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Catherina Ruano

EDGI 541-900
Artifact Description
The Road to Environmental Change
When I began working on this digital artifact, I decided that I would focus on the things
that the United States has done right when it comes to protecting our environment. The question
Do Americans as a culture value/respect the environment? challenged me to find these good
things. I have been living in Germany for two years, and before that I was living relatively close
to Washington, D.C. My experiences could not be more opposite. I wanted to challenge myself to
think about the way a majority of Americans view the environment. Finding specific instances
proved difficult, so I decided to broaden my search to National statistics.
My personal belief is that most Americans do care about the environment. As I completed
my research, I found evidence to prove this point. However, I also found evidence that we have a
long road ahead of us as we try to put these values into action. To illustrate this point, I chose to
use the road template on Prezi. I titled my artifact: The Road to Environmental Change.
I started on this journey by citing the statistic over 80% of Americans worry about the
environment. This statistic was obtained from the American Environmental Values Survey
conducted by EcoAmerica (2006). Moreover, a majority of Americans are concerned about
poisons, extinction of large animals, asthmas, health in general, and the well-being of future
generations (EcoAmerica, 2006).
After learning about this overwhelming statistic, I began to search for evidence of actions
that back up these values. Initially, I was disheartened by what I found. According to the EPA
(2014a), Americans only recycled 34.5% of municipal solid waste (also known as garbage). Only
1.13% of United States electricity is generated by solar power (Scientific American, 2014).
Additionally, 44% of people in the United States live in areas with air that is dangerous to
breathe due to pollution (American Lung Association, 2015a).

Catherina Ruano
EDGI 541-900
Artifact Description
The Road to Environmental Change
When I looked at these numbers in isolation, I was concerned by the large gap
between Americans beliefs and their actions. If we are so concerned about these factors, why
havent we done anything about it? As I dug a little deeper, I learned an important lesson: we are
leaps and bounds ahead of where we used to be with both air quality and recycling! Aggregate
emissions from the six most common pollutants are down 68% from the 1970s (American Lung
Association, 2015b). Moreover, recycling has increased from 6.4% in the 1960s to 34.5% in
2012 (Environmental Protection Agency, 2014b).
This proves that Americans are slowly and steadily making changes for the better!
Change takes time. Small changes are more easily visible over years of consistent improvement.
Clearly, Americans are starting to make these small changes. Some of the larger changes such
as solar energy will probably take more time. However, even the current percent of solar
energy (1.3%) is four times the amount of solar energy produced in 2010 (0.2%; Scientific
American, 2014). Even with these small changes, we can do more! As you watch the video
Save Our World, think about the little changes you have made. Recycling your soda can may
not seem like it would make a big difference, but when they are added together these small
changes help our environment. The road to environmental change is long, but it will pay off for
future generations. As we continue to make these changes, we will show the world that
Americans DO care about the environment!

References

Catherina Ruano
EDGI 541-900
Artifact Description
The Road to Environmental Change
American Lung Association. (2015a). State of the Air 2015. Retrieved from
http://www.stateoftheair.org/2015/key-findings/
American Lung Association. (2015b). State of the Air 2015. Air Quality Trend Image. Retrieved
from http://www.stateoftheair.org/2015/assets/images/images/EPA_Large.jpg
EcoAmerica (2006). American Environmental Values Survey. Retrieved from
http://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/AEVS_Report.pdf
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2014a). Municipal Solid Waste Generation,
Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2012.
Retrieved from
http://www.epa.gov/solidwaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2014b). Municipal Solid Waste. Retrieved from
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/images/2012_msw_rec_rates_fig2_lg.
jpg
Robinlittlewood (2010, September 21). Save Our World (video). Retrieved from
https://youtu.be/bn8R_XqjjI0.
Scientific American. (2014). Solar Power Grows 400 Percent in only 4 Years. Retrieved from
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solar-power-grows-400-percent-inonly-4 -years/

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