ENMT301 Enviroment And Ecosystems Prinicples
Week 1 Discussion
DQ1 Ecological Footprint Calculator
Take a look at your results from the Ecological Footprint Calculator you completed this week and briefly respond to the following questions:
What is the total number of acres needed to support you?
How does your Ecological Footprint break down into the different consumption categories: Food, shelter, mobility, goods, and services? What does this tell you?
How does your Footprint compare to the 2016 U.S. average per capita Footprint of approximately 8.1 hectares/ 20 acres (Global Footprint Network, 2019)? Does this surprise you? Why or why not?
How many planet Earths would be needed to support the human population if everyone lived like you? When is your personal Earth Overshoot Day? What does this mean?
Of course, not everyone’s ecological footprint is the same. Based on the global average ecological footprint, the Global Footprint Network (n.d.) estimates that we need 1.7 planet Earths to support our global population. By using more resources than our planet can regenerate annually, the global population has an “ecological overshoot” (Global Footprint Network, n.d).
Is this sustainable? Why or why not?
What are the consequences of our large ecological footprints? In particular, what environmental issues have our large ecological footprints produced?
DQ2 Figures and Organizations in the Environmental Movement
After reading about the history of the environmental movement this week, was there one person or organization not mentioned that you believe should have been included? Or was there one person or organization just briefly mentioned that you would like to learn more about?
Choose one person that you are inspired by, or that you believe have contributed significantly to the environmental movement. Describe why you chose this person, how he or she has contributed to the environmental movement, and how this person’s views or contributions relate to current and/or historical environmental issues.
Alternatively, describe an organization that has made significant contributions to the environmental movement, either in the past or currently. Describe why you chose this organization, how this organization has contributed to the environmental movement, and the role of the organization in regard to a current and/or historical environmental issues.
DQ3 Thinking about your ENMT career
With your first ENMT course, it is a good time to start thinking about your career. This week, please share (1) your thoughts about why you chose to major in Environmental Management and (2) which career(s) or profession(s) in Environmental Management align best with your reasons for choosing to become an ENMT major. Or, if you are taking ENMT 301 as an elective, share what interests you most about environmental management given the resources in week content this week and additional resources below.
To answer (2), you might want to check career-related resources such as the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/), Department of Labor (https://www.dol.gov/general/jobs), Environmental Careers (https://environmentalcareer.com/), EPA Careers (https://www.epa.gov/careers), Construction Jobs (https://constructionjobs.com/), Food Safety Jobs (https://www.careersinfood.com/food-safety-jobs.cfm) or many other environment or human health and safety related organizations and industries.