Sustainability Extra Credit

David Owen is a huge advocate for sustainability. He started out his talk by describing what makes a perfectly sustainable city. These included walking everywhere, used less electricity, and found other forms of transportation besides cars. Surprisingly, the city that conforms to this ideal sustainable society is New York City. I know when I think of New York I don’t associate it with sustainability. As I started thinking about it, however, New Yorkers’ main source of transportation is walking. Although New York is often pictured as jam packed with cars, research has shown that New York’s energy consumption is extremely low.

Outside of New York in the suburbs, almost every family owns a car. Not only this, but most families own multiple cars! I know my family owns three cars. Owning multiple cars, according to Owen, is a huge factor in energy consumption. This is one reason New York has a lower carbon footprint than other places: most residents do not own a car.

Owen also stated that even though we are developing more energy efficient products, our consumption of these products are increasing. For example, we have made air conditioners much more efficient then they once were. Now that they are more efficient, we simply turn up the air condition when we get hot instead of opening a window. We are creating more energy efficient produce, but our increased use of these resources has surpassed the point to which these advances reduces our carbon footprint. This is why technological advancements cannot alone solve the problem. Owen said that it will take multiple approaches and changes to help create real change and become more sustainable like New York.

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