Environmental Enlightening: My Blog Reflection

Over the course of the quarter, I have been privileged with the opportunity to explore class content through an entirely new medium. Executing the writing for an English class online was something new, yet very enjoyable to me. For starters I enjoyed it because it was simple. I never had to worry about running to the library to print out assignments, or worry about using too much ink at home. It was great to just to be able to turn my assignments in automatically upon completion. Which brings me to my next point, not only is the class comprised of environmental issues, but we are helping the environment in itself by submitting all work to a blog post. Seeing as the basis of my exploration and argument for the class papers was about becoming more paper efficient, I personally had a great appreciation for this aspect of the course. It was nice to see a class backing it up its claims with the way the course itself is executed.

Having now come to the completion of the quarter, I have noticed a change in the passion of my writing. It seems as if going through the process when I initially was clearly a person on the outside who was just being informed about the highlighted issues. Now I feel like I am someone capable of informing others. After this course I feel much more credible in informing others. But above all, I feel like someone with an actual viewpoint and an enlightened perspective on what is and what should never be as opposed to someone who was just passive or oblivious to the real issues.

I also enjoyed having my writing exposed to others. I typically take quite a bit of pride in my writing, so having it exposed to others and not just the professor was an aspect of classed I welcomed. The ability to let others comment as well as comment on others writing was an interactive aspect to the class that I had never experienced before. As with with many English classes, students are encouraged to do peer reviews, but that really only gives you one or two different peoples opinions on something while our blog commenting gave you between 5 and 10 view points. With the blogs I enjoyed multiple perspectives in which people could either support my opinion, or bring me back to ground if I was quite radical with something. But having said that, being be too off the popular reaction didn't happen very often because me as a blogger is in the eye of the class. So in a way, I think people always tried to voice their opinions, yet try and stay "politically correct" as well.

I think the most enlightening part of the course was our time spent on Food Inc. It was extremely eye opening for me to see how corrupt and vexed our food industry really is. The crappy food being so cheap, and the natural food being so expensive. I can honestly admit that after watching the tape and blogging about the ideals within our food industry, I have at least started to purchase organic eggs. And it is true, although expensive the quality of the egg is dramatically better. I most certainly credit this new enlightening to my experience with reading the book, watching the documentary, and having to really apply my thoughts about the content through blogging.

Overall I really enjoyed the blogging aspect to this class. It forced my mind to stimulate in depth thinking more than usual because the issues themselves were more keen to my actual surroundings, and my opinions and viewpoints would be in view of other classmates. I wish that I could have had more classes like this, but unfortunately I am graduating. I can only hope that more and more classes transition to this environmentally friendly class method in the future.

outline and bibiliography

Thesis: Our rate of paper consumption and production is having terminal affects on the environment. We need to improve paper efficiency on our campus and in organizations because it is hurting our wallets while destroying our our natural resources and surrounding environment.

1. Pros of paper efficiency.
- electronics are faster and more efficient
- cheaper
- requires less energy use
- Appealing to the customer

2. Effects on the environment
- deforestation
- Green house gas/ Global Warming
- Oil Consumption

3. Effects on the economy
- appeal of environmentally friendly organizations may drive bigger profits
- Boost sales of electronics
- drives down the price of oil because there is less demand ( transport of paper/mail)

4. What can be done
- direct deposit/online bill pay
- reuse unfilled notebooks
- Use recycled paper
- Submit assignments online.
- Online parking tickets

5. Conclusion
- recap of main points with high impact ending.

Biliography:

Changing Paper Consumption. Green Schools Initiative. February 9^th 2010.

http://www.greenschools.net/article.php?id=75

Facts and Figures About Your Postal Service. United States Postal Service. February 9^th 2010.

http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/postalfacts.htm

Larson, Eric. (1996). Energy Efficiency and the Paper and Pulp Industry. American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. http://www.aceee.org/pubs/ie962.htm

Paper Production and Consumption Facts. Green America Today. February 8 2010.

http://www.greenamericatoday.org/PDF/PaperFacts.pdf

Schwartz, Donna. (2009). Use Direct Deposit, Save a Pound of Paper. [Web]. Retrieved from http://payitgreen.org/files/pressReleases/PayItGreen_April09_Consumer_Release.pd

Vance, Katherine. February 8^th 2010. Paper Consumption And Its Environmental Effects. Sustainable Practices Organization. http://sustainablepractices.ning.com/pages/page/show?id=1037707%3APage%3A3601

Withers, Laura. (2002, August, 2nd.). Parking services to alter ticketing, appeals process. The Post, Retrieved from http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/archives3/aug02/080102/n5.html

Food Inc 2, paper argument

Food Inc. continues to "wow" me with its abundance of facts about all of the horrid actions taking place in our food industry. From the way we harvest crops, to the way campaigns are funded, I have yet to see a true bright spot thus far. One part in particular that bothered me was finding out all the pesticides that are sprayed over our produce during harvesting. I understand their cause is to keep bugs off them while helping them grow faster, but is it really worth it if fruits and vegetables we consume are just going to give us cancer in the long run? I know it is a repetitive theme to keep hearing, but I really do wish people could take at least one step away from the "profiting" part of life and take another step towards improving life itself before it is too late. At one point or another, this food production executives are going to be pioneers in turning around our food industry works. If just one can change their way of production, moving away from what makes the utmost profit, to what is healthier and still makes a profit, then it can begin a trend that hopefully other companies may follow.

For my research argument paper I have decided to side with going more paper efficient as opposed to not doing so to preserve the benefits that come with not doing so. I believe that the costs of doing so are so much more valuable not only to our pockets, but to the well being of the environment. I think it will be easier and more applicable to produce because the reasons for getting rid of it are directly related to the worlds current global issues of oil consumption, global warming, and deforestation. I will focus in on the direct economic and environmental cost of each issue that comes with the mass consumption of paper. There certainly is no shortage of information to back my argument for using drastically less paper. Once put together, I believe i will have sufficiently put together an argument for a more paper efficient college campus and organizational setting.

Food Inc post 1.

Food Inc. was nothing short of an eye-opening experience for me. I have always heard terrible horror stories about where our food comes from and how it is prepared, but I had never scene actual documented footage. I was completely unaware that our nations food industry is predominantly controlled by just a few corporations. Perhaps we could have a more successful economy if there were more competitors in the business. The fact that corporations threaten to terminate contracts and put its clients in horrible financial positions should they break silence about the method of animal farming. But above all, I was appalled at the meat packing industry. To see how the cows were treated so poorly was jaw dropping. It infuriated me to see someone forcing a cow with broken legs to walk, then to be pushed over with a bulldozer. That iis just beyond unacceptable.

It was interesting to see how Schlosser got most of the footage. It seems like the use of hidden cameras was pretty much the only way to get footage without the corporations squashing the operation. Although the quality isn't good, the fact that its not very good makes it so eye opening in proving how genuine and credible the source really is.

The text pretty much just backs up everything said in the movie in even greater detail. I feel like the movie is used to display the most eye opening facts and ideas about the food industry, and the text is used to back them up with a plethora of facts. I think the movie is more effective because the viewers won't get so caught up in so many facts, just the important eye opening facts and interviews that concisely support the cause. Although I know the book would like to be thought of as the primary investigative source of the industry, the movie is used to kind of get people's foot one step in the door. From there they can read the book and become more involved in the issue should they choose to.

Research Prospectus Intro

All too often organizations do not believe they can have a profound impact on the environment without making drastic changes to their operations that result in costly investments. However, there are minor adjustments that can be made in an organization to provide an immediate impact on the environment and financial savings to the environment. Direct deposit is something already being utilized at Ohio University for faculty and staff; however, it is not something that has received strong emphasis. Removing the option for checks to be distributed would be financially and environmentally beneficial.

As previously stated, direct deposit is currently an option for faculty and staff at Ohio University. However, the university also still provides written checks as a form of paying its employees. While this option might be comfortable for employees who have always received a check, the environmental impact of generating these checks is considerable. If Ohio University is providing paychecks for 15,000 employees, over 5,607 pounds of paper are being used each year to generate these paychecks for each employee twice monthly. What’s more, 53,480 gallons of waste water discharged into lakes, streams and rivers as well as the 2,077 gallons of fuel used annually to transport the checks all add up to a significant impact on the environment. While oftentimes people might only consider the amount of paper being used to generate paychecks, resources being consumed like fuel and water are not equally considered but are equally important.

Aside from faculty and staff utilizing direct deposit, students can take advantage of the opportunity as well. Currently the Office of the Bursar offers direct deposit as a method of distributing student loan refunds. While this method might be convenient for people accustomed to the traditional methods, as mentioned earlier, the environmental resources the process consumes is tremendous. If students were no longer given the option of a check being produced, the environmental impact would be remarkable. Many businesses currently use direct deposit, and it is becoming more common to provide it as the only available option for receiving paychecks. However, the United States is still far behind other European and Asian countries in its adoption of direct deposit.

Another situation to be considered is just how substantial the impact on the oil industry really is. Millions upon millions of gallons of gasoline are consumed each year just transporting bills and paychecks any other type of mail, let alone all the gas consumed for other general purposes. The truth his the savings in gasoline consumption would be mind boggling while the money saved by filling the tank less would be sure to make businesses happy.

Aside from just being beneficial to the environment, direct deposit provides organizations with financial savings. U.S. businesses have saved over $6.7 billion over the last 10 years by utilizing direct deposit as a method for paying employees. Direct deposit is a process that, once in place, is mostly automated and does not just cut down on environmental resources, but also reduces labor costs as well associated with generating paychecks the traditional way.

Another idea that should be considered on the side for how Ohio University can further go paperless is how it generates its parking tickets. In 2001, over $281,000 in parking tickets were issued. Each of these tickets is accompanied by a slip of paper on a car windshield. Alternatively, if every student registered their vehicle, parking tickets could then be issued through e-mail. Students already have the option of paying tickets online. If the option was made available to view their ticket online instead of one being printed, this would greatly reduce resources as well. It would also reduce labor hours as well, since parking services would not spend as much time printing and issuing tickets.

There are large changes that can be made to help the environment. However, minor changes such as direct deposit have outstanding impacts on the environment as well, and also provide financial savings to the organizations instituting these practices. That is why Ohio University needs to further implement direct deposit throughout the university and consider paperless options for parking tickets as well.

Bibliography:

Schwartz, Donna. (2009). Use Direct Deposit, Save a Pound of Paper. [Web]. Retrieved from http://payitgreen.org/files/pressReleases/PayItGreen_April09_Consumer_Release.pd

Withers, Laura. (2002, August, 2nd.). Parking services to alter ticketing, appeals process. The Post, Retrieved from http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/archives3/aug02/080102/n5.html

A Forest Returns

The movie about the Wayne National Forest returning was rather eye opening. I had no idea that there was a time period in our country's history where we literally cut down every tree so that much of the land was barren and lifeless. As horrible as it was to destroy the forest, economically I understand why it was done, and in time the economy was brought it back. As weird as it might come off for me to say this. Cutting down the Wayne forest in one perspective was a blessing to this country. For starters, the wood was used to further develop and expand our country for a growing population. But at the end of the ordeal, the barren land acted as something for government to purchase which acted as a way to put money back into the pockets of the surrounding natives. Not only were people paid for their property, but it also gave people jobs because many young men were paid to restore the land to the lush greens we see today. So, the destruction and restoration of the Wayne National Forest can partially be credited with helping lift Americans out of the depths of the Great Depression. An additional thought is just the realization of how much harder life was back then. Everything was labor based, and the cost to live took a major physical toll. I certainly have a ton of respect for my elders, seeing as they lives they lived were much more demanding than they are now.

Research Prospectus Addition, Forest Presentation

After realizing that my topic is potentially too specific, I have decided to add one more factor to this environmental situation to research. I am going to talk about cost and amount of oil it takes to transport paper documents as opposed to documents transported electronically. From here I will research the fuel costs of airplanes as well as mail trucks and courier services and compare that to the rest of the nations oil consumption costs.

David Maywhoor's presentation was interesting as well. Coming into the class I had no idea about prescriptive burning. With forest fires always being an issue I didn't understand why we would induce them. What if it got out of control? That just didn't a whole lot of sense too me. Another part of the presentation I found interesting was his story about people just sitting up in the trees so that workers could not cut them down. I thought it was a brilliant idea even though it was failure in that they were actually arrested and put in jail. At the same time, it is nice to see that some people in this world care that much to do such a thing.