What difference can one person make?

Sebastian Becerra
ENGL 2010

Utah Department of Environmental Quality
limited resources.” An infographic by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality states 9 ways to ‘go
green’ and one of them is to use a reusable water bottle – but luckily for us, Utahns are way ahead of this.
SOUTH SALT LAKE --- Brenda Garcia, a local South Salt
Lake resident, and part time college student, shares her
thoughts and beliefs regarding her local community and
her environment. Brenda is the spitting image of a hippie,
colorful clothing, funky glasses, and aside from that, she
an advocate for climate change. Brenda is the type of
person, who buys all her friend’s reusable water bottles
and reusable straws, when asked ‘why’, she states,”
Because I know the difference even a single person can
have, by not purchasing and using single use things like
straws and plastic water bottles.” Brenda has been a long-
time avid recycler just like her mom, growing up, “from as
long as I can remember, I can still picture the image of my
mom as she explained to me, at like 5 years old, why it’s
important to recycle.” Brenda is currently attending SLCC
and working towards an environmental science degree, so
she knows the importance of reducing waste given our
limited resources. It’s important to trust our scientists and
the scientists of tomorrow as they continue gaining
expertise in their fields.
As our global population continues to increase, so
does our strain on earth’s resources. At our current
growth rate, the human population is estimated to double
approximately every 61 years (Rosenberg, 2020), so it
would be expected that our current demand and strain on
resources should also double to support a doubling
population. Being the 3rd state with most national parks,
we should be more conscious when making decisions that
affect our local environment and our beautiful state;
locals here in Utah, like Brenda, have taken action to
minimize their impact on resources and become more
‘eco-friendly’.
In an unpublished environmental survey-based
study conducted by Sebastian Becerra, a local undeclared
major, student attending Salt Lake Community College
(SLCC), found that the majority of Utahns are
environmentally conscious, and for actively make choices
to reduce their impact on the environment. One study
participant stated, “Water usage and general recourses
dwindling without proper recycling or care towards

2
As far as the eye can see, from classrooms to offices, from gyms to grocery stores, you’ll see people with
reusable water bottles – a simple, yet easy and effective method to help reduce waste. It’s no surprise that
in the study conducted, 85% of participants regularly use reusable water bottles (Becerra, 2023). By
regularly reusable water bottles, not only can we increase our water intake (Patel et al., 2011), we can
minimize unnecessary waste. It’s worth mentioning that 4 out of 5 single use water bottles end up in the
trash (Schriever, 2017) which ultimately makes it to our local landfills. The big portion of potentially
recyclable waste that ends up in our landfills isn’t the end of the story for plastic water bottles,
unfortunately. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) states that single-use plastics like water bottles take roughly
450 years to decompose (WWF Australia, 2021).

Even large corporations, like Coca-Cola, taken swift action to reduce their plastic waste. Something
as simple as rebranding the easily recognizable green ‘Sprite’ soda bottle to a new clear soda bottle has
allowed their plastic bottles to be 100% recyclable now – the green dye in their old bottles had an additive
which isn’t able to be recycled (Valinsky, 2022). Our local news network KSL recently interviewed Erica
Hansen, the external communications manager for Swire Coca-Cola. When asked about the recent change,
Erica replied, “That shows the importance of sustainability for both the Coca-Cola Company and Swire
Coca-Cola that it’s time for us to be a leader.” She then added, “We want to encourage people to recycle,
and this is a way we’re trying to help lead the change” (Cabrero, 2022).

A local Salt Lake City resident stated in an unpublished survey when asked about any environmental
concerns stated, “I know that the sustainable choices I make are totally canceled out by corporations who
pollute excessively. I still try though.” (Becerra, 2023). When made aware of the recent change enacted by
Coca-Cola, she said, “it’s still not enough, there’s still room for improvement.” For large companies that
aren’t mindful about their waste, the time is now to follow in the steps of Coca-Cola to reduce their impact
on our local environments in the fight against climate change. It’s through conscious effort that we can
make a change in our world to help reduce waste and help turn the tide in the fight against climate change.
Locally, our citizens do what they can to reduce waste in Utah; in the same study, it was found that 84% of
participants own and regularly use ‘eco-friendly products (Becerra, 2023). When Brenda was asked her
thoughts on companies like Coca-Cola taking action to reduce waste and be more environmentally friendly
she said, “you know, it makes me happy to see large corporations doing stuff like this, it’s important for big
names like Coke taking steps which will then lead to even more corporations doing the same, I think even
from a monetary standpoint it can be great advertisement too, as that will appeal to that many more
people – expand their already HUGE demographic.”

Another method that we can take to help reduce our impact on the environment is using public
transportation. to help reduce carbon dioxide output from excess vehicles on the road. On a recent article
published by local news network KSL about traffic congestion and the proposed highway expansion, the
Journalist Grant Frazier, talks about something called ‘induced demand.’ This phenomenon explains how

3
increased demand of a product increases it’s price or worth, but increased production lowers the same
products worth; interestingly enough it also applies to infrastructure, in the example of a new lane being
added. Frazier says, “The result is that more individuals opt to drive than before, and inevitably, the traffic
becomes just as bad, if not worse, than it was prior to expansion. Not to mention the fact that more drivers
means more pollution…If we want to solve our traffic woes, then we need to get serious about alternative
methods of transportation” (Frazier, 2022). In the survey-study performed by Becerra, it was found that
only 31% of participants have taken public transportation within the last 12 months, and only 15% within
the past 6 months (Becerra, 2023). This is something that we can work on together to help reduce our
carbon footprint.

4
 Works Cited
Cabrero, A. P.- A. 4. (2022, August 4). Sprite bottles at Utah's Swire Coca-Cola Going Green by Ditching Green.
KSL.com. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://www.ksl.com/article/50452363/sprite-bottles-at-utahs-
swire-coca-cola-going-green-by-ditching-green 

Bruchmann, K., Chue, S. M., Dillon, K., Lucas, J. K., Neumann, K., & Parque, C. (2021, September 28). Social
comparison information influences intentions to reduce single-use plastic water bottle consumption.
Frontiers in psychology. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8506027/

Laville, S., & Taylor, M. (2017, June 28). A million bottles a minute: World's plastic binge 'as dangerous as
climate change'. The Guardian. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/28/a-million-a-minute-worlds-plastic-bottle-binge-
as-dangerous-as-climate-change

 Frazier, Grant. “Grant Frazier: Bigger Highways Don't Fix Traffic. Why Won't We Stop Building Them?” The Salt
Lake Tribune, 22 Dec. 2022, https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2022/12/22/grant-frazier-
bigger-highways/. 

Rosenberg, M. (2020, March 24). How to measure and understand population growth. ThoughtCo. Retrieved
April 18, 2023, from https://www.thoughtco.com/population-growth-rates-1435469

 Larsen, L. P.- F. 26. (2023, February 26). Utah regulators to deny permit for landfill on the shores of Great Salt
Lake. KSL.com. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://www.ksl.com/article/50587183/utah-regulators-to-
deny-permit-for-landfill-on-the-shores-of-great-salt-lake

Patel, A. I., Bogart, L. M., Elliott, M. N., Lamb, S., Uyeda, K. E., Hawes-Dawson, J., Klein, D. J., & Schuster, M. A.
(2011, May). Increasing the availability and consumption of drinking water in middle schools: A pilot study.
Preventing chronic disease. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3103565/

Schriever, N. (2017, December 7). Plastic water bottles causing flood of harm to our environment. HuffPost.
Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/post_b_3613577

WWF Australia. (2021, July 1). The lifecycle of plastics: WWF-australia: The Lifecycle of Plastics. WWF Australia.
Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://www.wwf.org.au/blogs/the-lifecycle-of-plastics/?rd=1

Valinsky, J. (2022, July 28). Sprite will no longer be sold in Green Bottles. KSL.com. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from
https://www.ksl.com/article/50447462/sprite-will-no-longer-be-sold-in-green-bottles

5
 Becerra, S (2023) [Unpublished raw data on Environmental Sustainability in Utah] Salt Lake Community College.

Appendix A.
Survey-Based Questionnaire Study & Data Collected

1. Have you taken public transportation within the last month?

a. Yes: 0%
b. No: 100%
2. Have you taken public transportation within the last 3 months?
a. Yes: 8%
b. No: 92%
3. Have you taken public transportation within the last 6 months?
a. Yes: 15%
b. No: 85%
4. Have you taken public transportation within the last 12 months?
a. Yes: 31%
b. No: 69%
5. Do your showers run longer than 10 minutes?
a. Yes: 54%
b. No: 46%
6. Do you carpool to work/school?
a. Yes: 85%
b. No: 15%
7. Do you use reusable water bottles?
a. Yes: 85%
b. No: 15%
8. Do you recycle?
a. Yes: 77%
b. No: 23%
9. Do you think that you, as an individual can directly impact (either negatively or positively) our
environment?
a. Yes: 77%
b. No: 23%
10. Do you purchase or use an ‘eco-friendly’ products? (e.g. reusable straws, products made from recycled
materials, reusable bags, reusable totes, etc.)
a. Yes: 85%
b. No: 15%
11. Do you have any environmental concerns?
a. Yes: 70%
b. No: 30%