Week #1

January 9^th, 2013

My first ever blog post and I never thought it would have to do with my education!

At this point I am not certain of my expectations for this class. When my brother in-law told me this was a graduation requirement and spoke of its contents I rolled my eyes and scoffed. He has long since graduated and though we agree on many fronts about the environment, he did say he enjoyed this course. So that perhaps is a ray of hope for me!

Unlike many of my friends, schoolmates, and others I come across, I hold deep anathema for the “man-made” global warming movement. I for one believe it to be fraudulent as another way to create crisis among the population to continue and maintain control. Please do not think I am a conspiratoralist (I am not, I assure you) but given the nature and history of how this movement came about, I find it difficult to believe that the so-called facts haven’t been twisted to suit theories in order to fulfill personal agendas and power.

I hope to learn more about our rich environment here. Perhaps my husband can accompany me as he loves nature and our local areas’ history. He teaches me things I never knew as he explores the land for hours at a time!

Sustainability in itself derives from the “green” movement. No one had any idea what that concept was until very recently. Case in point, the fact that this course has come to fruition or was part of the building process of the school, again is a derivative of the global warming “epidemic.” Being “green” and “sustainable” are interchangeable terms and are thrown around quite loosely in my opinion. I attended SWFC’s Interior Design school for a year and many of our classes and curriculum were based on such notions. I have the most familiarity with those concepts and my understanding of sustainability comes from that field. Whether it be a building (hotel, hospital, commercial work space) or a product specified in a project, it means to me that the product or products were made by an eco-friendly company or perhaps taken from a true natural resource (cork from the Cork Tree) and was designed to last longer than it’s more man-made synthetic product (which can be refuted in some instances).

Being a business major I’m not certain yet where it could fall in my career directly but it is omnipresent anyway, whether I notice it or not.

I think everyone likes to think they have good, “sustainable” habits. But the truth is, unless you have a lot of money to drive a true hybrid car, have solar panels on your home, and a great water system (or cistern), most of us have a dirty “carbon” footprint. Unless we all would like to be thrown back into the stone-age and live in mud huts next to candle light we are not willing to give up our creature comforts. I for one certainly won’t! The sustainable attitude I have is purely selfish – me, me, me. Nothing I do that is "sustainable" is for the environment, it is from my own volition, satisfaction, and is purely money driven (by that I mean our financial budget, i.e., we don't own big cars, frigid thermostat, etc. All that costs more money than we are willing to pay for not because we care about being "green"). I find value in small things such as recycling (I hate the term and concept but that is for another day) because I am not forced to do so, I pick up larger pieces of trash sometimes because I find value in doing so, I cut up the plastic rings from our soda cans in the event that it ever did get in the water systems wouldn’t potentially hurt marine life. Again, for my own satisfaction. When or if I am governed to do so, I will stop.