The average American spends $2,300 a year on energy bills. This expense not only leads to negative consequences in our bank accounts, but also to the environment.
Jesse Dizard, an anthropology professor, gave a presentation Oct. 1 on how harmful society is to the environment and how much people can benefit from changing habits. The environment’s resources are ones that will be used, but they are eventually going to run out.
“One huge problem is the wasteful attitude towards irreplaceable resources,” Dizard said. “Industrial civilization as we know it is not maintainable at our current rates of consumption.”
This presentation was put on by the Chico State Humanities Center. This year, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts will continue to host events with the theme of food and culture. Dizard’s presentation tied into both food consumption and cultural norms affecting the environment.
Troy Jollimore, the center’s interim director, coordinated the event and said the message from Dizard’s presentation was significant.
“Given the current environmental threats that threaten human flourishing and the ever-increasing human population, it seems important to pay attention to the nature of industrial agriculture and other aspects of food production,” Jollimore said.
Mai Kou Vue, a freshman criminal justice major, attended the event and learned about ways to prevent environmental issues through the intimate presentation.
“He knew what he was doing and I felt as though it wasn’t really like a presentation but just a conversation,” Vue said.
Throughout the presentation, Dizard elaborated on the importance of changing our ways as Çhico State students and how much we could benefit from it.
“It’s not to say our future’s grim,” he said. “It’s to say it could be so much better.”
Dizard explained what Chico State students could specifically do to stop contributing to the wasting of resources:
1. Turn off the electricity if you’re not using it. There are many small things that can be done like turning the lights off, unplugging chargers from the wall when not in use and avoiding taking extra long showers.
2. There are a lot of forms of alternative energy that don’t use as much energy as current standard forms do. Solar power is the best form of energy generation for the environment.
3. Avoid industrially-produced food. Companies use a mass amount of energy to process and package the food produced in factories. Try going to a local co-op instead.
4. Avoid automobile use as much as possible. Ride a bike or skateboard to school instead of driving to get some exercise and evade using gas.
Lauren Steele can be reached at [email protected] or @thrasherxlauren on Twitter.
