Uncle Sam Wants YOU to Become an Environmental Expert

Did you know that the United States has the highest waste per capita per day of any country? This simply won't stand. Exercise your patriotism and help us reduce our waste to beat countries like Germany and Canada that produce at least 0.7 less pounds of waste than us a day!

As Americans, we're obviously not here to take away your rights (we cringe at the very thought), so cost of participation will be very low; we just want you to help us win in the competition that is pre-familiarization. We all know that we are living in a biophysical scenario of resource descent, so why not adapt ourselves to this better than any other country in the world. Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman is quoted as saying, "No amount of psychological awareness will overcome people's reluctance to lower their standard of living." First of all, adaptation to our changing environment is not a decrease in our standard of living, second of all, let's prove him wrong.

To help you better understand how to help, we have come up with this equation:

I = P x A x T

I - total environmental impact from human behavior

P - population

A - affluence

T - environmental damage from technology per unit of affluence

Due to the fact that the population (P) is expected to grow significantly in the coming years (it is projected that there will be 10 billion people in 2050 and 11 billion in 2100) and we can't rely on technology (T) to do anything substantial due to Jevons Paradox, or the Rebound Effect (the assertion that increases in efficiency also tend to increase rates of consumption), we need to turn to our behaviors in order to pre-familiarize ourselves in the best way possible to our changing environment and become environmental experts. This will reduce the quantity of affluence (A), and therefore our environmental impact (I).

Our experts will help you by:

• Starting where you're at, so it doesn't matter how much prior experience you have! You can still get involved!
• Providing a variety of concrete examples on ways to act! They will provide you with cutting edge procedural knowledge that you can try out and they'll even give you feedback on your performance so you know where you stand!
• Going at your own pace so you don't become overwhelmed by new information!

They are also looking for your help and suggestions on how to be the most environmentally savvy in your area! They recognize that you love and care about your communities and therefore have a lot more local knowledge than they do, so don't be afraid to speak up! You are an invaluable resource in our victory!

We know that you are all reasonable people and that you are looking to cultivate your mental models about our environment and be effective and meaningful in your actions to win this competition and preserve our Earth, so we're just trying to make it easy for you. Here are some possible actions you can take:

• Recycle (Difficulty Level: Easy) - Don't add to landfills; get a recycling bin! Learn more about what you can recycle here: http://www.wm.com/thinkgreen/what-can-i-recycle.jsp
• Conserve Electricity (Difficulty Level: Easy) - Turn off the lights when you exit the room! Don't sleep with the television on! These are just a few simple ways to conserve electricity that will also help you love your wallet!
• Go vegan (Difficulty Level: Challenging) - This example is not for the faint of heart, but if you really like a good challenge, we highly recommend it. One pound of beef reportedly can cost as much as 1,847 gallons of water while tofu can cost only 302 gallons (Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html). 

You can take these steps and many more to become a more sustainable being and pre-familiarize yourself to our decreasing amount of finite resources. We don't want to just wait until change is inevitable; we want to respond preemptively! Action will help you develop your skills and build your competence! Be more resourceful and frugal! Cooperate and participate with others!

Up until this point we have framed this as a competition to be the best, most environmentally savvy country, but in reality, everyone loses if we don't address this problem. If we reduce our resource consumption, everyone wins. So, in conclusion, we want YOU to become an environmental expert and good global citizen in order for us all to live symbiotically with each other and our Earth.