Daily Resource Use

This week, the assignment for environmental science class was to carry around a notebook and take note of all the "earth's resources" we use in a 24-hour period and place them into various categories.  Since either directly or indirectly everything we use comes from some resource found in nature, I just wrote down everything I used.  After all, we can't create something from nothing.  My 24-hour period started at 6PM Tuesday night and ended 6PM Wednesday night.

I went to McDonalds for lunch.
Photo from moreinterestingfacts.com

These were the assigned categories:

A) Food and drink

-Glass of milk

-1 egg

-2 slices of toast

-Toaster

-1 slice of ham

-Plate

-Refrigerator

-Water (in a bottle)

-2 cups of soda (with ice)

-2 straws/lid

-2 burgers (in paper wrapper)

-Fries (in carton)

-2 chicken sandwiches (in plastic wrapper)

-5 chicken nuggets (in carton)
B) Housing and other buildings
-My house

-2 classrooms at school

-The library at school

-2 fastfood restaurants

C) Transportation and roads  

-Car

-Gasoline

-Keys 

-My legs

-Street

-Sidewalk

-Elevator

D) Clothing
-T-shirt

-Pants

-Socks

-Undergarments

-Sweatshirt

-Pajamas

-Shoes

-Jeans

-Shirt

E) School supplies  

-Laptop

-Library computer

-Textbooks

-Notebook

-Paper

I have a MacBook laptop.
Photo from amazon.com

-Pen

-Pencil 

-Printer

-Printer paper

-Chair

-Desk

-Backpack

-My hands

F) Personal care products
 -Toilet

-Toilet paper

-Sink

-Soap

-Towel

-Shower

-Shampoo 

-Toothbrush

-Toothpaste

-Hairbrush

-Band-aid

-Neosporin

G) Leisure activities
 -Television

-Laptop 

-Novels

-Comic books

-Notebook

-Pen

H) Other
-Lights
-Bed
-Pillows
-Comforter/sheets
-Cat/dog food
-Cat/dog dishes
-Contacts
-Glasses
-Cell phone
-Sunglasses
-Table
-Loveseat
-My body in general
-Air

A Generic Band-Aid
Photo from marthafry.org

The next step was to research in depth about one of the items on the list.  I chose band-aids.  Band-aids are generally made from gauze, glue, and something known as ETS fabric.  Band-aids are used in basic first aid to stop a cut from bleeding to the point where the band-aid can be safely removed to allow the wound to scab over.  Band-aids are manufactured as a mass-produced product in factories, and a single role of ETS fabric can produce 300,000 - 1.8 million band-aids depending on the size of the band-aid.

Due to the nature of the components, band-aids cannot be recycled and therefore are disposed of in trash cans where they are then sent to landfills.  A single band-aid factory can produce over 4 billion band-aids a year, and if every single one of the band-aids are used and thrown away, that would take up a lot of room.  Let's say ten band-aids tacked together is 2 cm tall and the average band-aid size is 2 cm by 8 cm.  Those 4 billion band-aids would take up 12.8 billion cubed centimeters, roughly 79,000 cubed miles.  That's a lot of space to take up.  Luckly, band-aids can be incinerated.  Unfortunately, their ashes will also take up space.

Before band-aids were invented in the early 1900s, people generally used bandages.  And assuming they were washed thoroughly enough, they were reusable.  This might have been a more environmentally friendly option.

Nothing genuinely surprised me about this assignment.  I always knew I used a lot of the Earth's resources daily, especially since learning my lifestyle would take over 4 Earths to support if everyone lived like me.  It just made me more aware of the sheer number of things I use in a single day.  However, I did learn that there are many things I use but take for granted and don't consider them as things I use.  For example, the sidewalk has always been present where I live, go to school, and many other places, but until today, I didn't think about how it's one of the things I use to get from point A to point B.  Without the sidewalk, I'd be walking on something like grass or dirt. 

Something I can do to be environmentally friendly is to eat out less.  Today just happened to be one of those few day I ate out for lunch and dinner.  However, eating out less period would produce less waste and use less gas.  Also, I started pouring leftover ice out in the planters rather than just dumping it down the sink.  Once it has melted, that will be a more productive use of the water.