Assignment: Reflection Journal Entry Description

Unit 4 - Environment, You, & Social Activism

This Reflection Journal Entry has two activities: Activity 1 and Activity 2.

Each Activity is worth 50/100 points.

Introduction:

Completing this Unit 4 Reflection Journal Entry will give you the opportunity reflect on some of your patterns of consumption, and to identify actionsyou can taketo address the environmental problems our world is facing today.

Rationale:

Turning resources into waste faster than waste can be turned back into resources puts us in global ecological "overshoot", depleting the very resources on which human life and biodiversity depend.

Today humanity uses the equivalent of 1.6 planets to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste. This means it now takes the Earth one year and six months to regenerate what we use in a year.Americans account for only five percent of the world's population but create half of the globe's solid waste.

Moderate UN scenarios suggest that if current trends continue, by the 2030s we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us. And of course, we only have one.

Individuals (people like you and I!) and institutions worldwide must begin to recognize ecological limits. We must begin to make ecological limits central to our everyday and long-term decision-making and use our human ingenuity to find new ways to live, within the Earth's bounds.

Activity 1:

"Overshoot", You, and the Well-Being of the Planet

This Activity has two parts: Part A and Part B

It is worth 50/100 points

Part A:

Watch "The Story of Stuff" (link below) and answer the following questions:

1) What is the "Golden Arrow of Consumption"?
2) Who is Victor Lebow, and what did he say in the 1950's that is so important to us today?

Part B:

Reflect and answer the following questions:

1) What factors influence your decision to buy something new?

2) List the last five products you purchased that were not food or drink (can be clothes, electronics, etc.). Why did you buy each one of these products? Please elaborate: if you needed it, why did you need it? If you wanted it, why did you want it?

3) What is the difference between a "want" and a "need"?

4) Consumption habits include both spending habits and one's personal habits of usage of products/material items - such as the number of paper towels one uses in the restroom, choices around food, clothing, personal hygiene items, etc. List 3 positive and 3negative consumption habits someone might have. Explain.

5) Create a list of 5 reasons why it is difficult to change yourconsumption habits when living in your day-to-day routine.

6) What is a consumption habit you personally have, that you would be willing to work on changing after watching "The Story of Stuff"? Why? How could go about doing this? How would both you and the planetbenefit?

o The word count for Activity 1 (this includes both Part A and Part B) is 350-500 words using 12-point Arial font.
o See below for additional grading criteria.

Activity 2:

"UMass Student Engagement"

Using Campus Pulse, or Sustainable UMass. or Facebook, find two clubs on campus that focus on an environmental issue. Explain their mission, detail upcoming activities that they are planning or past events. Would you join this club? Why or why not?

Campus Pulse.

o The word count for Activity 2 is 150-300 words using 12-point Arial font.
o See below for additional grading criteria.