- Surprisingly, my carbon footprint of 4.1 Planet Earths was below the country average’s of 5 Earths. If everyone were to live my odd way of life, we would need the resources supplied by our Earth multiplied by 4.1. The average of the country would require the resources of 5 Earths. However, while it takes 17 global acres to support the average lifestyle of our country, it would take 18.3 global acres to support my lifestyle.
- Three of the many things that one could possibly change in their lifestyle is diet, modes of transportation, and how they recycle and use renewable resources. I chose to maximize these aspects of my lifestyle and the number of Earths it took to satisfy such a lifestyle skyrocketed. I already do not use much public transportation to get to school or to place, and when I opted to not use any public transportation and to drive more excessively and to never carpool, the number of Earths jumped to 5.5. At home, we buy all of our meat from butchers and never buy packaged meat for cost preferences, and also because we have many butchers in our neighborhood. However, the moment I switched my diet to having poultry of every kind every day, packaged and processed, the number of Earths became 7.4! The change was drastic and quite shocking. In terms of renewable energy, I was definitely surprised. I bought all sorts of newspapers and magazines, had insane gas and electric bills, and minimized the amount of recycling I did, and the footprint calculator showed no mercy. The number of Earths became 9.3.
- My inner conflict with the question, how can we create a more sustainable society, is this amazing privilege we are subtly exercising when we get to CHOOSE whether to live a more sustainable life or not. In my circumstances, I may choose to off all the lights as I go from room to room in my house, take 12-minute showers, and place stickers on my family’s garbage cans so to differentiate between recyclables and make it more convenient. I can CHOOSE to either take the subway to school or to let my parents drive me every week. I can choose to either drive with my brother to church or to hitch a ride with four other friends. I think as a society we need to work towards making sustainability the more convenient choice for all people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. If carpooling was rewarded more often—just like the HOV lanes—and public transportation would stop increasing its prices then more people would opt for sustainability. As a society we need to work towards evening out the playing field for everyone.
All posts by Sherry Sara Oommen
A Mini Fieldnote on the Hall of Biodiversity
Location1: The Wall of Fungi, Crustaceans, Mammals, and all sorts of aspects of kingdoms from Domain Eukarya.
Location2: The Dzanga-Sangha Rainforest Exhibit
This ceiling-to-floor exhibit celebrated various kingdoms such as plants, fungi, and animals by designating specific columns of the wall to specific phylum or kingdom such as fungi or fish, crustaceans, birds, and all sorts of animals. There were multiple TV screens high up on the wall that would continuously play scenes from underwater documentaries surrounded by a multitude of recreations of various species from that particular category. At your hand’s disposal, there were touch-screens that would enable you to virtually flip through different phylums and gave pictures and short descriptions of specific species from those phylums. You could select from the huge spectrum of color-coded categories on these screens, giving the individual full reign of which species they wanted to study. What was interesting was that the screens matched up to the species on the wall–so that it was actually giving a virtual tour of the daunting and vast collection of creatures in this exhibit.
The use of media, pictures, and recreation of animals is what attracts people and makes biodiversity so relatable to an audience of a wide age range. There’s sounds from the various TV screens, plenty of things to touch, a sense of independence and options in terms of what you want to learn about. Whether you’re a kindergartner or a 30-year old, everyone can learn from flipping through the touch screen. It’s colors and wealth of knowledge attracts all audiences, making it accessible as well. In design, I felt that this exhibit was wonderful.
There was a sharp contrast in the use of media and interaction between patrons when comparing this exhibit and the Dzanga-Sangha Rainforest Exhibit. In the exhibit of multiple creatures, at least 40 patrons could easily be touching screens, peering at the animals exhibited, standing back to look at the large collection/exhibit as a whole, or reading the descriptions of fungi and plants. There was screaming and shouting courtesy of the visiting kindergarteners, and just a freedom to roam around, be loud, and hands-on. There would always be duos or triplets of children hovered around the screens saying “Ooo look at that!” “What’s that?” or “I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!, MS. CHER!” Teens and adults could stand aside from the children and enjoy the exhibit at their leisure as well and many were challenging themselves to name the species on the wall.
The Dzanga-Sangha Rainforest exhibit, I believe did a fantastic job at also promoting how exciting biodiversity and conservation is in a completely different manner. Although placed right in the middle of the Hall of Biodiversity, it is completely sectioned off so that upon entering, you feel the change in mood and seriousness. The exhibit serves to promote conservation of the Dzanga-Sangha Rainforest-located in southern/central Africa- admitting that there is a clash between human needs and the need for biodiversity. Natives use the rainforest for basic supplies and medicinal supplies and corporation use it for timber and diamonds. However, by extracting so many resources, the animals living in the rainforest are stripped of their homes- threatening the survival of elephants, gorillas, and all sorts of animals that have made this Central African rainforest home.
The exhibit is a rainforest itself, modeled after the Dzanga-Sangha with even life-size recreations of animals from that rainforest. Flute-like sounds were playing in the background and the benches and paneling is all made to look like wood. Lighting is minimal, and shines specifically on the rainforest and the waist-high panels that describe the problems going on. Patrons are easily attracted to the books that are part of these panels that a person can physically flip through and the tv screens that teach people about the natives in this rainforest.
Generally, people did not talk so much in this exhibit. Besides the usual “oh look here” and “wow, its a gorilla”, people were mostly silent when reading the text or watching the video. When children would peer into the exhibit they would walk quickly through but not say much at all. At least 5 children came through, went straight to the flip books, flipped, and then left. A total 12 Adults and teens tended to walk along the entire exhibit, skimming or reading. Although there are no bright colors, bright lighting, a wide collection of species models, multiple tv screens and touch screens, this exhibit truly served its purpose –but mostly to an older audience.
Both exhibits make biodiversity an understandable and fun concept and by extension spark interest in the idea of conservation and demonstrate its importance. Coming to this conclusion, the Hall of Biodiversity combines, sound, video, images, and sense of touch and sight to make education a fun experience and gives the public something to remember when they leave the museum.
30% of Food We Eat is Never Eaten …
Hunger is a key issue in my life as it is one of the painful outcomes of being poor and can lead to malnutrition, illness, and ultimately death for those who never manage to get access to some kind of food. In the U.S., we sometimes forget that hunger exists in our very own country. We pride ourselves on being a “developed” country that uphold “liberty and freedom”. We constantly feel the obligation to help other countries because we are obviously doing a much better job at aspects such as protecting civil rights, keeping up with the science, math, and technology fields, or maintaining a fairly represented general population in government. However, this sometimes blinds us to the little cracks and gaps in our own structure as a country—one of which is how we simply throw out hundreds of pounds of food every day while there are hundreds starving in our own country and millions across the globe.
This article concludes that the U.S. most certainly does have an issue with wasting food –more than 30% of our food- which could go to the millions starving in the world. The author also concludes that with a such a major food lose and waste issue, there allows for even more opportunities to distribute food throughout the country. By preserving food and learning storage methods, populations can greatly decrease food loss/waste. The author refers to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations which states that about one-third of the food produced around the world for humans to eat- which is about 2.8 trillion pounds- is lost or wasted. That is enough to feed three billion people. With a value of $162 billion, in the U.S., more than 30% of our food produced is either lost or wasted. The author also uses many statistics to show how by providing means of storing foods- such as storage bins and equipment for preserving and cooling produce – countries are greatly able to reduce loss of food. In Afghanistan alone, tomato loss reduced from 5-% to 5 percent and cereal grain and grain legume loss from 15-20% to less than 2%. With such statistics, the author’s argument is scientific and sufficiently relevant. The reader can easily understand the issue and even change their habits so as not to add to the national issue of food waste and loss.
The author tries not to show bias by providing information equally about the U.S. and countries around the world. Her objectiveness added to her conclusion that hunger is everywhere and food is wasted all over the world but it can be greatly reduced.
Bird – Watching At Its Finest
For a person who has only identified or “I.D-ed” New York City pigeons, bird watching proved to be extremely enlightening. “Enlightening” may seem too extravagant of a word to describe simple bird-watching. There are birds constantly flying about. They relieve themselves mid-air, leaving the remains on your clothes. Their chirping – the earth’s natural alarm clock- are a sad reminder that there are only a few more hours until school begins and the essay is not even complete. Birds are constantly crossing streets without care, causing drivers to have unnecessary panic attack. And that summed up everything that I knew about our neighbors in the skies before Bioblitz. Raising my hand to go into the “birds group” was probably my best decision of the weekend.
I was originally assigned to bees but upon arrival to the New York Botanical Garden, three volunteers were needed to fill the bird group and I immediately joined. Only when our scientist, Tim*, handed a binocular to each of us did I realize that we would not simply walk through exhibit like areas where we would pet the birds, take pictures of them, and feed them.
No. We walked down trail after trail, coming to dozens of forks in the roads, stopping every now and then when we heard a distinct sound we would stand still and squint our eyes through layers of tall trees and branches crossing at all angles. What I realized was how diverse New York City’s birds were. We saw an amazing variety of birds such as an American Robin, a black and white warbler, an American Gold Finch, a Catbird, a European Starling, a Red Wing Blackbird, a Blue Jay, and so many more. Who knew that our own city could host so many birds and how quickly we could learn to differentiate between them. Within those few hours, our group could identify a warbler from a sparrow from a catbird (who’s chirping sounds like a cat scowling) from a European Starling (which is actually an invasive species from Europe). Even more interesting was the fact that we were identifying these birds in their natural habitat. They were not being held in captivity or anything. We were being true observers. Now as I stroll through parks and bike on trails I can identify birds and appreciate them for their unique characteristics.
BioBlitz further demonstrated how vital patience is to the art of observations to get qualitative and quantitative results. Our “scientist”, who in reality is a bird-watching hobbyist, could walk around for hours observing and identifying birds. Listening to their chirping and keeping a sharp eye for movement. We heard a Red Tailed Hawk but did not find it until the last 15 minutes of our session. The patience to go a half hour without spotting a single bird and still keep eyes and ears peeled for movement was admirable. While the group would get tired, he was consistently determined. Such patience and investment allows for good data and efficient research.
