End of the Project

So it's finally over- 9 days of an alternative lifestyle. I think that I learned a lot over this time, mostly because of the way it now forces me to often look from another perspective. Instead of looking at foods and deciding which looks like it would be good but cheap, I now tend to take into account the real cost of me buying it (packaging, transportation, how much CORN is in it, and my health). I also am much more concience about how much recycling gets mixed with trash. After minimizing waste during the Lifestyle Project and recycling anything that does need to be thrown away, it has begun to become habit to be more waste-aware instead of habitually being scrapping the things I use. I found this especially true in respect to the amount of water I now use. I was pretty easily able to cut the amount of water I used in half, not just in the shower but my average sink time as well. I even try to reuse my plate in the Commons so there are less dishes to wash. Seeing that I can get everything accomplished comfortably in that amount of time, while my use being about half what it was before the project, I can't help but think of this whenever I turn on a water source, and now have a habit of using much less water.

What I am most happy about, however, is how the project has effected my health/life overall. Not only am I living with a little less impact on the health of the planet, but I have been eating more healthy as well. I find myself with the habit now of looking at labels for ingredients, weeding out the unhealthy from the healtheir choices, and hearing the arguement for boycotting meat in my head every time I reach for a burger. Although I am not a vegetarian, I can't help but feel like I have an understanding as to how vegetarians can choose the lifestyle they live, and even a tenacity to support them in their efforts. After all, why should we support industries with unhealthy practices that produce questionable products and pollute the environment?

A more abstract synopsis of the Lifestyle Project, however, may be Dr. Van Horn's infultration of our daily life to eventually recruit us for his environmentalist-army...