What Activities Cause Environmental Emissions - Literature review Example

Reflective Journal Entries Name Tutor Date Course Reflective Journal Entries 1. Environmental Footprint After watching the “Story of Stuff” in YouTube, I realized that as an individual I contribute immensely to environmental footprint (Alexis, 2008). I also realized that our institution is also involved in the environmental pollution that results into environmental footprints. I always use the fridge on a daily basis which consumes a lot of power and it also has negative impacts on the environment. I realized that although the use of the fridge may not seem to be harmful to the environment, it is quite detrimental. I also have other appliances in my room like the air conditioners which consume a lot of power and hence impacting negatively on the environment by contributing to environmental footprint. Whenever I travel to college, I always use my car although the distance is quite short. From the information obtained after reading the book by Hauschild (2012), I also realized that the car is among the top sources of pollution. The car usually produces a lot of smoke which has a mixture of toxic gases that contributes to the build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Nagatsu, 2011). The use of cars in the college is also common and most of the students and lecturers usually use their own cars. This has a negative impact on the environment as the high number of people at the institution using their personal cars contributes largely to environmental pollution. Other students also use their motor bicycles when travelling to the institution and this also have a similar effect on the environment. I always eat a variety of food with red meat being on the menu on a daily basis. I was shocked to learn that some food also contributes to the environmental footprints after reading the article by Lindskog, (2011). According to the article, the average greenhouse gas emission per day in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent is about 7.19 for high meat eaters. I realized from this information that I contribute to the environmental emission without my knowledge. On the other hand, the institution is well equipped with hundreds of computers which are used on a daily basis. The computers are known for consuming a lot of energy which is also responsible for the environmental emissions (Rowe, 2011). The waste disposal mechanism of the institution is not good as some electronic wastes are openly disposed. The poor disposal of the e-wastes also contributes greatly to the environmental emission and hence making the institution a culprit. The disposal of the plastic bags at the institution is also poor. This is considering that most of the students usually use plastic bags and some are used for packaging food at the local canteen. This is an indication that the college is involved in the environmental emission. Different chemicals and detergents are usually used at the institution for the purposes of cleaning and other activities. The chemical have harmful effects on the environment and they contribute to the environmental emissions. The increase in the number of buildings at the institution is also a factor that contributes to the environmental emission. This is because some of the building materials have negative impacts on the environment. The high level of environmental emission has severe impacts on the entire region. According to Pandey, (2011), environmental pollution has no boundaries and the effects will be felt through out different parts. The article also highlighted the negative impacts on the environment that is caused by human activities and mostly the large organizations. I spoke to the administrators at the institution about the issues concerning environmental emission. The institution is also concerned about the environmental emission due to the negative effects that it has. The institution intends to switch to green energy for the purposes of reducing the emission. The institution is also advising the students to utilize the school transport as opposed to using their individual vehicles. This will play an important role in cutting the environmental emission. On the other hand, I also intend to put in place some measures as an individual that will ensure that I assist in the reduction of environmental emission. This will involve the reduction in the consumption of red meat and using appliances that consumes little energy. Proper disposal of plastic bags and electronic wastes will also play an important role in cutting down on the environmental emission (Namieśnik, 2011). I have realized that most of the individual as well as the institutional activities contribute to the environmental emission. However, I believe most of the individuals as well as institutions may not be aware that their activities cause environmental emissions and therefore public awareness is required. 2. Career workbook The career workbook played an essential role in enabling me to understand my strengths and weaknesses. It also enabled me to identify my ideal work target that will be useful in future. My main target involves efficiency and effectiveness at work. In order to achieve effectiveness, one of my work targets is to ensure that I complete all the activities within the required time. Completing different task within the allocated time has positive impact on the organization and me as an individual. This is because it will enable me to have adequate time to asses whether the tasks were completed satisfactorily and what needs to be changed. According to the article by Rogers, (2011), career planning is useful to an individual as it also acts a motivating factor in their careers. Completing the required tasks on time will also motivate me to perform better in the different tasks. Although it may be difficult to complete all the tasks at the required time, the proper planning will play an important role in ensuring that the tasks are completed on time. I am also targeting at being effective in terms of communication with the colleagues. Effective communication will play an essential role in ensuring that I am able to work with the others and hence completing the required tasks. Effective communication is also important in ensuring that consultations are carried out easily with the colleagues (Svendsen, 2008). Consultations with colleagues are useful in terms of ensuring that problems are solved easily. Teamwork will form an important aspect of my work in future. The career workbook has played an essential role in enabling me to understand that I will be required to be an active team member in order to achieve different tasks. According to Kahlert, (2012), teamwork plays an important role in simplifying tasks. This is because of the skill mix that is found within different members of the team. Becoming an active team member will also be useful to me in terms of gaining more knowledge and experience from the others. My experience and skills in terms of working with diverse members will also be enhanced. Any team will always have members of a diverse group. Diversity is also becoming popular in most of the teams due to globalization (Tesluk, 2012). Experience in working with a diverse team will be useful to me in future as I may end up working with global organizations. On the other hand, I am also targeting continuous training for the purposes of improving my knowledge and skills. I will have to use my spare time for the purposes of attending different trainings and seminars. This will require a lot of commitment in terms of resources and time. This is considering that some of the trainings will require financial resources. I believe that the continuous training will be useful to me and it will play an important role in filling the knowledge gaps and hence improving my efficiency. Improving my leadership skills is also one of my ideal targets in relation to the career planning workbook. I realized that my profession will also require leadership and management skills. I will be required to develop my leadership skills by undergoing training and seminars that deals with the leadership issues. On the other hand, I have also realized that leadership skills will be important to me during the teamwork activities. This is because I intend to become a team leader in future. According to Harris-Bowlsbey, (2012), career development and planning is useful in determining what an individual intends to do in future Improving on my decision making skills is also one of my ideal target for the career panning . Decision making skills are important in term of solving conflicts and problems (West, 2012). The decision making skills will however require a lot of consultations with the colleagues in order to ensure that the correct decisions are made. This means I will be required to have good interpersonal skills in order to work closely with my colleagues. Good interpersonal skills are important in term of ensuring that communication with colleagues is enhanced (Egido, 2014). The career workbook has thus played an instrumental role to me in terms of understanding myself. This is an indication that the career workbook is useful for individuals as it enables them to make decisions useful in achieving their goals and objectives. 3. Reflection on the importance of values Professional competence and trust is an important aspect for any professional. According to Platts, (2003), the professional have to show a lot of maturity when dealing with the members of the public. This can be achieved through acting in an ethical manner in order to ensure that they serve the members of the community with diligence. The concept of master-apprentice form is also important for the professional when they are passing their knowledge to those in need. I believe that the concepts of professional competence are important for the purposes of gaining the trust of the members of the society. Professional competence should involve acting in a manner that does not raise questions among the members of the public. I also believe that the success of a professional is determined by the level of professionalism that they display when carrying out their duties. Most people will shun away from the services of the professional who are not ethical (Evetts, 2014). The public image of an organization is also determined by the professional competence of the people working in the organization. The concepts of professionalism are also useful when dealing with the clients. This is because it builds the confidence of the clients with regards to the profession. I agree with Platts, (2003), that the enthusiastic custodianship can be achieved when dealing with the members of the society through professional ethics. The professionals can only achieve satisfaction in their work through maintaining high levels of professionalism. A social enterprise considers the human needs and it is built on high level of ethics. According to Yunus, (2011), the society is currently build on capitalistic values but is requires the social aspects. Ethics in business is important and it is useful in satisfying the human needs despite the capitalism. The success of any organization is dependant on the levels of ethics as people will always want to be valued (Cournoyer, 2013). I believe that ethics is important in any business regards of it aims and objectives with regards to profit making. The business should ensure that human dignity is values at all times. Profitability should not affect the human values in the society. All the business people should consider the effects that their products will have on the members of the society as opposed to the profits that they intend to make. Individually the ethical values can influence my relationship with colleagues, employees and clients in future. I will always ensure that the ethical values are upheld at all time for the purposes of ensuring that everyone is satisfied. The trust of the members of the community can only be won in the presence of ethics within an organization (Evetts, 2011). As a professional, I will ensure that the ethical principles become part of the organizational culture for the benefits of the organization and the wider society. The lack of ethics by an employee at the workplace should be considered a serious violation and such an employee should be dismissed from the organization. It is the responsibilities of all the business organization to create a conducive environment where ethics thrives. References Alexis, R, 2008, Story of Stuff, Full Version; How Things Work, About Stuff , Retrieved on 14th September 2014 from, Hauschild, M, 2012, Limitations of carbon footprint as indicator of environmental sustainability, Environmental science & technology, 46(7), 4100-4108. Lindskog, E, 2011, A method for determining the environmental footprint of industrial products using simulation, In Simulation Conference (WSC), Proceedings of the 2011 Winter (pp. 2131-2142). IEEE. Pandey, D, 2011, Carbon footprint: current methods of estimation, Environmental monitoring and assessment, 178(1-4), 135-160. Rogers, M, 2011, A longitudinal examination of adolescent career planning and exploration using a social cognitive career theory framework, Journal of Adolescence, 34(1), 163-172. Kahlert, H, 2012, The Paradox of Gender Equality: A Case Study on Cooling Out in Career Planning of Young Academics in Changing Scientific Organisations, GEXcel Work in Progress Report Volume X, 11, 73. Harris-Bowlsbey, J, 2012, Career development interventions in the 21st century, Pearson Higher Ed. Yunus, M, 2011, Building social business: The new kind of capitalism that serves humanity's most pressing needs, Public Affairs. Svendsen, L. 2008. Work, Acumen, Stocksfield UK, p. 72 Egido, C, 2014, Intellectual teamwork: Social and technological foundations of cooperative work, Psychology Press. West, M, 2012, Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research, John Wiley & Sons. Tesluk, P, 2012, Emotional intelligence, teamwork effectiveness, and job performance: The moderating role of job context, Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(4), 890. Namieśnik, J, 2012, PAH diagnostic ratios for the identification of pollution emission sources, Environmental Pollution, 162, 110-119. Rowe, D, 2011, Green roofs as a means of pollution abatement, Environmental Pollution, 159(8), 2100-2110. Nagatsu, M, 2011, Carbon nanotubes as adsorbents in environmental pollution management: a review, Chemical Engineering Journal, 170(2), 395-410. Evetts, J, 2011, A new professionalism? Challenges and opportunities, Current Sociology, 59(4), 406-422. Cournoyer, B, 2013, The social work skills workbook, Cengage Learning. Evetts, J, 2014, The Concept of Professionalism: Professional Work, Professional Practice and Learning, In International Handbook of Research in Professional and Practice-based Learning (pp. 29-56). Springer Netherlands. Read More