Personal and Professional Footprint Essay
One question that troubles the world’s environment-sensitive populace is what is their ecological footprint is having on the environment. Awareness on how much the world’s population impacts on the environment remains minimal as over the years, humans have opted for processes that strain the planet’s resources. This has had tremendous negative implications to the environment. Pollution, depletion of fundamental natural resources and diminishing plant and animal biodiversity are all becoming more and more evident (Collins, et al, 2008). Consequently, I have come to question myself of how my presence especially as an ecological being impact on the environment. Two aspects of my life reveal a lot on my contribution towards an unsustainable environment. These aspects include consumption and profession.
Consumption is significantly pertinent to my ecological footprint as this is evident in my daily routines. The extent that I consume earth’s resources as an individual largely affects the environment around me. Most of my daily endeavors have a negative impact on the planet. For instance, I happen to purchase groceries which are packaged in plastic bags so often that I imagined what would happen if everyone packaged their groceries in paper bags as opposed to plastic bags. Ideally, the number of trees cut down would significantly reduce and this would in turn contribute towards sustaining the planet’s resources. Moreover, waste materials from of plastic bags are harmful to the environment on so many levels. Taking in to account the immense number of plastic bags used on a daily basis, a significant amount of waste from these plastic bags is created. The reality is this waste is usually disposed off in ways that harm the environment.