The first aspect I will explore of my life, as it relates to my ecological footprint, is consumption. How much we consume, can determine a large portion of our environmental impact. As a consumer, I currently spend little time caring about the impact that my purchases and actions have the environment. Perhaps, one thing that I do is have my groceries put into plastic bags, instead of paper bags. This cuts down on the demand for trees to be cut down, for making paper bags. If everyone used plastic bags, the demand for paper bags would go significantly down, in effect, the demand for trees being cut down could go slightly down. However, the creation of plastic for grocery bags also creates waste, which is harmful for the environment. Therefore, there is no easy answer to even the simplest

According the Air Force's Draft Environmental Impact Study the route called Alternative D of the RBTI calls for 2,660 annual flights (about 10 per day) of B-1 and B-52 bombers over Philmont bombers at a base altitude of 400 feet. These flights would occur six days a week (Sunday excluded), 12 months a year. The Air Force estimates that 20% of the flights would occur between the hours of 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM. The proposed route covers 114,600 of Philmont's 137,000 acres, including the most commonly hiked trails, the Ranch Headquarters, and Training Center areas. According to the Air Force's calculations, each Philmont over-flight would average 3.3 minutes for B-52's and 2.1 minutes for B-1's. A Scout participating in a 12-day trek would be exposed to 4 to 6 hours of over-flight. Every Philmont participant would directly experience over-flights.

The second aspect of my life, which I would like to explore, as it relates to the environment, is a future and current career. No matter what career I choose, it will have some sort of environmental implications whether they deal explicitly with the environment or not. It is important for me to consider the impact that my chosen field may have in the future, as well as what impact it currently has. Currently, I'm employed part-time as a photojournalist, weekend reporter for a local television station. Perhaps the most substantial impact this field has on the environment, is air pollution and electricity. Much of my job is on the road, driving to newsworthy events, car accidents, house fires, and car scenes. In fact, this past weekend, I drove for two-hours to film an overnight warehouse fire, which destroyed an international company's storage and operation facility in Pennsylvania. Driving and burning gasoline omits harmful fumes into the atmosphere, which are a leading cause of acid rain and smog. Although smog does not appear to be a problem in central Pennsylvania, once you travel southwest or southeast to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, there is a plethora of smog. However, there is a large amount of acid rain in this region of the state. Some of this can be rightfully blamed on industries in the New York and Erie areas, where pollutants travel in the air to our region, via storm systems. The damage from acid rain can be seen in our local community. For example, the Bellefonte Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania has undergone restoration due to acid rain this past summer. There are also numerous buildings in the larger cities of Pennsylvania, where the marble statues have been run down due to this acidic pollutant. Worst of all, the vehicles we drive for work are always SUV's or larger. This is needed to store gear, but these types of vehicles guzzle a substantial amount of gasoline, compared to many other automobiles, such as cars and

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Approximate Word count = 1888
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)