Why and how? I took action due to my concern for the duration of the environment. I asked the question, "How long are we going to last? How are we going to reverse these mistakes we've made?" Climate change IS happening and we're going to run out of resources. So, with this in mind, I thought of solutions to live on Earth compatibly by using renewable resources and wasting less. This lead me to creating a self-sustaining house that runs on renewable energy methods and uses Earth's natural elements to provide a habitable future. I designed a detailed diagram on a completely self-sustaining house with annotations of its facilitation. I hope this design and other created designs will inspire people to convert their homes a little more eco-friendly. Little changes to our homes and institutions make a big difference when added together, so it's important to incorporate a little green in our lives.
Essential Question Response "How do your sense of place, your environmental ethic, and your understanding of our energy needs influence your perception of human's use of Earth's resources and your own lifestyle decisions?" It provides me with a perception that humanity must change our ways of using the environment. We must view some pieces of nature as intrinsic and others as instrumental RESPECTFULLY. We can no longer just view the environment as a playground. We must use the most renewable resources (Sun, water, wind) first and the others last. (Various metals, petroleum, extinct animal-related substances) As for my lifestyle, I'm not doing much...yet. As I grow older, I hope I can choose a lifestyle that follows my designated path of sustainability. I can start off simple by using less water, taking advantage of the sun's power instead of fossil fuels, and/or get involved in projects that intelligently resolve problems concerning the environment. My long-term dream is to build a completely self-sustaining house like my diagram.
Personal Reflection I feel this project inspired me to go green my future residences. Examples are growing my own garden or installing solar panels. It encouraged me to do more research in global change and our resource availability. It encourages me to research on the future possibilities in fossil fuel car emissions and electrical power as well. I just hope one day I can make a change for the environment tuned in with my environmental ethics of sustainability and conservationism.