Personal Web Site of Zachary J. Fink, Ph.D.

As An Environmentalist

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I am an environmentalist, making the effort to live in a more sustainable fashion. This is accomplished through the following:
  •      Conservation of resources and utilities
  •      Philosophy about the environment and nature          
  •     Personal health concerns, feeling extremely well for  
  •        my age
  •     This goes hand-in-hand with going vegan

 With myself being thrifty, the above saves me money at the same time I am a living example when it comes to the environment (and personally too), thus resulting in win-win situations.

While loving animals, I simply do not want them near me (in a "live and let live" attitude--even with insects) and do not wish to take care of pets.  House plants are not a good idea either, as they are generally over-watered, not given the right amount of fertilizer, and not replanted when necessary.
 
In my personal life, I strive not to hurt nature at all.
 
 
An example not discussed below is my having mutual funds in the fields of Technology, Computers, and the Environment.  Of course, mutual funds are high risk, but I believe in these three enough to invest somewhat there.
 

The following is an alphabetical listing of my environmentally-conscious items.  Almost all of these are current, with the remaining few adhered to until recently.

ALARMS:

Having a smoke alarm

Having a carbon monoxide alarm

APPLIANCES:

Using a microwave oven instead of a conventional electric or toaster oven to save on electricity. (The microwave is excellent for reheating cooked foods.)

Using energy-saving appliances such as those with my dishwasher, air-conditioner, refridgerator, and washing machine (cold water)

AUTOMOBILE:

Having a subcompact car that gets good gasoline mileage

Using a seat belt in a car all the time

BATHROOM:

Having low water-shower device to save especially on hot water

Putting a water bag in toilet tank weighted down with a flower pot to reduce flushing water usage

BATTERIES:

Using renewable batteries, with chargers for varuous sizes

BELTS:

Using non-leather belts

CHARITIES AND ORGANIZATIONS:

Having contributed to a variety of environmental charities

Having joined organizations that help plants and animals, including people, such as fighting cruelty to farm animals and pets, combating diseases (especially preventable ones), promoting anti-pollution legislation, and advocating against slavery or near-slavery of people in farming and manufacturing (listed in Education/Memberships/Donations) You can become employed or volunteer or become an activist in such organizations if you have the time and inclinatuon to do so.

CHILDREN:

Making a conscious decision not to bring any more children into this overpopulasted world

COMPUTER:

Leaving your computer on stand-by or completely turned off when not in use.  (There doesn't seem to be any general advice from the computer companies in this regard.)

CONDOMINIUM:

Airing out condominium by opening windows when weather is appropriate, thereby bringing in fresh air to reduce pollution

Having moth balls in my closets

Living in a condominium - with 2 shared walls to reduce heating and cooling costs

Using an indoor air filter to hold down air pollution significantly, cleaning the lamp inside annually

CREDIT CARD:

Using a "Clean Water Action" credit card, with funds going to this charity.

DIET:

Being a near-vegan, consuming no meat, seafood, or poultry, but still dairy products

FOOD:

Not wasting very much food

HEATING & COOLING:

Closing your blinds or shades on winter evenings to reduce radiative heat loss

Keeping the heat down in the winter and the air-conditioning low in the summer - dressing accordingly

LIGHT BULBS:

Purchasing energy-saving light bulbs that throw off less heat

NEAR-VEGAN:

Having attended two protests on not using animal fur

Not buying products that use animals (such as leather shoes, belts, or wallets, wool, fur, detergents, or cleaning fluids)

NOISE POLLUTION:

Not using skimobiles, lawnmowers, or motorcycles, as they are way too noisy.

PAPER:

Not purchasing magazines or newspapers to keep paper usage down; for example, getting the news and weather totally from TV and the 'Net

RECYCLING:

Recycling paper, plastic, cardboard, printer cartridges, and metals in my town dump

SOLAR:

Having a solar calculator

Using a bathroom solar scale

TEETH:

Flossing teeth and using toothpaste with fluoride

Using a mouthwash that protects against tartar, plague, gingivitis, and bad breath

TRASH:

Trying to hold down the amount of trash, such as by increasing my recycling

WALLETS:

Using non-leather belts

WAVE DEVICES:

Purchasing wave devices that repel insects and rodents instead of using `cides and using a plant-based insecticide

 

I am using up my non-vegan supplies in order to save some money.  There include leather belts and wallets, standard light bulbs, and regular batteries.

 

Humans have been using up nature's bounty much faster than it can replenish itself. This means a lower standard of living ahead for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren--literally for centuries--or even longer, with a "depresso" possible forever! The continuing large budget and trade deficits in America are enough to sink future generations in this country economically, and the rest of the world is, generally speaking, worse off!

Because of this, I believe strongly that we should give something back to this world in the form of volunteering, a personal charity (or charities), community service, or contributing directly to help save the plants and animals, as well as directly helping the impoverished people (definitely including children) in this greatly overpopulated world.

By simple tax policies, we could help straighten out the awful environmental mess in the world today. This might include tax advantages for environmentally sustainable industries such as solar power, wind power, and fuel cells, as well as nutritious foods, while heavily taxing the worst in our environment such as tobacco, alcohol, gasoline and heating oil, now-illegal drugs, and completely non-nutritious foods.

In addition to taxing the worst environmental products, government could make a lot of money by charging the fair market price for our commonly owned water, land, forests, and mineral rights to farmers, ranchers, loggers, and mining companies.  If these users of our resources had to pay a decent price for them, the practice of conservation would take place automatically.  

Conservation should be practiced by government, industry, other organizations, and individuals.  We could do an awful lot better at stretching out our non-renewable resources (such as coal, oil, natural gas, and aluminum) and restraining the over-usage of potentially renewable resources (such as trees in forests, fresh air, fresh surface water in lakes and streams, and fertile soil).

As discussed in the "Overpopulaton" paper on the Academic page, when the population of an animal species exceeds its carrying capacity (the ability to sustain its heavy numbers, often caused by food shortages), adjustments are imposed to reduce its overpopulation. In mice, when its population exceeds the food supply, the birth rate automatically is reduced because the potential female mothers are not as healthy.

In the case of a variety of lemings in Canada, they jump off a cliff in droves when their food supply dries up.  The fox type that feeds on them has to adapt to these varying conditions.

For humans, our environmentally unsustainable overpopulation will be mitigated by lower birth rates.  This will be due, at least in part, to the abundance of pollution in our bodies, as we are at the top of the animal food chain where pollutants become more concentrated.

Yosemite
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