Essay Sample on Calculating Your Ecological Footprint: How Resource Consumption Impacts Your Score

Introduction

The results from the ecological footprint calculation directly reflect to the resource consumption in the family. It analyzes factors such as energy consumption, land use and the waste product emitted to the environment. These factors seem to be essential in determining the value of the ecological footprint. Thus, electricity consumption in the form of renewable energy, oil consumption in transportation and water consumption in the household directly reflects on the results of the ecological footprint. However, the population density in the family is low leading to the conclusion that the results from the ecological footprint are a little bit off the expectations. These results somehow took me by surprise.

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Meaning of Social Work and Environmental Justice

Social work refers to the practice-based occupation or educational discipline dealing with persons, families, societies, groups, and communities to promote individual as well as collective success. The primary goal of social work is to empower individuals or groups to solve the problems that they face using available scarce resources. Some of the most central parts of social work are social justice, human rights, and acknowledgment and respect for diversities, among others.

Environmental Justice refers to the social movement focusing on the equal share of the advantages and burdens of the environment. Environmental justice is the term that means equality and fairness when establishing, imposing, and implementing environmental laws and regulations. It addresses pressing issues such as food, health, transportation, water pollution, and housing, among other factors that directly affect the environment.

Environmental Concerns and Injustices

There are numerous forms of ecological concerns and injustices. Some of the most notable and frequent in the work experience include air, water and land pollution, climate change, deforestation, higher carbon footprints, biodiversity degradation, and acid rain. Air pollution is the most significant environmental concern. Gaseous industrial wastes is a common phenomenon in most industrial areas. The gaseous are the significant contributors to the depletion of the ozone layer, result in acidic rain as well as enhancing climate change and global warming. Sea and marine vessels are the common cause of water pollution which leads to the death of aquatic life and consequently loss of biodiversity which is a primary environmental concern.

Roles for Social Workers

Social workers are people who are all-round with a variety of skills. The essential skills include listening and communication skills since they deal with a lot of people from different backgrounds. Social workers also need emotional intelligence, critical and creative thinking, organizational skills, and interdisciplinary knowledge (Boetto, 2016). They should have perspectives such as tolerance, empathy, ability to work in groups and setting boundaries. The primary resources that enhance the activities of social workers include social amenities, technological tools and infrastructural development.

The environment is the only source of my survival. The environment contributes 100 percent to the well-being of every human and organisms' life on earth (Boetto, 2016). The atmosphere creates an opportunity for the survival of all living things through interdependence. For example, water, sunlight and carbon dioxide enable plants to generate food. Human beings and herbivores depend on the plant for food and oxygen. Therefore, the elimination of any factor in the environment creates a form of disturbance in the natural balance. Picturing a situation whereby the environment is no more is both sad and scary. The case could lead to a disruption in the current state of balance. The earth would be chaotic and without order every living thing trying to survive at all costs. Visiting wild animals in their natural settings helps in developing unique likeness for nature. Natural meditation and horticultural therapy are the two forms of eco-therapy that I think I should be doing to help overcome climate anxiety.

Reflection on Eco-therapy-based Self-care

Eco-therapy-based self-care activities are essential for mental well-being. I engaged in the eco-therapy activity involving meditating on the shores of the lake. The location for the eco-therapy event was conducive since there was calm lake water, cool breeze from the lake, trees around with birds singing. All the animals and plants around provided an opportunity for me to interact with the environment and be in more of a spiritual and emotional connection with the environment. I sat under a tree close to the shore on a rock with my legs suspended in the water. I could feel the cold water resonating with the blood flowing in my legs. The air around especially the cool breeze, enhanced relaxation and meditation. Occasionally, I would pluck flowers around and smell them. I would also rub them gently on my palm squeezing out nectar from the herbs.

The eco-therapy activity went on smoothly without significant challenges. However, the main difficulties I encountered in the process include lack of concentration since a part of me was afraid of the lone environment down the lake. I consistently lose focus whenever I would hear strange noises in the bush. It was also a challenge to get a private place since the area was open to fishers who passed nearby every time. Sounds from the engines of the boat even worsened the situation. The area that I selected for the eco-therapy had a beehive that I was not aware of. Therefore, I had to change the location when I realized that the bees were there, and it was not safe for me to be there - moving to another site affected the activity since I failed to concentrate and get back to the eco-therapy activity after changing the location.

The eco-therapy activity was useful in relaxing my mind. The exercise helped me experience a sense of calmness and freedom. I felt like for the first time, I was free from the routine class activity. The activity served as an opportunity to break down the monotonous class activity and relax, interact with nature and meditate. Before starting the eco-therapy activity, I was feeling dizzy and had some headaches. After the exercise, I felt whole again, lighter than usual and it was like I had offloaded some things that were disturbing my mind. The eco-therapy activity helped me forget for a while the stressful academic life and started feeling relieved. Nevertheless, the operation left me thinking about the importance of the natural environment and what we can do to make it better not only for us who are living now but also for future generations.

The eco-therapy activity just like meditation, is essential in helping people relive and relieve stressful moments. It is especially important for clients, people or communities with mental issues. It allows people to relax, forget about life challenges and momentarily be in a state of at most freedom. Therefore, people working or undertaking stressful tasks can gunner more benefits from the activity. People with mental illnesses or people working in places like morgues face challenging situations in their life routine. The exercise can help them calm down and under understand the whole perspective of life. Eco-therapy is essential in learning the state of balance holding the environmental factors in place. The activity can help learners and the community, in general, understand the importance of the environment in the survival of life on earth. Therefore, the activity is the first in an attempt to preserve and protect the environment. People can use the activity to learn the importance of the environment and the need to protect it. Eco-therapy-based self-care is the first step in the discovery of plant medicine (Bessone, 2019).

References

Bessone, E. (2019). Implications and Applications of Eco-Therapy on Art Therapy.

Boetto, H. (2016). Developing ecological, social work for micro-level practice. Ecological social work: Towards sustainability, 59-77.