Honors Prompt 2 Rachel Akin

Rachel Akin

Honors Prompt 2

At one point someone invented an idea involving the sustainability of our planet. Every time someone tries to implement a new invention for making our planet more sustainable, they are being innovative. I believe being inventive and being innovative go hand in hand. Without being inventive new ideas can never be formed and growth can never occur, but without being innovative the new inventions cannot be put into practice. With this being said I do not see how it is possible to put a greater value on invention or innovation. Invention is needed for innovation to occur, and innovation is needed to apply invention.

Especially considering sustainability, there are many inventive and innovative changes I could make in my life. Until looking more into sustainability, I did not realize how much I could do in my life to go “green.” I am a person that believes every little bit counts, so ideally I would make a full contribution by improving all areas of my life that need to be improved. I know personally I have been a big paper and water waster. I also have never recycled because my previous home never had recycling bins and I saw few around my previous school. The car I currently drive is also a gas guzzler and it would not only save me money, but would be better on the environment if I had a fuel efficient car.

I would definitely start by focusing on wasting less paper, water, and fuel and by being more conscientious of how much I recycle. Inventions have already been made in these areas, but I would come up with more to fit my lifestyle when any of my initial innovations did not work out. I have recently reduced the amount of waste I cause by using the same water bottle from day to day. This also helps me resist wasting water itself because I do not just throw water away at the end of the day and buy a new water bottle the next day. I would also like to have recycling bins at my house. I try to utilize them at USI any chance I get! In the past I wasted much water by letting the faucet just run. Now, I shower quickly, wash my face and brush my teeth quickly, do not let the water run too long while doing dishes, and try to minimize the loads of laundry I do. As for wasting less paper, I try to write as much on each piece of paper as I can and print as few papers as I can.

I know that I have already begun to focus on the areas previously discussed and there are constraints I have already encountered. For example, I waste a lot of fuel by driving the vehicle I do, but I live off campus and work across town, so I cannot walk. Plus, I cannot afford a new car. Fuel efficient cars help the environment, but they are not affordable for many people. Second, I try to recycle as much as I can, but those I live with do not have recycle bins and I would not know where to take the bins if I used them. I believe more information needs to be provided about recycling and it needs to be more widespread. The world has not embraced it yet. I see recycle bins more and more, but still not in nearly enough places. Even on campus I cannot always find a recycle bin when I need one. Third, many are not conscious of the amount of paper they use. For example, at USI I know the students print papers for school all the time when they all have a way to access computer and submit papers electronically. In anatomy we have presentations involving hundreds of slides. Most students I know print the slides. I, on the other hand, just take notes on the computer. However, I have to print many papers in other classes leaving me with no choice but to go against what I know would be better for the sustainability of the planet.

Honors 101 Prompt 1

Rachel Akin

Honors 101 Prompt 1

14 September 2011

Though I had heard about the heated debate surrounding Globalization, I had never thought much about it prior to reading the article “Globalization Debates.” I now realize that globalization is a lot like sustainability because both want to achieve great goals, but the problem lies in how to achieve these goals. With this being said, I do not believe that it is possible for globalization to be implemented presently.

The quote by Kofi Annan states that in order to properly have globalization the global market must have values and practices that “reflect global social needs.” Like sustainability, globalization can only occur if the entire planet agrees to make certain changes. I do not believe this is possible. In The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard tries to draw in the reader by discussing what some people on this earth do to each other to better themselves. We take land from each other, we harm each other’s natural resources, we seem to care more about monetary values than moral values, etc. Most importantly, we have wars over things like oil, and who gets to what resources first. With these things being said, how do we expect to get the entire globe to agree on certain “values and practices?”

In addition, it would only take one society to cause major problems that we do not currently have. Jared Diamond says, “Any society in turmoil today, no matter how remote…can cause trouble for prosperous societies on other continents…” Even if we could get a majority of the globe to decide on certain issues, it would be impossible for the whole world to agree on everything about everything! That does not even sound logical. I also have this problem with sustainability. Yes I think sustainability is important and obviously I want to save the planet, but the people on this planet are the ones who have to save it. People, corporations, countries, etc. will always have bad eggs in them that will place their personal benefit before the benefit of the globe as a whole.

The problem with both globalization and sustainability is not the ideas themselves; the problem is making these ideas become reality. Nothing could be better than having everyone unite to take care of our planet. In order to do this, though, our moral values must match. We need to save ourselves from ourselves. We are the problem.