1) Have you ever watched a leaf-blower blow dust off a sidewalk and onto the cars parked on the street? Do you take the elevator to go up and down a few floors in a building? How many flat screen video monitors do you see when you go shopping? Do electronically controlled faucets and toilets improve our lives? Sometimes, we have high-tech solutions for low-tech problems, and the solutions are not always good ones. Discuss where you see powered, high-tech items being used where they are not needed. Give at least three examples. For each example, provide a low-tech solution. It may be something from the past, or you can invent something
2) One problem with our energy consumption is that nearly all of it produces GHG. Alternative energy sources are supply-side solutions. But, demand-side solutions are needed as well. Businesses, households, and individuals can measure their contribution to GHG as a "carbon footprint." Use the The Nature Conservancy's Carbon Footprint Calculator to calculate your household carbon footprint. As you go, change some of the settings to see what impact they have. Once you have the settings correctly for your household, look at the results on the final page. Discuss your results on the discussion board. How many tons of CO2 does your household produce per year? Is this above or below the national average? Which of your activities had the biggest impact? Which impact surprised you the most? What can you do to reduce your carbon footprint?