Lara Jensen

Sustainability FRINQ
Dr. Lincoln
February 4, 2015
One life, One Planet, One problem
I try to be a sustainable person in everyway that I can possibly be. It is difficult when you
are in a world that is constantly controlling you and telling you how to act when it is not
sustainable itself. I have chosen to write similarly to those insightful words of Confessions of a
Recovering Environmentalist by Paul Kingsnorth because I feel I can relate to the recent climate
issues and the way in how I, as a human, have impacted and viewed the world I have lived in so
far.
I am seven years old. It is raining, cold and pitch black. I can't see anything. I am too
focused on finding my dad because I am lost in the middle of the wilderness. I call out but
nobody answers. I am alone. Tears start to run down my face and I begin to feel like I am losing
control. Fear starts to be evoked in my mind. I have been running through deep slush and wet
mud for what feels like hours. I start to feel hard concrete beneath my feet. I look up, and as I do,
I see a bright yellow light flash before my eyes, and hear the screams of my mother.
As I manage to figure out what is going on, I realize that I almost got hit by a car. I start
to back pedal to the edge of the road. I did not realize what seemed to be the complexity of the
situation that had occurred through this childhood experience at the time. Now as I begin to
regain the beauty and understanding of nature and life, I realize that my decisions as a child only

impacted me and my family. Now as I begin to grow older I become aware of what choices I
make now and how they can impact the planet, society and the future.
Looking at the Nature Conservancy's carbon footprint calculator, I emit 10 tons of Co2
every year. Compared to the U.S. average, I emit 17 tons of Co2 less and in contrast to the world,
I produce more than 4.5 tons of Co2. The calculator does not factor in that I am a freshman
college student and I dont know what the other students in my dorm are contributing to the
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Furthermore, it doesnt factor in to the fact that in the past 8
months, I have lived in my home, which would increase my carbon footprint.
My food and diet has contributed to the increased emissions of fossil fuels in the
atmosphere. Every single meal, I sit down at Victor's Dining hall with my cup of Coke and my
half cooked burger, and just now I have only begun to open my eyes to the fact that my
consumption of meat and the wasteless junk food I eat and purchase negatively impacts the
environment. The Coke that I am drinking does not contribute to my health. The factory that the
Coke was made at is in a city in the south that has conservative views towards the environment
and doesnt believe in climate change. The factory produces greenhouses gases itself, and that
factors into climate change. There have been numerous articles and campaigns arguing that
production of meat factors into 36 billion tons of "Co2- equivalent" each year1 . I am accustomed
to eating the way I eat because it is the way I grew up. Understanding the abuse that animals
endure and the fact that animal products emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere can add to the
rising sea levels, and extreme weather patterns. We are taught to learn from our parents what is
right and wrong. Where you can live can attribute to what you think about the current climate

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the- greenhouse- hamburger/

and environmental problems at hand. Therefore, I think that it is in my lifetime that we need to
bring forth our knowledge of the right way to help the planet.
Society has taught us to consume everything we want and desire. If we do not buy the
latest product, we have not fulfilled our destiny to live. We show our value by throwing away the
products we dont want and the new ones we have. In high school, I thought that you were "cool"
from owning the newest iPhone. I begged my mom for months to buy me one so that I could fit
in. She didnt understand why I wanted a product that was just as good as the cell phone I had
currently at the time. Just now, at the age of nineteen, I have come to understand clearly that
society is controlling and manipulative. If I do not own the newest technology, I feel worthless.
In throwing away the old products, I can only conclude that all the objects that once made me
feel a sense of acceptance from my peers have ended up in a place where others feel the same
way. Now I can only wonder where my objects have ended up: probably with everyone's else's
products in a landfill. It makes me think of the past identities and lives that have been lost and
changed throughout the course of the years. All the consumers that had given up on products that
had lost their purpose and now felt useless have ended up in the same area.
In reference to the title, one problem refers to the fact that we humans are the problem.
One thing that was discussed in class is the killing of the humans and the human race to save the
cost of the world and its environment. Having less people on earth will cut down on the world's
natural resources and potentially save them. When the topic was brought up in class, I thought it
was bizarre and outlandish that someone would want to kill themselves or not produce a child.
This idea that someone wouldnt want to have or raise a family from their own DNA sounds like
something most would not be up for. I know I would not be. It has been taught to me to have the
ideal of the American dream. It is a social concept to have the family with the 2.5 kids, a dog,

and a small house with a white picket fence. Death in American culture is forbidden to speak of.
We fear it because it is something we dont want to happen. We need to come to terms with how
we will die or accept the fact that it will happen, in order to help the potential possibility that
might be beneficial to our own kind, as well as saving the planet.
In the past ten years, the extreme weather patterns have became increasingly more
apparent. Environmentalists have extreme concern for the rising sea levels and the loss of species
due to the increased temperatures. Humans only have one life to live. The main concern on all of
our minds, including mine, is if the earth will last until we die. If we do not take care for what we
have now, how will our children in the future be able to have it? In the past 15 years, we have
already witnessed ice shelves melting through photos in the media. In middle school I went to
Banff National Park in Canada, where there is an ice shelf located on the edge of Lake Louise. I
noticed a huge decline in ice over the course of three years. The earth as we know it today will
not look the same as it will in our children's eyes in the future.
The impact of how we react and dramatically change our lifestyles to fit the
environment's needs will be an everlasting battle and goal. We as humans are selfish creatures,
constantly consuming our planets' limited and natural resources. We take advantage of them, and
the planet only has so much it can offer to us before it is too late. Some radical environmentalist
groups suggest the idea of killing the human race, which might be plausible, if we dont start to
change the way we effect the planet now. That moment when I was seven and was almost hit by
a car was the turning point for me. It was a signal telling all of us that should we go back to the
way our ancestors used to live, before the industrial revolution which caused most of the
problems, instead of letting ourselves get hurt by the things we create ourselves, like cars.