For the environmental studies summative, I will be giving up something in my life that harms the environment, even if it only makes a small impact on our environment. I will continue to do so for 3 weeks (May 9th – May 30th).
I have decided to give up two things in my life. The first, is watching television. I will be focusing more on this choice than the second choice.
I chose to give up watching television because of two reasons. The first is that in general, I watch way too much television then I should on a daily basis. I think that this assignment will help me find other things to do rather than watching television. Especially now that the weather is getting nice and summatives and exams are near, it will help me spend time outside or preparing summatives or studying for exams. Also, by not watching television I will be helping the environment. I will be saving electricity and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide that I emit.
Most televisions use about 80 to 400 watts, depending on the size and technology. Televisions account for approximately 5% of home electrical use. I discovered that my television at home uses 262 watts. I also discovered that the price I pay per kWh (kilowatt-hour) is $0.064. That is 40.61 kWh/month. So I can calculate that the approximate cost of watching television on a daily basis for a month would be approximately $2.32. It would also emit 62 lbs of carbon dioxide.
The second thing I have decided to give up in my life is air conditioning.
I am aware that the temperature outside at the moment is not quite high enough to desire air conditioning in ones house, so that is why I have simply decided that if it gets hot enough for people to turn on their air conditioners, I will not be one of them. By not using air conditioning, I will again be saving energy and the amount of carbon dioxide that I emit.
By giving up both of these things, my family will also be saving money!
Air conditioners are extremely harmful to our environment. As well as accounting for up to 50% of your summer electricity bill, if air conditioners are left running for 24 hours a day, the average energy consumption is 24 kWh, which doubles the average residential energy consumption. Also, when the air conditioners emit cold air, the utilities that power it emit carbon dioxide. Electricity is fueled by many things including coal, fossil fuels, nuclear fission etc. All of these ways produce greenhouse gases.
I also came across an article (written in 2006) called, “Air conditioning boom threatens Kyoto protocol”. This article explained that the UK government was afraid that the carbon dioxide emissions from air conditioners (due to booming air conditioner sales during a heat wave) would conflict with their plans to lower carbon dioxide emissions and meet their Kyoto protocol targets for 2020.
The rules for this assignment will be that I cannot watch any television at my house, but I can watch it at other people’s houses, but only if it is already on and being watched by others. Also, I cannot use air conditioning at all.
I think this will be a real challenge for me. I watch a lot of television to pass the time on a daily basis. When I think about cheating I will try to occupy myself with other fun things, such as baking, reading and hanging out with my friends. Also, I will ask my family members to not allow me to watch television. It will also be very hard to not use air conditioning if it gets hot. It will be very uncomfortable but my entire family has agreed to this and we will find other ways of staying cool. We will eat and drink cold things and go into our basement if it gets unbearable. But hopefully since it is only the month of June, this will not happen.
All in all, I think this assignment will be extremely beneficial not only for the environment but in my everyday life. It will help me be active and pass my time in other ways as well as teaching me ways to easily help the environment, even if it is in such a small way as not watching television.
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