A Walk towards Conservation: Waste will Never be the Answer :: Essays Papers

A Walk towards Conservation: Waste will Never be the Answer It was a hot summer Sunday morning, a little less than twelve years ago, when my family walked (though my sisters and I did this begrudgingly) home from church. When we finally reached our house, not but a mere five blocks away, we each had one thought on our minds, breakfast. While one of us emptied the dishwasher, and another began to set the table, the other would help my mom prepare the eggs. And as this almost habitual process unraveled, a large aluminum bowl, not far from the stove, would begin to fill with the remains and peels of uncooked fruits and vegetables, egg shells, and coffee grinds. And so this was the one last culminating and thoughtless chore. One lucky daughter had the fortunate honor of delivering the remnants of that aluminum bowl to the large, beautiful, and unidentifiable mound of composting materials in the backyard. And through the practicing of such behaviors as the recycling of such waste, being trained not to hold open the refrigerator door in such a sloth-like manner, and learning to turn off the lights, I suppose I have always cared for the environment. At a very young age I learned to recognize that even egg shells can be used for cultivating gardens and that waste is bad. I have my Birkenstocks, and listen to activism laden music, and debate global environmental issues with my wonderfully (and I don’t say this sarcastically) conservative roommate. But do I honestly actually do anything for the environment? Not really, which is what prompted me to intentionally use higher education as an opportunity to seek information, on the so called â€Å"environmental problems,† that ominously hover over our society. First semester, freshman year, I took EGEE 102, Energy Conservation for Environmental Protection. Under the sincere guidance of Professor Sarma Pisupati, I learned about methods of conserving energy through the use of energy efficient devices and appliances in the home (ranging anywhere from efficient lighting to my favorite, geothermal heat pumps, a wondrous source of clean and free energy). I learned that the production of energy through means of burning coal and oil release such greenhouse gasses as carbon dioxide.