Seeing that this is the final blog of the term, I reflect back on everything that I have learned throughout this term regarding sustainability and the associated mathematics. I never thought that something as basic as percentages or ratios would play such a big role in sustainability. Consider, the percentage of contamination of a certain substance. Or, the percentage of a substance that is being wasted due to one’s lack of accountability when it comes to sustainability. Learning about energy flow and all the different many different forms of energy was really interesting. It was not until taking this class that I learned that energy has a unit, the unit being Quad. Another important factor that needs to be considered not only through a sustainable lens, but through many lenses in life is precision. If mathematicians are not precise about their measurements and data sets for sustainability related entities, there could be outcomes that are detrimental to the environment. Learning about how many different variables are at play for climate change are overwhelming. But, learning about them individually and ways that we can play our part has been helpful. One of the most notable things that I take away from this course is how large my carbon footprint has been throughout my life. From here on out, I aim to consider the ways in which I can make my carbon footprint smaller for the benefit of the environment. This course has taught me so many new ways that I can think about sustainability and how easy it is to take sustainable action. If we all play a small part in becoming a sustainable nation, our earth will be more likely to succeed.
Author Archives: Shane Smith
Sustainable Ways
For some reason the audio on my video is not working. Nevertheless, this video shows all the ways that my roommates and I are attempting to be more sustainable in our apartment. The first clip shows that we try to take shorter showers and turn off the water as we brush our teach. The next clips exhibits that we keep doors and windows open opposed to using electricity for a fan or air conditioner. The third clip displays all of our reusable cups that we use opposed to using one-use plastic water bottles. The last clip shows our washer machine that we use using cold water opposed to hot water because it’s better for the environment.
Wind Energy!
There are many forms of non fossil-fuel based energy. But, for this post I will be specifically looking at wind energy. In order to understand wind energy, it is important to first understand wind. When the sun unevenly heats the Earth, that is when wind is created. Wind can then be used to create energy. Knowing this, wind energy is sustainable energy. It will continue to be a sustainable source of energy for as long as the sun continues to shine. Wind energy is caught by the giant windmills, called wind turbines, that tower over 100 feet in the air. Sometimes, the wind turbines work by themselves or they can also be connected to power grids or a solar cell system. When there is a decent amount of wind turbines clustered together it is called a wind plant, however only a handful of electricity providers use these wind plants to provide power for their customers.
Across the United States, there are 41 states have wind plants which have developed more than 100,000 jobs for American citizens. In fact, a wind turbine technician is one of the fastest growing jobs in America. It’s important to note that the wind industry is still growing and is nowhere near its peak. The most common use of wind turbines that are stand alone is to pump water. However, farmers could also use standalone wind turbines, as well as homeowners. When it comes to wind power, it is cost effective as it only costs “1–2 cents per kilowatt-hour after the production tax credit” (energy.gov). Lastly, the newly developing wind industry equals annual investments of over 10 billion dollars into the United States economy. This shows the promise and potential that the wind industry, as well as wind energy has.
Works Cited:
https://www.nrel.gov/research/re-wind.html
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/wind-energy-basics
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy
Gallons of Water Wasted Per Day
For this week’s bog topic, I thought it’d be interesting to reach out to my friends and see how many gallons of water that they believe that they waste a day. Water waste is a huge issue when it comes to sustainability across the globe. Water can be wasted in many different ways and I feel that is often over looked. For example, keeping the water running when you brush your teeth, taking too long of showers, pouring out drinking water, etc. After reaching out to 10 of my friends, I put the data into a bar graph, which is pasted below;
The range of answers is quite obvious as one of my friend’s stated that she doesn’t waste any water, meanwhile, another one of my friend’s claimed that she wastes 20 gallons of water a day. By asking my friends this question, it was intended to make them think of all of the ways that they waste water and in return think of the ways that they can reduce water waste. Making these small changes can have a big impact on our globe.
Food Insecurity- Issue of Equity
As a Sociology major, looking at the ways in which different social justice issues affect individuals isn’t new to me. However, what is new to me is looking at these issues through a mathematical lens. The issue of food insecurity and hunger is not just an issue surrounding food, but an issue surrounding equity. Consider the following chart;
The information on this chart shows that the rate of White college students facing food insecurity is 36%, which is quite high. However, other demographics have even higher percentages. Hispanic college students food insecurity rate is 47%, Black is college students rate is 54% and Indigenous college students rate is 60%. This data shows that food insecurity is an issue of racial equality and equity.
One of the main contributing factors to the difference of food insecurity among demographics is the difference in pay wages. Consider another chart below;
This chart displays that no matter the level of education, White employees will be paid more than Black and Hispanic workers. When an individual is paid more, they have more access to purchase food and avoid food insecurity. Hence, White workers being paid more definitely contributes to White individuals having the lowest rate of food insecurity among college students, compared to Black, Indigenous and Hispanic college students.
Lastly, as we have previously discussed, healthier food options are more expensive than unhealthy food options, such as fast food chains (McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc). With this in mind, families of lower income are going to be more likely to eat at fast food restaurants given the low prices. Consider this last data set;
This data shows that the rate of obesity among White students is only 29.3% while it is 35.9% among Black children and 38.2% among Hispanic children. This makes sense given everything that has been discussed thus far in this blog. Eating cheap fast food more often will result in higher obesity rates. The way that poverty can have an affect on so many other factors such as physical and mental health displays how capitalistic our society truly is.
The Arctic is Melting!
Usually, when individuals think of Antartica, some of the first words that come to mind include “cold, ice, frozen, or freezing.” These words have described the state of Antartica for the majority of its history. However, it is very possible that these words may no longer be applicable to Antartica’s given the issue of climate change. Umair Irfan explains, “Ice loss has accelerated in Antarctica in recent years. Every 40 hours, Antarctica loses a billion metric tons of ice, according to a 2018 study, and at least half that loss comes from ice shelves” (Irfan, 2022). An adverse affect to climate change is the rising sea level. As the climate is getting warmer, the ice in the Arctic is melting, hence causing the sea level to rise. According to Florence Colleoni, “Since 1880, the global mean sea level (GMSL) has increased by 20 centimeters” (Colleoni, 2022). As we have learned, 20 centimeters can be converted to 0.2 meters or 7.87 inches. Although this may not seem like a large quantity, when you think of sea level rise, it is quite a lot. Some may think, what damage could a rise of sea level by a few centimeters due to our environment? Well, “The United Nations estimates that the potential costs of damage to harbors and ports alone from this flooding could be as high as $111.6 billion by 2050 and $367.2 billion by the end of the century” (Colleoni, 2018).
If the emission of greenhouse gases is not quickly reduced, climate change will continue on, sea level rise will continue on, and our Earth will literally and figuratively have to pay the price. Colleoni continues on, “An estimated 800 million people are likely to experience impacts of high-tide flooding by the end of the 21st century” (Colleoni, 2022). Knowing that there are 7.7 billion people in the world, this means that around 10% of the Earth’s population will face the effects of high-tide flooding, resulting in the possible damage of homes, property or lives. The concerning part about this whole issue is that, “There’s a lot scientists still don’t know — including some of the mechanisms behind it, where tipping points may lie, and its ripple effects over the whole planet” (Irfan, 2022). The unknown is what scares the scientists and non-scientists, alike.
Works Cited:
https://www.vox.com/22939545/antarctica-greenland-ice-sheet-shelf-glacier-melt-climate-sea-level-rise
Construction’s Relation to Sustainability
More often than ever, as a nation, we are witnessing forests and woodlands being torn down. The most common reason for tearing down all of these trees is to start up a new construction cites. Although there are a surplus of different reasons that these trees and animals habitats are being torn down, it eventually all comes down to greed. Most of the buildings that are being constructed are money-making entities. Consider some of the following examples; apartment buildings, storage facilities, casinos, etc. In fact, the amount of trees that are being planted opposed to torn down is an incredibly interesting ratio.
Annually, 15 billion trees are cut down. On the other hand, only 1.9 billion trees are planted a year. That means that the ratio of trees that are cut down to planted is 15 to 1.9. Meaning, for every 1.9 trees that are planted, 15 trees are torn down. To help better understand this idea, “For the 15 billion trees that are chopped down each year, every person on the planet could have 3,000 rolls of toilet paper” (Kilgore, 2022). According to Jonah Bader, “President Joe Biden has announced an ambitious goal of net-zero emissions by 2050… The idea of “net-zero emissions” is that any remaining emissions can be fully offset by so-called “negative emissions” — methods of sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. Planting trees is the most straightforward way to do that. Trees absorb CO2 for photosynthesis and store it as cellulose and lignin, the main components of wood” (Bader, 2021). Furthermore, “Planting trees may also be the most popular climate policy. Even former President Donald Trump loved the idea. He championed an international initiative to plant 1 trillion trees, which would be enough to soak up at least a decade of global emissions” (Bader, 2021). The possibilities are endless when it comes to further studying the ways that construction cites interfere with sustainability.
Works Cited:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/10/opinions/climate-plant-and-cut-trees-down-bader/index.html
https://8billiontrees.com/trees/how-many-trees-cut-down-each-year/
Water Usage and Utilization
Water is a necessity for us humans along with planet Earth. Humans can go much longer without food as they can without water. It is interesting to think that a lot of the food that we consume could not possibly be produced without water. For example, think of crops that need water into order to grow. Or, all of the water that livestock drinks that we eventually consume such as pigs. This idea alone shows how important water is in its comparison to food consumption.
Consider the following, “There is the same amount of water on Earth as there was when the Earth was formed” (epa.gov). Furthermore, “Nearly 97% of the world’s water is salty or otherwise undrinkable. Another 2% is locked in ice caps and glaciers. That leaves just 1% for all of humanity’s needs — all its agricultural, residential, manufacturing, community, and personal needs” (epa.gov). This idea is really hard for me to wrap my head around. I think about how much water I myself personally use on the daily. Then, I think about how many humans are on this Earth and how much water is used for humanity’s needs by the whole planet. This alone proves how much water is on this Earth. I find this fact so interesting seeing how human production as well as global warming has affected our water usage. In my opinion, bottled water is so popular because of the convenience of it. Consider, reusable water bottles have to be constantly washed and sometimes they are a bit pricey. Bottled water is convenient as once you finish the water, you can just throw away or recycle the bottle. If I had to estimate the bottle water consumption on Union College’s campus, I would estimate that around 50% of Union’s students drink bottled water opposed to water from the tap. Furthermore, I would average that of the 50% of bottled water drinkers, they drink at least 2 bottles of water a day. Based on Union College’s enrollment being around 2,300 students, 65% of that is 1150, multiplying that by 2, my estimate is that Union College consumes around 2,300 bottles of water per day.
Work Cited: https://www3.epa.gov/safewater/kids/waterfactsoflife.html
Carbon Dioxide and its Influence
When it comes to greenhouse gases and the presence of them in our environment, there is quite a large variety of different kinds of greenhouse gases. Just to name a few greenhouse gases, there is methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor and more. Nevertheless, the most important greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is not only a gas. Depending on different temperatures, carbon dioxide can also be in the solid or a gas form. It is important to note that carbon dioxide does not come from just one particular entity. For example, carbon dioxide is breathed out by humans. Furthermore, carbon dioxide is produced after burning fossil fuels. As humans, we all have different responses to carbon dioxide based on our own specific tolerance. One’s tolerance depends on the amount of carbon dioxide present, which is measured using mathematics along with units and numbers. Reactions to an exposure of carbon dioxide can vary from headaches to convulsions or even a coma. Thanks to basic human activity, there has been a drastic rise in the presence of carbon dioxide, as we know thanks to scientists measurements in which numbers and units were used. The starting point for the steep rise in carbon dioxide producing, human activity, can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution. Although human activity is practically unavoidable, carbon dioxide’s presence must be modified in order to keep us, along with our Earth, safe.
Works Cited:
“Carbon Dioxide.” Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 3 June 2021, https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/chemical/carbondioxide.htm.
“Carbon Dioxide Concentration.” NASA, NASA, 15 Mar. 2022, https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/.
Intro-Shane
Hi,
My name is Shane Smith and I am a senior here at Union. I double major in Sociology and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and minor in Classics. I enjoy traveling and spending time with family and friends. My understanding of sustainability is quite limited as I have not taken any classes or done any research on this specific topic. However, I do know that studying sustainability and all of the ways to help sustain the Earth, whether it be by professionals or those eager to learn more, is imperative for the Earth’s survival. I look forward to learning more about sustainability in this course!