Go to the EPA website and learn about “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”
- Are any of these options and/or types of programs available in YOUR local community/village/town? Which ones? Explain.
- What about in your home? Explain.
- If none are used in your local town or home, which could be? Explain.
- Please outline in your own words, one new thing you learned this week in the course. How does it apply to your life?
- Tell me, the professor, how this course is going for you so far? How do you find the material?
The Learning Journal entry should be a minimum of 400 words and not more than 750 words. Use APA citations and references if you use ideas from the readings or other sources.
Hello, professor Chundi
I am sorry, professor. I simply described my background, which made me take this course last time. I want to answer your question first. Would you rethink my grade for Learning Journal UNIT1?
Reflection: Since you were a student of Earth sciences, you could have mentioned some projects done at school level or at personal level. It would have really enriched the journal. You can incorporate my suggestions in your next assignment.
I learned a lot about the Earth's circulation system and self-cleaning based on chemical grounds in my past majors. I was particularly interested in the ocean, so I also learned about the relationship between the forest and the sea and also the relationship with the underground mantle. Each system interacts with the other, creating an environment in which we can survive. The lack of anything can have a critical impact on human survival. It is a blessing of the earth to be able to breathe, eat and drink as a matter of course, and I felt that we must continue to protect it.
There was a project to visit ocean observation vessels and observe their work. They monitored the ocean water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen content, and carbon dioxide concentration at various depths. I also heard that they watched other chemical substances and pollutants such as suspended plastics. I was able to see the actually observed data and the real sample, which further stimulated my curiosity.
I appreciate your consideration.
1. Are any of these options and/or types of programs available in YOUR local community/village/town? Which ones? Explain.
Reduction and reuse are the most effective ways you can save natural resources, protect the environment and save money because making a new product emits greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and requires a lot of materials and energy (Environmental Protection Agency, n.d.).
I think reduction should be the highest priority in my community. With the development of the economy, low-priced, low-quality overseas products have dominated the market in Japan. We do not hesitate to buy many pieces of stuff because of those low prices, and those poor qualities make those unusable immediately, and we buy a new one. Companies prioritize profit, lower the price of goods, and promote buying more. We usually purchase stuff even though it is not necessary, so Japanese society is overflowed with a lot of things. In order to keep up with trends that change every year, it is reasonable to buy a low price and quality that can be used in about a year, but that does not protect the earth. We can sell or donate unwanted stuff such as appliances, tools, or clothes instead of discarding them (Environmental Protection Agency, n.d.).
2. What about in your home? Explain.
Personally, I don't really like shopping, so I don't buy many things. However, I also prefer to choose a low-priced product, and I immediately discard stuff if I don't need it, so I feel I need to change my habits.
3. If none are used in your local town or home, which could be? Explain.
The proportion of municipal waste recycled in Japan was 20％, and it was low than in many developed countries (United Nations Statistics Division, 2016). The US was 26％, the UK was 27％, and Germany was 47％. I thought that Japanese people have committed to recycling as well, but I realized we need to do more.
In my area, when we separate and dispose of plastic trash (recycling), the disposal fee will be lower than the disposal fee for other trash. I predict that the recycling rate will increase a little more if this system is enforced all over Japan.
4. Please outline in your own words, one new thing you learned this week in the course. How does it apply to your life?
Carrying capacity means the population size that a particular environment can sustain (Doršner, 2020). Population size refers to the number of individual organisms on the earth. The upper limit of the number of individuals per square kilometer can be calculated from the size of the organism's body and the total amount of food of the organism existing in nature; this is the carrying capacity.
Formula. K = r * N * (1-N) / CP. (Doršner, 2020)
Assuming that the average human weight is 65 kg, the upper limit is only 1.2 to 1.4 people per square kilometer, but the world average is 59.728 people living per square kilometer in 2020, which exceeds the upper limit by about 45 times (The World Bank, n.d.).
Humankind has been able to prosper to that extent because it has used its large brain to increase its food through farming, development of production technology, improvement of varieties, and modern IT. The pesticides prevented other organisms from stealing the food they produced, and the chemical fertilizers nourished crops and increased crop productivity more than many times over the sun. But it leads to polluting the environment and invading the lives of other animals. Humankind also continues to use enormous energy, such as oil, polluting the global environment.
Although the population is declining in developed countries, it is expected that the population will continue to increase in the world. Environmental pollution has reached irreparable levels. Energy is not infinite, and it will eventually run out. Humans will face serious food shortages if human technology has not been developed by that time.
From this perspective, I have come to understand the idea of those who choose not to have children to protect the Earth. The government encourages us to birth more children to develop its own country further, but the number of humans has increased too much at the global level. The human brain has infinite possibilities, and we may be able to develop various technologies to solve environmental problems. However, above all, we must seriously consider the current state of the earth and face it.
5. Tell me, the professor, how this course is going for you so far? How do you find the material?
I am enjoying this course and could find many new perspectives. Especially, I did not have an opportunity to hear (read) the situation of the environment around the world until now, so I am really enjoying communicating with classmates.
I usually find the material in the textbook or my existing knowledge and online research. I prefer Google Scholar. Sometimes, I also use the library of UoP.
Thank you, professor. (741 words except for question text)
References
Doršner, K. (2020). Essentials of environmental science (2nd edition). Retrieved from https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1573026/mod_book/chapter/338925/Essentials%20of%20Environmental%20Science2_Optimized.pdf
Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Reducing and Reusing Basics. EPA. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-and-reusing-basics
The World Bank. (n.d.). Population density (people per sq. km of land area). Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST
United Nations Statistics Division. (2016). Japan. Environment Statistics Country Snapshot. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/envpdf/Country_Snapshots_Dec_2016/Japan.pdf
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