1. In your own words define the following terms and why it is important that you (the next generation) must be knowledgeable on creating a sustainable society.

Water efficiency

Water efficiency involves using water in a sustainable manner so as to leave as much as possible for the future. Sharing knowledge about water efficiency among our generation and future generations will help the reduction of unnecessary water being wasted, providing a stable supply of water for all future generations of various of species.

Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency is the process of reducing the amount of energy used within our society to allow for a cleaner and more sustainable future. Certain types of energy can be damaging to the environment, so educating future generations will help create a more sustainable system.

Waste efficiency

Waste efficiency involves disposing waste in an effective manner. This includes separating different types of waste for recycling, general waste or renew waste. If future generations aren’t sustainable, landfills can become overfilled, litter could fill the river and all other parts of our lives would be affected.

Food production

Food production involves many factors to provide food for people. This includes the machinery, water, nutrients, chemicals, packaging and transport, each with many unsustainable practises. Sharing this knowledge can help provide a more sustainable future by making changes in the home such as buying local, providing pressure for companies to be more careful, and reducing the amount of food wasted.

It is important to have knowledge about to ensure that our society can become more sustainable.

2. In detail describe the ways your household contributes to the sustainability of our environment through:

Water efficiency

• Front loader washing machine rather than a top loader
  • Front loaders are more water efficient compared to top loaders, despite being less convenient to load and unload

• Half flush
  • Using the half flush option on a toilet reduces the amount of water used to flush, becoming more water efficient

• Turning off water when brushing teeth
  • This process saves 2 minutes of flowing water that would otherwise go down the drain
• Efficient sprinklers
  • Sprinklers that trickle water directly to the roots of plants rather than sprinkling above them is more efficient as more is absorbed and less is evaporated due to the heat

• Sprinklers on at 4am
  • Turning on sprinklers earlier in the morning results in less being evaporated and wasted

Energy efficiency

• Solar panels
  • Using the suns energy is more efficient than other conventional forms such as electricity and gas
• Turning off lights when not in use
  • This action saves the energy used that does not need to be wasted
• Limit use of air conditioners
  • Reducing how often an air conditioner is on minimises the amount of energy used, if an air con is not needed, it shouldn’t be used

Waste efficiency

• Use of 3 bin system
  • Sorting rubbish into general, recycling and green waste provides better outcomes for that rubbish. Recycling items will be reused over and over again, limiting the amount of new materials manufactured. Green waste will be used by the council for the local gardens and trees. By doing this, less rubbish will end up in the general waste, resulting in less in landfill
• Worm farm
  • Certain waste such as food scraps go into our worm farm where worms break it down and produce a liquid that is used as a fertiliser for the garden
• Containers for change
  • Taking certain cans and containers directly to the recycling place ensures that our waste is going to be recycled, making it more efficiently used

Food production

• Local produce/farmers market
  • Friends who are farmers provide produce they can’t sell to us to ensure the food isn’t wasted. Eating local also reduces transport efficiency
• Garden
  • Some fruits, vegetables and herbs are home grown in our garden, reducing the use of packaging, transport, machinery and more that farms typically use

3. For each of the areas, describe how your household could improve its efficiency.

• Water efficiency

• Shower head
  • Our current shower head is not very water efficient as it sprays water everywhere, wasting a small amount

• Shower time
  • Currently, members of my family sometimes take showers too long, not using water efficiently

• Energy efficiency

• Opening/closing blinds, curtains and windows
  • Depending on the temperature, we need to start making these slight changes to reduce the amount of energy we use to heat and cool the house

• Waste efficiency

• Recycle soft plastics
  • Currently, we don’t have a container to take soft plastics back to shops to recycle
• Reduce shopping waste
  • We need to start reducing the products we buy that don’t have recyclable packaging, and start supporting those that do more often

• Food production

• Overseas purchases
  • Sometimes we don’t look at whether products were produced in Australia, if they are, less transport will be used becoming more sustainable

4. Name three Leave No Trace Principles that you could incorporate into your daily life to promote sustainability in our society. Explain how these practises may promote sustainability.

Plan Ahead and Prepare

This principle involves thinking ahead about the activity you would like to do and ensuring you complete it in the best way possible. This includes planning about where you might camp to reduce resource damage, how to cook food without a fire, and how to transport waste along the way. All of these steps ensure that we are leaving no trace to the best of our abilities, promoting greater sustainability. Although this is for when you are within natural environments, the same ideas can be used in our daily lives. This includes planning where we drive to reduce the amount of fuel is used and emissions released.

Respect Wildlife

Respecting wildlife involves ensuring that when were enter their home, we avoid scaring them or harming them. This includes not feeding, petting or touching them as well as keeping a distance from their water and home. If we do, they face countless damaging risks. By avoiding disruption to the natural wildlife in our day to day lives, we ensure they have the best chance of survival, a key part of sustainability.

Leave What You Find

When encountering new places, it is best for all to leave them the way that you found them. This includes when clearing a camping site to replace all sticks, leaves and rocks back to where they were. Avoid damaging trees by using nails or tying ropes around them. Don’t build an unnecessary amount of fire rings or make items to be used as chairs and tables. In our daily lives, we can follow this principle by avoiding picking flowers, taking plants, rocks or sticks or other naturally occurring resources. By doing this, we will promote sustainability by allowing for these resources to last for the future generations.