International Environmental Management and Sustainability - Assignment Example

? International Environmental Management and Sustainability No: Contents Contents 2 International Environmental Management and Sustainability 3 Introduction 3 Diagnostic Base-line 3 Aims 4 My Carbon Footprints before Implementation of My Plans 5 Eco-Mapping 6 My Plan 8 Results of Implementation of My Plan 9 Cost and Health Benefits 9 Drawbacks of the systems 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 International Environmental Management and Sustainability Introduction With the increase in the industrialization, the carbon footprints increased in the past few decades. The other major cause in the increase in the carbon footprints is the emissions of the green house gases from the vehicles (Rose, 2012, np). However, the major portion of the green house gases is still produced by the power generation systems (mainly coal and oil based power plants). In order to secure the future of the planet, there is a need to cut down the carbon footprints. The steps should be taken individually and on the mass level to make a difference. There are many ways to cut down the carbon footprints; like consuming as less energy as possible, utilizing renewable methods to generate energy, limiting the cutting of forests and planting more trees, using alternate fuel in the vehicles that produce no or less green house gases or utilizing the electric vehicles or covering short distances by foot or through cycling. In this way, the environmental protection can be guaranteed and the future of the planet earth can be secured (Carbonfootprints.com, nd, np). Diagnostic Base-line I noticed that a larger amount of carbon emissions are produced by the vehicles and as the travelling all around the world is increasing, the amounts of carbon emissions are also increasing. In this way, I aimed to reduce my individual carbon footprints by utilizing cycle or cover the short distances by foot. My most of the travel comes in the category of short distance travel, which is from home to university and then from university to home. The university where I study is Anglia Ruskin University that is about two mile away from my home having address Sandy Lane the Potters to the University. In order to cover such short distances, I was habited to take car to the university that was the major reason for my increased travel carbon footprints. In order to reduce my travel carbon footprints, I made decision to never use car for such short distances, instead I use bicycle for such short distance or cover the distance by foot. However, utilizing bicycle is a better option as it covers distance fast. For this reason, I bought a bicycle. The price of the bicycle can be covered by the saving the cost of the fuel. Every year vehicles are the major contributor in making the carbon footprints amount larger. According to a survey in 2004, it is estimated that about a distance of averagely 2.6 trillion miles was covered by cars and light trucks. The distance is as long as about 10 million complete trips to the moon from the earth. The estimated amount of miles per gallon an average vehicle gives was about 19.6 mpg, which is improved to a much lower value. An average type of gasoline has a content of about 5.3 pounds of carbon in a gallon. In this way, utilizing a gallon of gasoline in our cars produces about 5.3 pounds of carbon. If the miles per gallon are estimated to 20 mpg for an average car, then for 20 miles a vehicles produces about 5.3 pounds of carbon footprints and thus for a distance of about 2.6 trillion miles, the carbon produces is about 0.689 trillion pounds. The individual production of carbon from travel is about 1.5 tonnes per year. In this way, if a major reduction is made in the travel carbon footprints, the atmospheric carbon footprint can be reduced to a certain lower level. (Science-news.org, 2008, np) Aims The major air is to reduce my total carbon footprints, which are about 5.89 tonnes per year. However, the major contribution is made by my travel carbon footprints, which are about 3.08 tonnes per year. In this way, my prior aim is to reduce my travelling carbon footprints my first aim is to reduce the carbon footprints through travelling from 3.08tonnes per year to near zero tonnes per year. My second aim is to utilize alternate ways to make a clear reduction in the travelling carbon footprints. My third aim is to investigate the benefits and drawbacks of the alternate ways other than car, taxi or bus. My Carbon Footprints before Implementation of My Plans Before the implementation of my plans my total carbon foot prints were about 5.89 tonnes per year, which I calculated from direct.gov.uk. However, the most contribution in making this amount was my travel carbon footprints that are about 3.08 tonnes per year. My travel footprints are larger than the national average and thus I really need to reduce my travelling carbon footprints. The Image below depicts the real situation. I was producing about 43% more carbon emission as compared to the national average. While, my travel carbon footprints are about 52.3% of my total carbon footprints. Image source: Adapted from direct.gov.uk. Eco-Mapping Eco-mapping is a tool that provides an ease to implement an environmentally management plan. It provides a visual aspect of the plan and describes where the energy is utilizing and where the energy can be managed. One eco-map can be utilized in many similar environmental management projects. The most important aspect is that it presents the project graphically that can tell 1000 more words than a written material (Ecomapping.com, nd, np). My most of the travel is from the Angelia Ruskin University to my home. The distance is less than two mile as my home is in Sandy Lane Potters to the University. I am considering the distance two miles. In this way, after eliminating the Sundays, the total working days will be 25. In this way, the total distance covered in 25 days is approximately 50 miles. In order to cover the distance I usually take car, bus or taxi. The pictures are taken from the Google earth, which quite clearly shows the paths and ways towards the sandy lane potters to the university. Each day, for a two mile travel, I produced about 0.53 pounds of carbon footprints each day. Image Source: Google Earth: Angelia Ruskin University Cambridge My Plan In order to reduce the travel carbon footprints, I planned to utilize bicycle for short distances like from home to the university and from university to the home, as cycling is the best method to reduce the carbon footprints as cycling uses no fuel (cyclingresourcecentre.org, 2010, np). I planned to maintain the practice for several weeks and then analyze the advantages and disadvantages of implementation of my plans. One day or two day practice is not enough to present any conclusion on cycling. In this way, maintaining the practice for several weeks is an important factor. The plan is simple and will certainly work well regarding my current travel. The major issues that will arise in the implementation of my plan are the outcomes of the plan like less ease and tiredness. Results of Implementation of My Plan The results of implementation of my plans are far better than my expectations. My all carbon footprints associated with the short distance travel are minimized to zero as I am utilizing no fossil fuel to cover such distances. By utilizing the green techniques, the carbon footprints, there is a massive decrease in the carbon footprints. In this I reduced my travelling carbon footprints from 3.08 tonnes per year to 0.14 tonnes per year. The reduction in the travelling footprints is as massive as 96% of the travelling footprints reduced. If we compare the amount to the total production of the carbon footprints, the reductions is about 50.1% or the total amount of the carbon footprints remained to 3.01 tonnes per year from the total amount of 5.86 tonnes per year. In terms of cost, as there is no fossil fuel involved, the cost of the fossil fuel is saved each month giving the total profit in terms of the utilization of the fossil fuel. Cost and Health Benefits The major benefit of cycling is that the cycling does not involve the utilization of any type of fossil fuel. In this way no cost of fossil fuel is involved in cycling, even there is no or little maintenance cost involved. A cycle does not demand garage or a wide space to be parked, a small space that can hold a person is enough for the cycle. Besides the economic benefits, cycling has some major health benefits. Some of the health benefits that can be easily notices are the improvements in the health and physiques (Travers, 2009, np), as cycling is a major body workout. Digestion improves by workout during the cycling. With car, strict traffic rules have to be followed but in cycling less or no traffic rule are applied. Drawbacks of the systems The major drawback of my plan is that the cycling takes more time as compared to the bus, taxi or car but for short distances the time difference is too small to be considered a problem. The other problem is that the cycling is tiring job and sometimes it feels much tired after riding a bicycle. Conclusion Carbon footprint is one of the biggest problems that the people are facing now a day. The problem is creating other problem like the rise in the prices of oil, gas and coal, increased health risks, making urban life difficult, causing the certain species of the earth to die at a rapid rate that would create an imbalance in nature and other such problems. Thus, alternate energy resources that produces no or less carbon emissions are to be utilized that would bring sustainability not only to the environment but only to the economics (transolutions.org, 2006, np). Like I utilized cycling for short distances and reduced my carbon footprint to a certain lower level. The practice not only reduced the cost of the fuel but also provided me with certain health benefits. Thus this practice should be employed by every person to bring environmental as well as economic sustainability. References Carbonfootprints.com. nd. Car Travel. Carbonfootprints.com. Retrieved on 23th 2012 from http://www.carbonfootprint.com/cartravel.html Cyclingresourcecentre.org. 2010. Environmental Benefits of Cycling. Cyclingresourcecentre.org. Retrieved on 23th 2012 from http://www.cyclingresourcecentre.org.au/page/environmental_benefits_of_cycling Direct.gov.uk. 2012, CO2 Calculator: It’s Time to Act. Direct.gov.uk. Retrieved on 18th April 2012 from http://carboncalculator.direct.gov.uk/index.html http://environmentalenergysolutions.com/data/content/view/37/48/ Ecomapping.com. nd. What Is Ecomapping. Ecomapping.com. Retrieved on 23th 2012 from http://www.ecomapping.com/en/tools-methodes/ecomapping.html Proveandimprove.org. 2012. Eco-mapping: Primary Purpose. proveandimprove.org. Retrieved on 18th April 2012 from http://www.proveandimprove.org/tools/ecomapping.php Rose, Kevin. 2012. Greenhouse Gases. Lakescientist.com. Retrieved on 23th 2012 from http://www.lakescientist.com/learn-about-lakes/lakes-climate-change/lakes-and-greenhouse-gases.html Science-news.org. 2008. Motor Vehicles and Carbon Emissions- A General Overview. Science-news.org Retrieved on 23th 2012 from http://science-news.org/carbon-emissions/motor-vehicles-and-carbon-emissions-a-general-overview/ Travers, Jerry. 2009. Health Benefits of Cycling. Adultbicycling.com. Retrieved on 23th 2012 from http://www.adultbicycling.com/component/content/article/9-bicycling-basics/37-health-benefits-of-cycling-ii.html Transolutions.org. 2006. Reduce Your Carbon Footprints. Transolutions.org. Retrieved on 23th 2012 from http://www.transolutions.org/?q=footprint Read More