work in the Venda region of South Africa to create a sustainable, water-filter factory using ceramic filters. Since they can be used in households, c eramic filters are especially efficient. They are made using local materials (sawdust, clay, water) and local labor, which also stimulates Venda's economy. Environmental engineer officer and director of PureMadi Jim Smith says, "they [the locals] already know something about ceramics, so we teach them how to make these filters [...] therefore, it becomes a sustainable business for them, so not only do we help water quality in the community, we also empower a local economic driver." These filters cost around $15-20 each and can serve a family of 5-6 for several years.

**<span style="color: #3e29f4; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 1.5;">The Design? **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 1.5;"> Materials are mixed, pressed into the shape of a filter pot, and fired in a kiln. In the kiln, the clay forms a ceramic and the sawdust combusts, leaving a porous ceramic matrix for filtration. These filters are treated with a dilute solution of silver nanoparticles, which lodge in the pore space of the ceramic matrix and act as a highly effective disinfectant for bacteria and viruses. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">More recently, UVA has created **<span style="color: #61a1fa; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">a water-purification tablet called MadiDrop **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">, a small porous ceramic tablet that has been lined with silver or copper. To use it, you drop the tablet into a water storage container and it purifies the water within a few hours. MadiDrops cost only a few dollars and can be used for 6 months. Personally, I like these MadiDrop tablets a little less, because of the time it takes for them to purify water and their relatively short period of use.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">One of Smith's long term goals is to establish a dozen more factories to make these filters, which could produce healthy drinking water for half a million people. I hope UVA achieves its goal because these inventions should spread to other developing regions, not just the Venda area. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">([|other article I used])

<span style="color: #79f180; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; line-height: 27px;">Week 2: Using Fungi <span style="color: #79f180; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; line-height: 27px;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">During the course of this year, Mrs. Lil mentioned many times how fungi could be the solution to the earth's problems. I had always thought it was interesting, because before I thought, "what could mushrooms do?" and today, while looking at Ted Talks, I found one of many answers....  <span style="color: #000503; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 27px;">media type="custom" key="23154266" <span style="color: #000503; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.066em; line-height: 1.5;">In this Ted Talk, Eben Bayer discusses the detriments of the wasteful packaging industry, especially the synthetic products plastic and styrofoam (click here to see why styrofoam is bad), and shares his alternative to using these wasteful materials: [|MycoBond]. ====Instead of using plastics, which not only require great amounts of energy to create but are also indisposable, Eden Bayer has created an more energy efficient, compostable substitute made out of a mushroom's mycelium and crop waste.====



====<span style="color: #7fe07b; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">How does it work? Mycelium is a self-assembling material. When you place mycelium into a sealed container with materials considered agricultural waste (ex: seed husks, woody biomass), mycelium grows into the materials and transforms them into a keratin-like polymer that can be formed into any shape. It is basically used as a glue to mold things like in the plastic industry. MycoBond also has many different properties: it insulates, it is fire resistant, moisture resistant and vapor resistant. MycoBond materials can absorb impacts, making it great as a packaging substitute, and they are 100% compostable after their use. More applications of MycoBond are explained [|here] ==== ====<span style="color: #7fe07b; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">How is it made? <span style="color: #010a01; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">click to see <span style="color: #7fe07b; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">[|Technology Used] <span style="color: #000614; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">& [|How It's Made] ====

<span style="color: #000614; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">(Bayer explains the step-by-step process more in depth in the video, starting at 4:52)
====<span style="color: #7fe07b; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Thoughts on the future? <span style="color: #000500; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Bayer says, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0e17b8; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">"There are three principles that should govern better materials. Firstly, they should be able to be created almost anywhere on the planet. Secondly, they should require considerably less energy to produce than current materials. Lastly, they should be able to be disposed of by nature's wonderful open-source recycling system." ==== ====<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #7fe07b; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">In summary, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;"> MycoBond follows the earth's recycling system. Any method of disposal is okay because MycoBond is composed of natural materials that belong in the earth's ecosystem, unlike plastics that can't be broken down, pollute the earth, and create toxins. ====
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">For information of Mycobond's benefits on sustainability click <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">[|here] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">.

<span style="color: #79f180; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; line-height: 27px;">Week 1: Eco-Friendly Restaurants <span style="color: #85f165; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 170%; line-height: 1.5;">Sustainability: <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which has ecological, economic, political and cultural dimensions. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This week in class, we discussed the sustainability of the Earth. Our population is increasing with every minute, we are still consuming more and more of the earth's natural resources, and our waste emissions are still high. We don't want to use up the earth's resources and turn our home into a dump, like what happened in the Disney movie Wall-E. Instead, we want to take care of the earth by being more eco-friendly and reducing our carbon footprint. In the Ted Talk video I watched, Chef Arthur Potts-Dawson talked about reducing a restaurant's carbon footprint and specifically his two eco-friendly, sustainable restaurants: the Acorn House and the Water House, both located in London. media type="custom" key="23084006" width="88" height="30" align="left"

According to Dawson, restaurants (and the food industry in general) are one of the most wasteful industries in the world. He says, "for every calorie of food consumed in Britain, 10 calories are taken to produce it." <span style="color: #0079ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">[|This article] ** gives many statistics on the carbon footprint of restaurants, like: **
 * the restaurant is the largest electrical consumer in the retail sector, accounting for 33% of the electricity used in the United States. Electricity also creates the most pollution out of any other US industry.
 * the average restaurant uses 5,800 gallons of water each day.
 * most of the waste generated by full-service, sit-down restaurants is in the form of take out containers, and disposable serving items (napkins, utensils, etc.). However, food waste accounts for 60 to 80 percent of their total trash.
 * they produce an average of 50,000 pounds of trash a piece per year.

The article also gives advice on how restaurants can ** // reduce their waste emissions // : **
 * Chose to ** use green power ** (i.e. wind, solar), as well as invest in energy-star high rated appliances. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Chef Dawson's the Acorn House is powered by wind while the Water House uses hydroelectricity.
 * Install low-flow, solar, and/or water-powered touch less sensor faucets to help ** conserve water usage ** . <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The Acorn House has a water-filtration system, made out of stone beds, that takes the water coming out of the restaurant and uses it to water the outside garden.
 * ** RECYCLE!!! ** Don't just recycle garbage, but offer recycled paper goods, tree-free paper products, and biodegradable dishes and flatware for take-out customers. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Both of Chef Dawson's restaurants use many recycled materials. The floor of the Acorn house is recyclable, its chairs are both recycled and recyclable, and the cushions on its benches are reused. My personal favorite part of the Acorn house was its orange tree plant, because it was growing in a used car tire, which was turned inside out and created into a container.
 * ** COMPOST ** FOOD WASTE!!!



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**//Unfortunately,//** creating an eco-friendly, sustainable restaurant can be quite costly. Like the article says, although these aren't cheap investments, they are quality ones for businesses and the environment.