- Explain your working definition of sustainability, meaning what you currently believe the word to

mean, and why you believe what you do.

To be able to grasp the essence that a word like “sustainability” hold I think it’s crucial to be vigilant of

your surroundings personally to me sustainability means a balance among the human race and their

actions. Because their actions have serious consequences on their respective environment and here

sustainability comes in act, for decades this word has been used to define the ability to maintain

anything at a certain level. For me it is only recently that I’ve come to pay attention to this word the

importance of its act on the generations to come. It is due to our effort to a sustainable present that

would result in a safe sustainable future for them, sustainability helps in creating a diverse ecosystem

where things coexist with harmony. It should also be noted that humans take resources from the nature

to sustain their livelihood and this practice has been carried on since centuries and have had adverse

effects on the nature. Humans are selfish and only care about their own needs this irrational line of

thought results in 8 million metric ton of plastic waste every year in the ocean because we don’t think

about the effects this has on marine life and eventually on us.

- Compare your definition with the concept of sustainability described in the article. Does the article’s
definition match with yours? Why or why not? Does the author’s perspective cause you to modify
your working definition of sustainability at all? Why or why not?

The article simply puts sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the

Ability of future generations to meet their own needs” in a way the concept of both definitions are

leading along the same path but after reading it I was quite aware of the fact that sustainability doesn’t

only concern the environment around us but to make a reality the integration of economic, social and

environmental efforts are required. the idea of sustainability isn’t pertaining to the understanding of our

environmental but also with social equity and economic growth. My understanding of sustainability was

lacking the important part that social reforms and economic stability is quite crucial to a balance eco

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system. The practices of sustainability should be incorporated in everything and we should be aware of

our actions and their impact on the earth’s biodiversity. The article is quite self-explanatory and has

caused me to reflect on my own definition of sustainability as it explains it in simple words and covers

up the important facts. The integration of three aspects i.e. environment, social and economic are most

important in the sustainable growth the interrelation holds the key to successful decision making that

would benefit both the humans and their earth.

- Identifies which of the obstacles to integrating sustainability in higher education seems like the
biggest challenge to you and how you would suggest approaching such a challenge.

In my opinion the implementation of programs across all the disciplines at a university is a big challenge

because educating the masses on an issue should be prioritize first because without awareness the

implementation can’t take place. The social, environmental and economic sustainability efforts must

involve the administrative staff and the whole faculty, the issue should be addressed at the grass root

level to get the understanding of everyone. To address this issue conferences and small talks should be

scheduled by the faculty for their respective disciplines it’s not necessary that an outsider be invited to

talk on such issues but rather be done by the inhouse teachers so that students can take part in this

healthy initiative.

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Details your quiz results, including your footprint in global acres and the number of Earths we would
need to support your resource use,

The ecological footprint is “the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the

amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources”. The ecological footprint quiz I took

showed following results:

My footprint in global acres is 6.5 global hectres gha

Carbon footprint is 12.1 tones of CO2 emissions per year

The number of earths needed to support my resource use are 3.8 earths.

Your initial reaction to the quiz results (i.e. whether or not you were surprised by the results and
why), and

The quiz results came out as a complete shock that I never knew that my daily activities have such a

negative impact on our environment, we carry on with our lives without realizing the harm we’re doing

to our environment if I alone need 3.8 earths to support my resource use I cant even imagine how much

the rest of the world will be needing. If we are not aware of our actions we’re going to face serious

consequences. Since I never realized that taking my car to work everyday is causing so much carbon

emission on daily basis that it’s resulting in the degradation of the environment .Before this assignment I

never knew that something like ecological footprint calculator even existed it was truly an eye opening

quiz that has made me reflect on my daily activities and their harmful impact.

At least 3 steps that you could take to reduce your ecological footprint, whether or not you plan to
take such steps, and why or why not

Three steps that I’ve planned to take or try to work on, firstly ill reduce the use of car on daily basis and

will opt for public transit if not all the days then at least three times a week and I’ll plan on cycling to

work to reduce the CO2 fumes that my car would release.

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The second step I plan to take is to recycle my waste and reduce the use of plastic packaging, to use

metal straws and always carry around a water bottle this will help to reduce the use of single use plastic

disposable water bottles. Last step that I plan to take is to stop using fast fashion brand and opt for thrift

stores because the clothing industry is of the biggest markets that produce waste on yearly basis.

Although these steps are small ut one must always remember that these small changes lead to big

improvements that will help us in our future and will pave a way for a safe environment for the

generations to come.

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