Eco-vacation

By
Brian Boyle and Jed Fox
Our Vacation
Our vacation consist of riding a bus to the appalachian mountains and
participating in a volunteer vacation hosted by the american hiking society. This
dedicates time to cleaning up and maintaining parks while seeing beautiful
landscapes and enjoying nature.
Green feature #1: taking the bus
Taking the bus to the appalachian mountains is by far the most “green” mode of
transportation. Per passenger they release 15% of the carbon than a 23 MPG car
with a single driver. This helps reduce emissions, gasoline usage and allows you
to make some cool new friends on the way to your vacation!
Green feature #2: Purchasing ticket electronically
By purchasing your ticket electronically you are helping the environment in multiply
different ways. First, you are reducing paper consumption needs and therefore
reducing the rate of deforestation. Saving tons of carbon emissions in the process.
Second a single sheet of paper releases about .04 pounds of carbon through
processing. This means each time you do something electronically instead of
printing it you are saving .04 Lbs of carbon per piece of paper.
Green feature #3: Camping
Through camping you are saving tons of carbon since you are sleeping outdoors
in nature and not in a hotel room. The average carbon emissions is 15.13 kg of
carbon per room per day. This means on your weeklong vacation you are saving
105.91 kg of carbon.
Green feature #4:Solar powered lights
After the sun goes down and a long day of work cleaning up the trails you might
just want to go straight to bed. However just in case you bring a solar powered
lantern. This is a much better choice than a kerosene lantern common in many
places throughout the world. Kerosene lanterns can produce black carbon which
can cause as much warming as 700 kilograms of carbon dioxide. With as much as
7 to 9% of the fuel being converted into black carbon. Yikes!
Green Feature #5: Eat Locally Sourced Food
If and when you run out of supplies like food, go to local markets to buy your food.
This is because local markets usually supply you with locally sourced food, which
lowers the carbon footprint. It damages the environment to eat food that came 50,
500, or 5,000 miles away. It local and it benefits the economy more and decreases
the carbon footprint.
Green Feature #6: Don’t use plastic bottles
Do not buy plastic bottles. Instead, bring reusable bottles. When camping and
running out of water, you can fill up at the creek. There are lots of different
products that filter the water for you through filters before drinking, which is a
much greener option than drinking plastic bottles.
Green Feature #7: Stay on the Trail
Although it may be tempting to go off the trail, it’s better to stick to the trails. You
may feel wilder and like a true explorer exploring the beauty of nature, but you
could be harming it. Paths are there for a reason. Officials do not want you
harming the flora and fauna. You can destroy plants and disturb animals and scare
them. This is why it’s best to stick to the trails.
Green Feature #8: Volunteer to Clean up Parks
Give back to the place that you stayed. Volunteer with a legit volunteer park
cleanup group. Some volunteer organizations are actually in it for the money and
greenwash you. Go around with your group picking up trash in the woods and
creeks, emptying trash cans and cleaning up the park to leave it in better shape
than you left it.
Green Feature #9: Green the Idle House
When you leave, you could be leaving the heater on without your knowing. There
are lots of things to do to your house while your house is idle. You can turn the
water off to your house to avoid accidents and water bill, unplug all necessary
appliances that use electricity, and turn your heater to the lowest setting. All these
will lower the carbon footprint your house has while you’re gone.
 Student Names Cooperation: Contribution: Participation: Responsibility: Feedback:
Listened to and Contributed their fair Consistently spoke up Completed all Offered appropriate
respected others and share to the and fully participated, necessary work and adequate
their opinions completion of the task offering relevant adequately and on feedback when
or project; fulfilled their information time without needing necessary
assigned duties reminders
Brian Boyle  3  3  3   3 3 
 Jed Fox  3  3  3  3  3
           

Collaboration Self-Reflection
Answer the following questions in two-three sentences each:

1.Overall, how well do you feel your group worked together? Explain.
I feel as though we worked well together. We communicated thoroughly to determine who needed to do what and the we both completed our work in a timely manner. I enjoyed working with him
and felt we did a great job together.

2.Did all members of the group participate equally? Explain.

Yes all the members of my group did participate equally. We researched separately and then compiled a list of green features and then broke the list up evenly between the two of us.

3.What did you enjoy most about working with others on this lesson/task? Explain.
I enjoyed being able to talk with others in the class and see where they are at and their opinions. We often do not get to collaborate in this class other than the written assessments and it is cool
to see other’s opinions about the subjects.

4.How did your team deal with conflict? Explain.

My team dealt with conflict through scheduling because often time he would have practice and I would have practice, or I would have work. This made it hard to find time to work on the project
but we coordinated times and finished the project in a timely manner.

5.Do you feel others were happy with your participation in the lesson/task? Explain.
I feel like others are happy with my participation in this task. We split the tasks up evenly, communicated thoroughly , and both completed our work. I am happy with his participation and I believe
that he is happy with my participation.

6.Were you happy with how you participated in this lesson/task? Why or why not? Explain.
I am happy with how I participated in this lesson and task. I researched and communicated thoroughly. It was very interesting to see how common things such as printing a plane ticket can effect
the environment so much. I think that I did well in this task and I really enjoyed it.

7.What will you do differently, if anything, in your next online collaboration opportunity? Explain.
Next time I don’t think I will do anything too differently. I enjoyed my partner and feel like we worked well together, I do not feel like there is anything that needs to be changed.
 References

403 forbidden. (n.d.). 403 Forbidden. https://americanhiking.org/volunteer-vacations/#vv-project-guide

Calculation methods. (2020, September 16). Carbonfund.org. https://carbonfund.org/calculation-methods

The dark side of kerosene lamps: High Black-carbon emissions. (2012, December 10). Phys.org - News and Articles on

Science and Technology. https://phys.org/news/2012-12-dark-side-kerosene-lamps-high.html

MIT. (n.d.). Save Paper.

http://mit.edu/~slanou/www/shared_documents/Daniel/Save%20paper.docx#:~:text=A%20single%20piece%20of%20p

aper,year%20from%20printing%20at%20Ladd

What mode of transportation is greenest? (2008, December 23). NPR.org.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98638763
References (cont.)
Kate Sitarz See recent posts by Kate Sitarz katesitarz @katesitarz
kate.sitarz@smartertravel.com. (2010, April 21). Ten Easy Ways to Travel
Greener. Retrieved October 23, 2020, from https://www.smartertravel.com/ten-
easy-ways-to-travel-greener/