iPhones are not necessarily green

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For this project, my group members and I were studying ways in which iPhones may not be exactly the most environmentally friendly option when it comes to technology.  In fact, according to Apple itself about 79% of the carbon emissions from the iPhone are emitted during the production phase, which should not come to a surprise since the manufacturing of products in factories is already polluting the air whether or not its Apple.  Now a days, apple tries very often to persuade consumers to buy new phones, even when their current one is completely usable, refusing basic repair documentation for users. 45% of iPhone users have claimed that they would rather buy a new iPhone instead of fixing their current one, so the fact that over half of the consumers want to fix their current iPhones and are frequently denied the opportunity says a lot about the company prioritizing the environment. The recycling industry has even mentioned on numerous occasions the amount of times perfectly reusable phones have been recycled.  The graph above shows the amount of carbon emission is released when it comes to transportation, mining raw materials, as well other causes.

Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity

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 A way to use mathematics to explore sustainability is through calculations of the Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity.  Ecological Footprint is defined as the demand humanity has on Earth’s resources while Biocapacity is defined as the supply of Earth’s resources available for consumption.  To calculate the Ecological Footprint, one must examine how many resources it takes to provide for the demands of humanity while Biocapacity is found by calculating the amount of biologically available resources for humanity.  Through a comparison of the two, we are able to see that the earth is in a state of “overshoot.” This is because Earth’s Biocapacity is less than the Ecological Footprint, meaning that we are consuming resources faster than they can be resupplied.  Through calculations and comparisons like these, we are able to quantify the environmental issues of our planet, which can then be utilized towards making a solution.  Our overconsumption of resources, such as fossil fuels, is why we are in such a state of overshoot, so we must understand the effects of our actions and move towards use of renewable resources to get out of this state.

 

https://www.footprintnetwork.org/

Global awareness

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Global Awareness is a capacity that incorporates the attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary for a person to competently and perceptively navigate the challenges and opportunities of a globalized world in a way that promotes the greater good. When thinking of global awareness there are 5 themes that may contribute to a better outcome. That includes perspective consciousness, state-of-the-planet awareness, cross-cultural awareness, knowledge of global dynamics, and awareness of human choices. The one that: out to me the most was cross-cultural awareness because I believe that It is hoped that learning about sustainability from the perspectives of people in different countries in an experiential setting may help people gain a broader understanding of the challenges facing the world. Nonetheless, global awareness is very important considering that people like ourselves are that are affecting our planet. With that being said if we are not cognizant of our actions that may or may not affect our environment then It will become nearly impossible for us to reflect and aim for a better goal.  With that at being said global awareness must be the first act to create change. The main idea of this course is a way to reach sustainability and decrease the use of carbon emissions. We have incorporated data based on ecological footprints and bad habits that create an impact on the environment. As a population, we are very dependent on fossil fuels. “The United States gets 81% of its total energy from oil, coal, and natural gas, all of which are fossil fuels.” This knowledge is relevant and considering how damaging fossil fuels are to the environment we decrease that number substantially before is too late.

source:http://needtoknow.nas.edu/energy/energy-sources/fossil-fuels/

Global Awareness and Ending World Hunger

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Global awareness is the first step in understanding the problem of world hunger and how to combat it. According to the World Health Organization(WHO), “An estimated 820 million people did not have enough to eat in 2018, up from 811 million in the previous year, which is the third year of increase in a row. This underscores the immense challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030…” That is out of a population of 7.592 billion people in 2018, meaning that roughly 10.8% of the world’s population was suffering from hunger that year, and the numbers keep increasing. In 2018, the EPA also estimates that 63.1 million tons of food waste was estimated in the United States alone. These two statistics together paint a very grim picture, roughly 11% of the world’s population was starving while a single country threw out 63.1 million tons of food. It is very easy to see one area of attack in combating world hunger: eliminating food waste.

The Global Perspective to Climate Change

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A large part of the climate issue is addressing the social justice aspect of it. Many people are not aware of the disparities in how climate change affects different groups of people. Unfortunately, the places that produce the least amount of CO2 emissions are many of the countries that are suffering the most from the effects of climate change. Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia are extremely vulnerable to climate change, but use the least energy per capita out of the entire world. These populations are highly vulnerable to floods, droughts, hurricanes, and countless other negative effects of climate change. In some parts of these regions, the changes in climate are actually forcing large populations of people to migrate to different regions. When we look at some people who live in areas that are reaching a wet-bulb temperature so high that the human body cannot physically survive in these temperatures. Accordingly, “Even heat-adapted people cannot carry out normal outdoor activities past a wet-bulb temperature of 32 °C (90 °F), equivalent to a heat index of 55 °C (130 °F)” (Wiki). These mass migrations that we are going to see in the future are going to cause huge social problems, and lead to economic strains and conflicts in other parts of the world. In order to address this issue, we need to educate people on the issues that are going to affect them. One of the problems with addressing this issue is that many people think that climate change is not going to affect them or their children. This is false, climate change is a global issue, and we are not going to be able to address the issue until everybody realizes that this issue will affect them.

 

Works Cited:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature#:~:text=The%20wet%2Dbulb%20temperature%20is%20the%20lowest%20temperature%20that%20can,C%20(130%20%C2%B0F).

 

Gender and Climate Change

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Environmental racism taught us that climate change affect poorer countries in an unequal level than countries with resources; it turns out that climate change has varying effect on individuals of different gender. In the following graph down below, it shows that men are more vulnerable towards climate change and women are more resilient towards climate change. The only reason for it being that women are oftentimes the marginalised and oppressed individual in a country, and they are more adaptable to a changes given the challenges that they face inherently as females. although women led household only contribute to around 20 percent of the types of household (graph 2), they are the most resilient group out of all the groups presented in the graph 1. This challenges our expectation about climate change, we think that the most vulnerable individuals are those that occupy more vulnerable position in society, aka, women and those who live in poverty. But it turns out that those who are rich are less resilient towards changes. This leads to the conclusion that we must include women in the discussion for climate change because they understand what it means to live in a world of challenges as females. Together, we need to work to protect the vulnerable.

men

 

 

Source:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep00657?seq=5

 

Moving Towards a Brighter and More Sustainable Future

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Math related to sustainability isn’t just something meant for textbooks but math has real understandings and effects on our world and how sustainable we are as individuals.  Worldwide, roughly 9.2% of the population live in extreme poverty and in the US alone, 34 million people live in poverty.  However, these statistics only relate to income, with roughly 1.3 billion people in 107 countries being considered poor in relation to either access to food, education, or healthcare. The relation between human society and the environment is not a simple one and adverse effects from humans create disastrous consequences not only for the environment but also for other humans, especially those most at risk.  Poverty can simultaneously affect and be affected by a lack of sustainability efforts.  Poorer communities lack the resource security to practice sustainable methods and therefore harm the environment by using all the resources they can find.  Poverty also has a negative affect on air pollution with people in poverty not having the education or ability to utilize non-harmful environmental practices.  Poorer communities also live in areas with the greatest threat of danger in the face of climate change.  The poorer communities live near urban areas which produce 80%of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions in North America.  These poorer communities usually live near pollution sites and in areas with inadequate housing and insulation to protect against environmental change.  Poverty is a big factor in the continuation of unsustainable practices, as well as being some of the most vulnerable communities to the effects of climate change.  It will take a better understanding of the relation between people and the environment, especially those in poorer communities and most at risk, to truly work to make a more sustainable future.       

 

Works cited:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/26/climate-change-will-hurt-poor-people-the-most-federal-report.html

Global Perspective

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For my final blog post of the term, I will focus on Global Perspective. A global perspective is a viewpoint that attempts to understand the place of individuals, groups, cultures, and societies in the world and how they relate to each other. An example of a global perspective is studying the implications of economic policies on illegal drug use specifically the supply chain, where the drug is produced, and the local area where the drug is sold.
The link below provides information on the global perspective of climate change. In terms of the math part of this, According to The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased from 280 ppm in the period 1000–1750 AD to 379 ppm in the year 2005. The concentration of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled from 700 ppb in the period 1000–1750 AD, to reach a concentration of 1774 ppb in the year 2005. The concentrations of hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, SF6, and N2O have also increased. The tropospheric concentration of ozone has increased even though its stratospheric concentration has decreased.

 

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-5774-8_1#:~:text=The%20global%20mean%20surface%20temperature,warmed%20faster%20than%20the%20oceans.

 

 

global perspective

 

Importance of Global Awareness

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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.

Say “No” to Plastic Straws!

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In this video, I detail how my sustainability action, although simple, has allowed me to limit my consumption of single-use plastic. I swap out any plastic straw that I would use daily for a metal straw out of my collection or opt for a compostable alternative if available. Nearly 7.5 million plastic straws were found on U.S. shorelines, and pose a huge risk to the wildlife and ecosystems that surround the areas. In addition, plastic straws do not decompose and eventually turn into microplastics that also have adverse effects on the environment.