Journal #5

           If everyone lived like me, we would need 6 planets to provide enough resources to survive. My footprint consists of 20% food, 11% shelter, 25% mobility, 12% goods, and 33% services. One aspect of my footprint that I am surprised about was the percentage of mobility. I did not think that 25% of my footprint would consist of mobility. That number seems to be a lot for the amount that I drive. Some changes that I can make in my daily life to reduce some of the resources that I use would be to try to drive less, get a car that is better on gas mileage and to try to eat less meat. Completing those three tasks wouldn’t be completely feasible for me. Driving plays a big role for me (in this area especially) though out my day-to-day life and to be honest, it would be hard to cut back on that. Along with this, decreasing the amount of meat I eat on a day-to-day basis would be difficult, yet possible for me.

            Our field trip to Pine Manor was nothing like I expected it to be. After hearing what our guides had to say about the area that we visited and what they are trying to do to help, I realized how fortunate most of us really are. It was really inspiring to see how hard they are working to try to make a difference for the people living in that community. One aspect that really stood out to me while exploring the garden was the boxes that were offered to the residents in the community to plant any crops that they would like. Having this there for people to come at certain times of the week to take care of definitely can create something for them to be proud of and can really give them a good idea of sense of place. Some connections that I can make to the course readings on the topic of food systems is the path from start to finish of each and every food that they have at that garden and facility. The food we eat in our everyday lives has to go through so much before it actually gets to our plates. This includes growing, harvesting, processing, transportation, and the consuming of the food. At the Pine Manor garden, transportation did not play a huge role. The food was there for people in the community if they would like to go get it. The processes of how the food is grown and maintained in that garden are much more in depth than people think, which is truly amazing.