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...

My New Life

This project ended up being surprisingly easier than I expected, I had to make some adjustments in my original plan but i feel like I am now making less of an impact of the world. I started out making myself be really hardcore and almost over the top trying to do as much as I could to change my life and then by the second week I realized that I may be able to stand doing this for this project but what about after? Wasn't this suppose to be a LIFE project, so I decided to change my look on this project and actually make changes that I could apply to my everyday life. I still did the whole be super serious on the specific days but was also very environmentally aware on the other days. I have cut my shower down by two minutes on average, and my energy usage has gone way down. I have started using natural light all day everyday, and after realizing that the big light in my room used less energy than my lamp I am more willing to use it. Our room is always very hot so we would always have two fans running, obviously that was a huge waste of energy so along with using natural light I started using the cool breeze to try to lower the temp in my room. Along with me my roommate realized how much energy she was using decided to begin trying to conserve energy also, usually I would walk in the room and every single light would be on and I have told her how wasteful she was being so when I started the project she started to watch her energy intake as well. A long with using less energy in my room I have stopped taking the elevator, only taking it when I do laundry or bring up groceries. I also did the food project, my biggest change was the amount of food I wasted. At first I was doing the vegeterian thing but like I said I wanted to make this an actual change to my life something that would stick so I changed my focus to not cutting it out all the way but trying to choose more vegetables and fruits. My main focus with food was not wasting any, I didn't realize how much I was wasting till I made myself pay attention, instead of throwing it out I started either saving it for later or composting it. The last part of my project was leaving my car at home which wasn't a hard thing to do especially during the last week when my battery died, but before it did I would only drive if I really needed to and if I was carpooling, like going to the grocery store etc. Over all i enjoyed this project more than I anticapted and made some life long changes that I probably wouldn't have even known to make if it wasn't for this project and this class.

more digging in the dirt

I'm glad that everyone has had success in their projects. In retrospect, I guess I could have committed to some fasting myself along with my project. It's great to hear all the things that have been encountered when beginning a different lifestyle.
The last time that I was out at the garden, I was there longer than usual and it seemed like I got less done. Some weeds are more resilient than others I guess. But I know that in order to get the job done right, you have to spend time at it. If you don't try to get the entire plant out of the ground, you risk it growing back again. Hopefully, more work now will mean less later. I appreciate all of the others that have been helping. My project will be ongoing. I have been taking photos as the hillside has been cleaned up and I will continue until the project is finished. I live in the area and will hopefully have the opportunity to work on the hillside during the winter break. I look forward to seeing it completed and am excited to be working on a project that will benefit those on campus for a long time. Everyone should stop by next spring and see the results. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Overall, a Great Experience

These three changes have taught me quite a bit about how to live a bit simpler and more carefully. The easiest of my three challenges was still reducing my electricity and water. I have learned lots of little tricks to reduce water usage that will be in my life for the rest of my life. For example, I found that if I don’t get ice in my cup, all of the water a get at a meal will not be wasted. I’ve found how to reuse water; sometimes using the same water for lots of dishes, or using runoff to shave my legs. For electricity, I found I just hardly ever need lights on. In my attempt to save electricity, I found myself going outside more often to get work done, and I found that quite enjoyable. It has even made me be around people more often. To keep the lights off, I would go sit in my hall with other people at night. The food changes I’ve made will have an extremely lasting effect on me. I don’t know that for the rest of my life I will no longer be a glutton, in fact I know I will always have my gluttonous moments. However, from this point forward I know that I will always eat consciously. Each time I get up for another serving I will think first. I found this last week that even on days that I didn’t specify as no food waste days, I still would be hesitant to get a second serving. At the end of each day of only eating what I needed and not wasting any food, I was so proud. It will be nice to continue that feeling. The most fun experience of all this was the laundry day. That was a huge success. I will post pictures very soon. It was so much fun. I spent the whole day outside and found I loved drying peoples laundry for them, it was rewarding. The lines were right by the highway for all the cars on Southwestern Blvd to see. Every hour or so, there was a honk. I like to think they honked because it was a great idea (although that may be wishful thinking). You know what else I found? I thought the laundry lines were absolutely beautiful. They made me smile all day. After Sunday, I cannot imagine why neighborhood associations would ban drying laundry outside. I think they could bring something wonderful to a neighborhood. It’s a great idea; a solar powered dryer.

endings and beginings

During the final week of this sustainability project, the temperature decreased a bit, re-enforcing not planting many flowers at the end of November. However, I was able to transplant a few tropical sage flowers from my house (we have an abundance). Their red flowers liven up the shade. I also made a bird’s eye view of where to plant the flowers and I drew a picture of the flowers together. I hope to post these as soon as I figure out how.

I know I can get turkscaps at an organic nursery near Smithville, if I can’t find a local source. The other flowers I will try to find as the temperatures warm. This project is ongoing, and will hopefully eventually spread out of the garden to the dorm rooms and home with students.

This is the beginning of a continuous project, that I hope will continue to be maintained even after I graduate. I feel like having flowers in a shady area will liven it up and show people that there can be color and life everywhere. Perhaps this area will be expanded to also grow vegetables or herbs, but for now it is just native flowers to bring joy, right at the front of the garden.

Wrapping it up

Week of November 16-20
It’s amazing how quickly these past few weeks have flown by! Of the three catagories that I selected for my lifestyle project, I’d have to say that garbage elimination was the hardest. A person truly doesn’t realize how much throw away in 1 day, until it is forbidden. I was not aware that most of what I eat is disposable. So many times I went to pop a bag of popcorn or toast a pop tart without realizing that, alas, I could not. Having completed this project, I am ashamed to say that I am going to continue throwing things away. However, now I will think twice before I dispose of something that could be reusable or check to see if it is recyclable. My second biggest challenge for this project was initiating some changes, ie recycling bins and the elimination of Styrofoam cups, in my workplace (Innerspace Cavern) . Recycling bins were badly needed next to all of the registers because of all the receipts and aluminum cans that get tossed out every day, and everyone knows that Styrofoam is just plain bad. I thought that, perhaps, there would be some extra bins in the warehouse that I could use for my project so that I would not have to go out and use up more resources, but unfortunately, there was not. I went out and bought 6 recycling bins: one for the gift shop, one for the ticket booth, two for the snack bar, and two for the office spaces behind closed doors. Then, I painted the bins green and labeled them “Paper Recycling” and one “Aluminum Recycling” so that everyone would know what they are. Every Sunday, when I work, I am going to take the recycling to a bin close by my house. I plan to continue this process as long as I work at Innerspace. It needs to be done, and no one else is going to do it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get anything accomplished with the elimination of Styrofoam cups . The last phase of my project was water and electricity conservation. This was probably the least challenging because I already use very little electricity and water. However, I did notice that when I shower in the mornings and I am half awake, I probably use more water than I initially thought. I asked a friend to time me once, and it turns out that my showers are a little under 8 minutes rather than the 5 that I had expected. So, I apologize to all those people that I bragged to about taking 5 minute showers. I still protest that showers can be short, regardless of how long your hair is!!! Also, I noted the amount of time that I spent washing dishes, and I kept my loads of laundry to a minimum. With the electricity challenge, I simply kept on one incandescent light in my room when I needed to do homework, and that was enough. Most of the rest of the time I could get by with just opening the blinds in my room. Natural light is a beautiful thing! My roommate challenged me often, however, keeping on more lights than we really need. I also made sure to turn off lights when no one was in the room and limit my leisure time on the computer. I don’t know how the technology fast people could survive without a computer for 4 days. My computer is a very important element in my school work. Wrapping things up. This lifestyle project helped me to think about what I throw away, reduce waste in the workplace, and continue to conserve water and electricity. It’s been fun! Peace out!

What it all boils down to

Sorry about the tardiness of this post- my laptop was acting goofy and the link was saved on here...blah blah blah I'm sure you guys like my excuses.

Well, this week was an experience- four days! I feel like I'd be repeating myself too much if I summarized how each day/project went like I have the last two weeks, so I'm just going to list off the obstacles of this week.

TECHNOLOGY FAST: papers, tests and homework were plentiful, the internet would've been welcomed with open arms; plans for going home this week would have been much more extensive had I had my cell phone; I could have gotten more online Christmas shopping done with the internet as well; the rain limited my outdoor time, so much time was spent..thinking..? (pro or con?)
ELECTRICITY: the rain limited the sunlight that I had been using to light my room-lights were on much more often; one lightbulb in my bathroom is flickering, so instead of turning on that one light in the middle of the bathroom, my suitemates tend to turn on two other lights to compensate; with all the extra studying, I was for an unfortunate amount of time=lights on much more often in the early mornings
WASTE: I recieved a couple packages in the mail, one contained packing peanuts, one was in a large box, and the other was in a thick padded (not recyclable) envelope; with all the running around of this week, my roommate ate a lot of fast food, quickly filling our trashcan.

By these cons, it must look like I had a difficult week, but honestly, it was comparable to the other two. I take this as a great sign because doubling the amount of days I do the projects should double the effort. I really loved this project. As cliche as this totally is, it made me just stop and think and not worry and slow down. All of those are actions not usually taken by me, all very unusual feelings for me. A couple of times when on a normal day I'd be drowning in anxiety, I felt like I was breathing the lightest, freshest air I had ever encountered. I completely plan on continuing to every once in a while do a technology fast. And as the waste and electricity reduction were not that difficult, I 100% plan to contine with those. Through the weeks, I pretty much did those every day, it was hard to not feel guilty when I threw something away.. haha

Week 3

I am glad the Lifestyle Project is over. This doesn’t mean I will go back to my old habits or that I didn’t learn anything, but being able to honestly follow through some of the categories has definitely been a challenge (which was the whole purpose of the project anyways). For instance, trying to go for four consecutive days without producing any garbage was not possible for me although I definitely tried. I can recall having thrown away a paper towel, a cupcake liner, and a Quakers Rice Snacks bag mainly because my hunger made me forget about the trash the food would create before I ate it. I realized I have also been throwing away the wipes in the weight room to sanitize the machines. I felt it was something I couldn’t avoid since many people have been sick lately. I also ate some ground meat that was in some pasta in the Commons last week and didn’t realize it until I was almost done with the portion. But besides these mishaps I greatly reduced the amount of trash I created and realized how much food packaging could not end up in landfills by eating food that can be composted. This project has also helped me avoid the vending machines, which has not only saved me money but also encouraged me to eat much healthier. Not eating meat, using less water and using less energy have been easier tasks that have actually been easier to do this past week. In an effort to continue these new habits in the future, I am also planning to buy a dish towel instead of using napkins all the time to wash dishes, eat more fruits and vegetables that can be composted and buy a plastic container instead of using the compostable to-go containers in the Commons.

project: over. changes: ongoing.

I cannot believe that the lifestyle project is over. It doesn't seem possible that three weeks have passed already. I knew that if I tried I would be able to incorporate changes into my daily routine, but I didn't think that they would so easily become habitual. It is easy to think about how much electricity I use. Now I even end up accidentally turning off lights before my roommate is ready to leave! I also don't turn on the TV or radio for background noise whenever I'm doing homework. Producing no waste is still a challenge, but I feel that I've really come to see how much waste I was producing before. It is a lot harder to throw things away now that I actually think about where they are going and how much I'm throwing away. Eating not meat also became more difficult whenever I added the fourth day, but I think that I can definitely limit/decrease the amount that I eat. I know that before I would be able to cut meat out completely I would need to expand my diet considerably so that I wouldn't just replace the meat with junk.

Like I said in the title of this post, the project may be over, but the changes I have started to make in my life will be ongoing. It has also helped to read other people's posts, because I have become aware of other options as well. Awareness is the key, and I think that from now on I will be much more aware of the actions I take in my life and what footprint they will leave behind.

Last week! (but the composting will continue....)

This week I was not able to do much with the bins as I was incredibly busy. Still, I did help pick up some horse manure with garden club, which I added to the compost bins. Hopefully this will not only add microorganisms to "jump start" the compost, but also it will dry out some of the bins because of all of the shavings in it. Basically the main problems with the bins are the same- they are too wet, have too little material, and the things in them are not broken up enough. To address these issues I added some dried weeds from the garden on top of the manure, and I used a shovel to try to break up some of the bigger things. Sometimes the shovel just seems to pack things down, which is somewhat counterproductive. Thankfully next semester there will be a student worker part of whose job will be to take care of the compost. I just had trouble because it is so time consuming to walk to each bin, especially with a shovel and large bag of manure/dried weeds. If the dried weeds, grass, or leaves were added to the bin more often I think it would help a lot. Plus the bin near MS/HB actually seemed to be doing ok, although it was of course too wet and not quite broken up enough. Hopefully in the future we will have usable compost!

Week 3!

Although this project had challenging aspects, I learned a lot and have not only a greater conscious, but a greater awareness of my surroundings and my actions. I have decided that being vegan while at school is not the most ideal for me, but cutting back on my dairy intake is definitely feasible. I think that being vegan would be much better and easier if I had a kitchen or if I was at home. I would love to try being vegan again or at least cutting back on food that contains dairy if I had healthier food options here at school. As far as the electricity and water part of my project, it went extremely well. Turning off unnecessary lights, opening up the blinds more, not using the heater in my room, and taking shorter showers was not very difficult and I will definitely continue to be conscious of these actions. Leaving my car at home was probably my favorite part of this project because I now have a new love for riding my bike. Not only am I getting a good exercise but I am cutting back on the times I really did not need to drive my car. I have found many new trails that I enjoy riding on where I can enjoy the nice weather, San Gabriel, and the beautiful trees changing colors. I have also noticed that when riding my bike a short distance it really does not take any longer than driving my car. I really loved this project and I have learned a lot from it! I will definitely pass on my experience and my successes and few failures to my family over the break, I am sure they will love to hear about this project!

Anyone want some clothes?

So I'm approaching the end of my activism project. I finally was able to take my the photo of my clothes. It ended up taking almost an hour to carry them to the lawn outside my dorm and lay them all out. When I saw them all laid out there, I was amazed. I knew I had a lot of clothes, certainly more than I need, but the I suppose seeing is believing. Hopefully I can get the photos up on the blog soon, because it's just ridiculous to see all the clothes I've been hoarding all these years.

I also did some more work in tracking where my clothes come from and while most of my clothes are second hand, almost all the others were probably produced in an inhumane manner. I also discovered how far say a pair of pants travels before it reaches the store and carbon footprint of a pair of sock is more than a bit excessive even if you only figure in travel. Basically what I've come too is I have way more clothes than I need, especially shirts, so if anyone would like some clothes just let me know. I'll wash and deliver them. I think if I can't manage to give enough away via friends and family I'll probably just give the rest to the caring place. I know the next time someone in the McCombs Concourse asks if I want to buy a shirt to support their cause, I'll probably just give them some money and ask them to keep the shirt, because I certainly don't need anymore clothes.

Week 3

Finally third week is over! This last week was...tiring to say the least. Going into this Lifestyle Project, I knew the technology fast would be very difficult. And it was. But not as difficult as trying to find something to do with my garbage that I use! Gum wrappers are still...frustrating. Maybe I should start investing in the gum where you can just eat the wrappers. After hearing last weeks discussion about food, I've tried to get smaller portions of food at first. Usually, I just want everything when I get into the Commons and get a myriad of food. I found that I usually end up eating only about half of all the different foods I get. If I can get smaller portions, I can always go back for seconds or thirds if I'm still hungry. I'm very leery about what's in the food I'm eating now...honestly, I had never thought about it. I inherited my father's fast metabolism and skinny genes (pun intended) and always eat a lot of whatever just to keep my body going. I never stop to think of what might actually be in there. This week in chemistry lab, we took a tour around Fondren-Jones and look at the various instruments available to us to use here at SU. A lot of the machines were types of spectrophotometers which aid in identifying unknown substances. For instance, we tested some caffeine from some herbal tea and found that it was in fact NOT pure caffeine...there was some crude material present. I thought this fit in very well with this food epiphany. With so much of our food being mass produced, it calls for a very watchful eye. Too bad this happened so close to Thanksgiving...Conserving water and energy weren't hard at all. Short showers, open windows, etc. The technology fast, in hindsight, was very liberating. I get so much more done and am less distracted. Haha I know the point is to conserve energy/make myself aware of how much energy I use but I feel so productive. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Needless to say, my mom is very happy to have constant contact with me now. This project has definitely made me more aware of what I use on a day to day basis. It's easy to get into a trance of using and using and using. Sometimes it's nice to have a wake up call. I feel proud:)

wrapping up

Well, my recycled crafts activism project culminated last Thursday night and I like to think it turned out pretty okay! There was definitely an explosion of clothes, books, and crafting supplies all over Korouva that evening - it got pretty cozy in there for a while. So many people brought great clothes and crafting materials - everything that didn't get swapped that night will be donated to the Caring Place in Georgetown after I get back from the holiday break. I also made sure to take pictures of a lot of the different creations for my end-of-class-presentation - the découpaged beer bottle vases were a rather popular option. Thanks to this event, I've started talking with several people are setting up a mini-series of DIY/recycled materials workshops sorts next semester - I think it could be a fun project that I would work to incorporate into my other activities such as SEAK and Garden club.

Thanks to everyone who came out and to everyone who donated supplies and clothes - I hope you all enjoyed yourselves!

the cardboard chair is alive!

I made a chair out of recycled cardboard. The original design I used which lacked the use of any type of adhesive didn't work so I ended up making my own additions in order for someone to actually be able to sit in the chair. Overall it took way, way longer than I ever would have guessed and, on a side note, cardboard is a lot messier than you would guess. The chair isn't the most beautiful piece of furniture but it works and it could probably be modified to look better. My personal conclusion: if I can do it, anyone can! And the additions I made to make it more stable were kind of spur of the moment in attempt to salvage all the hours I had spent making the original design. The fact that my additions worked was very exciting for me! I ended up using 2 pieces of just regular tape (not duct tape or anything heavy duty) which is more then I wanted to, but was because I had to! I kind of cheated by using corner and end pieces that were already glued together, but if the glue has already been used then you might as well use it again! I think the main point was to try to avoid unnecessary use of more bad things for the environment. Even though it took quite a bit of work, I think the use of cardboard furniture is definitely possible, especially if you added adhesives into the equation. With limitless time and resources, this could definitely be a profitable business because you wouldn't really have to buy any of your raw materials.

Just to explain how easy it is to get a car full of cardboard: I originally talked to a store owner of a local mattress store and was going to return later in the week when they got their shipments in to take their cardboard. Unfortunately, the manager's wife was in the hospital when I returned and they had already thrown out the cardboard. I found cardboard somewhere else within 20 minutes - all I did was drive around the backs of stores around Wolf Ranch until I found people unloading and taking apart boxes. They happily helped me pack my car full of cardboard and even offered to give me bubble wrap and all of their other trash. This is probably because the store has to pay for every dumpster they fill up so they are grateful to have some one take away from their dumpster usage! Anyways, the point is, I'm pretty sure anybody with some resourcefulness could do this type of project and probably even on a larger scale then just a chair. The nice thing about making something physical is that at least you have something you can see to show for you efforts.

Well, what are you waiting for? Replace all your furniture with reusable materials! =)

Third week

I found the third week to be more challenging without the heat, since it got pretty cold at times.  But I managed to get through it just fine, as I think my body has adapted.  I now feel slightly uncomfortable when I walk into heated rooms.  I'm a pretty active person, so I'm able to stay warm by working up a sweat while running or working out indoors.  The laundry line on Sunday was great, as I was able to dry my clothes naturally and save some energy at the same time.  I've also continued to study in the library more, which helps reduce energy needs in my room.  The maximum time I'll allow heat in my showers is 30-45 seconds, and this has worked out.  My body has adapted to cold showers quite well.  I've also made an effort to eat more compostable food (aka healthier food), especially when not in the commons.  While this is impossible to do all the time, I've noticed a significant waste reduction when trying to compost more.  I've also managed to put some of the vegetables I've been growing in my garden plot into use, recently using bell peppers and basil (from early October) for a pasta dinner.  Another thing I've been doing to save paper is to do much of my reading for class on the computer.  This is debatable as to being a better option, since there is a greater electricity demand.  However, once Southwestern purchases 100% wind energy (which is in the works), it will make the transition to screen reading more tolerable.  The Megaphone is also planning on having a paperless issue next semester.  I encourage people to read the Megaphone online, especially when the website gets renovated.  While this will not be a permanent change by any means, it is a simple way to reduce paper and ink usage by putting an issue online.  

I hope everyone enjoyed their lifestyle projects and are continuing to adopt the habits learned over the last three weeks.  Hopefully some will be inspired to make permanent lifestyle changes as well, changes easy to justify and difficult to ignore.  One of the most important lessons I have learned are that sustainable choices are easy to make once they become habit (three weeks being the optimal time period for forming habits).  Not only do they benefit you but the community as a whole in the long run.  Sustainable individual choices lead to more sustainable communities, and more sustainable communities are the foundation of a healthier planet.  

Nothing new

This week was easier than the other weeks, since I really didn't have anything exceptional happen beyond the previous weeks. I managed to scrap some beer cans from the cross country team's beer mile, which I will recycle with the cans from the party last week. The greatest challenge I have found has been finding a can crusher. Stepping on cans is fun, but after a while, it would be easier to have a mechanism to do the job for me. Strangely enough, I can't find a store that carries them. Not Wal-Mart or Home Depot. According to the internet, Ace hardware should have one, but I'm not sure where an Ace is near here. My bicycle was in the shop for repairs this week, so I was slightly more reliant on my truck than usual, but mainly it just made me late for most of my classes. My final thought is a question. Is cigarette ash compostable? I would understand regular cigarettes not being composted, with all the additives, but cigar or pipe tobacco ash, I think, would just be burnt leaves, and just fine. On a similar note, what about other "herbs?"

Second Week

Round 2 of project Save The Planet was overall pretty successful, but still very difficult. Taking a second shot at the vegetarian diet I took it with much more planning, searching through the options so that I could have the most diverse meal I could while not breaking the rules. This was easier to do because I changed my diet from Vegan to a more lax vegetarian one where I can still have cheese and some dairy products. The energy-saving portion of the project was just as easy as the previous week because even though the project was three days this week, I didn't have as much to do that required my computer, so I only used it when I had to get school work done. And when I did work it often was in the library on a computer that would already be on anyway. Opening the shades for natural light like I did last week and many other people posted that they did as well was one of the greatest contributions to minimizing energy usage, because after starting this project I realized that I constantly have my lights on even when it's midday and doesn't add any light to the room. My water use was pretty good too. I can pretty easily keep my shower time down to half of the usual, which really makes me feel like a wasteful person because if I can do the same thing with half the water then why am I even taking that long of a shower? It's a shame I cannot say the same about my garbage consumption. With 3 days of the Lifestyle Project, it was even harder to minizimize my garbage- to eliminate it completely would be a pretty big challenge. I feel like I am becoming more and more concious about how much I actually consume. I'm constantly looking at my lifestyle in terms on "Earths," which really makes me think of what is going to happen in the future when all these things we depend on run out.

Week Two

So after the first week I have decided to adjust my life style project ever so slightly, instead of doing everything only on certain days I have decided to kind of make this project more applicable to my actual life style. So instead of just doing three days this week I did as much as I could everyday. Everyday I try my hardest not to waste any food, and instead of getting a a big portion of meat I get a smaller one (which is also the right portion when I looked it up) and then eat other foods to compensate (one of my new favorites has become a blueberry bagel with peanut butter and jelly on it!) so I'm not doing the vegetarian thing everyday because I know that isn't going to stick with me and I am trying to make as many of these sustainable acts sustainable in my life. I also try not to take the elevator (even after a long practice) and not drive my car unless I'm carpooling. Having my window open for natural light has become an easy everyday thing for both me and my roommate. All in all I am trying to do a bunch of little things everyday ( like I will actually do after the project) instead of bigger challenges that i may do for those certain days but won't hold myself in the long run (which wouldn't help that much anyway). I am also thinking about going to the farmers market and buying groceries next time i need to.

Week 2

Week 2 without heat was more difficult.  My roommate really wanted a little bit of heat at one moment, so I allowed a few minutes of heat in the apt.  I compensated by not using very much electricity in my room.  I did most of my studying in the library (especially at night), where lights have to be on regardless.  The weekend trip to North Carolina helped cut down on electricity and water use in my apt.  However, my carbon footprint was high for the weekend with flights to Chicago and Greensboro.  Showers were kept short as usual though.  The showers I took in North Carolina were all cold showers, and I felt like I got by just fine.  The fact that the weather was unseasonably warm in NC helped as well.  After the cross country race, I had a bunch of mud on my racing spikes and training shoes, so I let them soak in water from the sink and hand-washed them rather than letting the water continue to run.  

I also try to study more during the day, using natural light.  Though I've had to study some at night, I usually go to bed earlier than most college students (9 or 10PM) and study early in the morning, using less electricity.  

Round II

The second week was much harder than the first...well parts of it were harder anyway. I'm not really having trouble reducing the amount of electricity I use or the amount of meat I eat, but I cannot seem to figure out a way to produce no waste. We traveled to North Carolina for cross country and it is extremely hard to survive a trip like that without producing any waste. Everything is packaged excessively and I could hardly figure out any way around generating trash. We went to sandwich places and ate in the airport at least 50% of the time we were there. I kept trying to get around things that were packaged, but it was impossible. I also think that its really hard to produce no waste at all in a day. At first I was only associating waste with the packaging of the food that I ate, but it encompasses every other aspect of life as well. Using a paper napkin to wipe a counter instead of a cloth is an easy thing to fix. I feel like in America there is no escape from producing waste in some manner, but because of that I will be much more conscious of how I can reduce how much I throw away.

I think it is really effective for SEAK to have compost bins around campus, because there is one very close to my apartment. This makes it extremely easy for me to take banana peels, apple cores, egg shells, etc to the bins instead of throwing them away as I did before.

Despite the difficulties that I'm having eliminating the amount of trash in our apartment, my roommate has become more conscious of her use of electricity as well so we are drastically reducing our electrical use! :)

Week Two - AE

Week two of cutting back on my electricity and water usage has been a continual challenge. Considering how money-conscious college students are, it's surprising that the people I live with continue to waste so much energy. Since we "fell back" a couple of weeks ago, my enjoyment of the daylight has been greatly reduced. Thus, I haven't been able to do much in my room after 5:30pm. I try to go to public places and do work when I can, because that energy is wasted if no one uses it. On top of that, I've figured out the secret to saving water: cold showers. Sadly, the majority of my water usage comes in the form of waiting for the temperature of the water to increase, so I decided to jump in as soon as I turn the water on. Yikes.

Leaving the car at home hasn't been all that bad. I don't have much money, which eliminates buying things as an option for entertainment, which means I really have nowhere to drive. As much as I love cars, it's kind of nice not having to deal with traffic and other drivers on a regular basis. I've even found that I drive less on my off-days, as well.

Adding the third day without meat has been the most difficult part. Two days was pretty manageable because I could just load up on fruits, vegetables, and carbs, but I'm starting to realize that my menu is going to have to expand if I'm going to continue this habit. I'll be doing some research on some winter fruits and vegetables I can enjoy. Until I do that, I imagine I'll be eating a lot more cereal (with organic milk).

Party Time

This week was a little easier, as the new things started to become more habitual. Taking shorter, fewer showers wasn't a big deal since I wasn't running or playing lacrosse. I managed to drive less, which, although it wasn't one of my main objectives, felt good. I did drive to the Georgetown farmer's market, which was pretty cool, and got some bread and eggs. This week I'm planning on getting some tomatoes and peppers, anybody wanna split a basket and save some money? I was surprised that the eggs were cheaper than the Central Market "cage free" eggs, so I'm certainly not going back to HEB for eggs anymore. I was also able to avoid creating a lot of trash, with most of it coming from the paper towels I use to clean my frying pan, (as opposed to washing it with soap and water.)

Friday night was a different story, as my fake frat threw our big party of the year. We obviously used a couple hundred red cups, between the guests and beer pong, but most of the guests managed to hold onto one cup all night. As I cleaned up afterwards, I grabbed a large trash bag, and filled it up with all the beer cans I could find, which I will, at some point, sell to pay for the gas of a trip to Austin or something.

Eyes bigger than my stomach

This is much harder than I thought. I always knew I loved to eat a lot, but I didn’t realize how much food I went through when I wasn’t even hungry anymore. It’s a complete shift of mindset for me. Sunday was the first day of this week that I set about on my goal of not wasting any food on my plate and not putting anymore on my plate than I needed. On Sunday, I messed up. I went into the cafeteria and saw French toast and couldn’t help but grab not only more than I needed but more than I could even handle eating. I didn’t waste it though. I ate every bite and then ate a lot less for dinner. I learned my lesson. From that point forward I only put on my plate a reasonable amount of food. I think this goal is wonderful not only because it will reduce food waste and excess, but also because it makes me think about what I’m eating. All the time. Again, electricity is much easier than my food goal, as long as I can remember to make the changes. It doesn’t require much of a sacrifice for me. I’ve found if my room is too dark without lights on to work, I can get things done outside and enjoy myself. I just have to remember to turn my laptop off when I don’t need it soon. Water is a little tough. I miss long hot showers. To make up for this, I’ve decreased my quantity of showers rather than the length once I have one (don’t tell!). I’ve started taking sponge baths to get myself clean. The dryer day planning is coming along. A facebook event should be up in a few days.

So many clothes, so little time

My activism has been two-pronged this week. I've been trying to follow some of my clothes back to their origin in an attempt to find the ecological footprint of my wardrobe, but tracking a pair of pants from a department store to a cotton field is rather difficult. I'm assuming that clothing companies cover their tracks so well for a reason, but other than the blacklists of various free trade advocates I've been hard pressed to discover where my clothes come from.
The second part of my project kind of developed on accident. As I was thinking about how I should rid myself of my enormous excess of clothes, I realized that I had no formal goal of how big my wardrobe should be. So, I decided to do a mini lifestyle project involving the clothes I wear. I managed to go all week on one load of laundry's worth of clothes. The first three days I was a little self-conscious about re-wearing clothes so much so I alternated the three pairs of pants that I allotted myself, but I think I've worn the same pair of pants for the past three days and I can don't really feel any dirtier than usual. I suppose I should do some research on the health impact of re-wearing clothes, but for now I'm content to be moderately dirty.

Week 2

Unlike the first week when I picked Wednesday and Friday to do the Lifestyle Project, this week I picked Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Applying the Lifestyle Project for two days in a row was more difficult than I had anticipated and even though I had some instances where I forgot to avoid certain things I did pretty well. I have been able to eat all the food on my plate as part of the Eating Efficiently category although on Thursday I forgot about not eating meat during dinner and ate two slices of pepperoni pizza. I also had my ups and downs in not producing trash. I realized I shouldn’t of have had opened a packet of sugar after I poured it into a cup of coffee on Saturday and also used one paper towel that day. On Thursday, however, I was aware of the container in which the ice cream I bought came in. My alternative however was to turn the sturdy container into a piggy bank for my loose coins. I also caught myself from chewing a stick of gun on Sunday after realizing I would have to throw away the wrapper as I was unwrapping it. I decided to eat a banana instead and compost the peel. Regarding Water and Energy Conservation, I have continued to use more cold rather than warm water and I have begun to use my lamp that has a fluorescent light bulb instead of the dorm lights whenever possible. Unfortunately, as the weather has begun to get cooler going outside might not be all that possible, but I have continued to use common lighting whenever possible. This week has definitely been interesting and has been able to better prepare me for the following week. It has also been a learning experience that will become useful as I continue applying more of these ideas beyond the project.

Week two of cardboard box project

So as of this week I have gained a car and dorm full of cardboard boxes and part of a chair. Via google, I have found many different ideas for cardboard box chairs and have attempted one design. I've been working on the design and haven't finished but so far so good. It's ending up being pretty complicated because I'm trying to do it without any glue/adhesives. Also, when I went to the store to get a utility knife, I forgot to buy a ruler, so my cuts have been measured with a 12" paper ruler that I printed out (on recycled paper!) which was a little difficult. Generally I had trouble cutting good/accurate lines. Hopefully this won't hurt the design in the long run! Thanks for the comments people left before. The design I ended up picking is available here: http://www.andrewsenior.com/gallery/design/cardboard_instruct.html if anybody wants to take a look. It's basically a regular chair, but the guy sells them so I'm assuming they have to be decently sturdy! If I successfully finish this one (which I should in a few days), I think I'm going to try a design of my own. I've already been thinking about that for awhile, but I figured it would probably be best to start with a "tried and true" method first. I have also been trying to save all my scraps. My idea for those is to make some type of pillow for the chair filled with little pieces of scraps. The place I ended up getting cardboard boxes from also gave me bubble wrap and some packing foam so I have to figure out how to use that too... Overall I have been working quite a bit, but don't have anything too substantial to show for it yet. I don't know if it's just because I've probably handled a utility knife only a couple times in my life, but it has been taking me forever to cut out pieces. It's kind of sad really. Anyways, I should have more concrete (or cardboard!) evidence of my work by the end of this upcoming week - that is, if everything comes together as planned.

Compost rounds and more...

Hopefully everyone noticed the bin for compost in the Commons on Thursday last week. I was able to collect 12.4 pounds of compost which was less than I had expected. The thing is I did not realize how hard it is to compost much in the Commons because they tend to cook vegetables in butter, and not many people eat a bunch of raw fruit or vegetables. But overall there was a surprisingly positive response to the bin which was nice. I got a few emails in response to my campus wide mostly of encouragement, and one asking a question about composting. All of the Commons employees were helpful, as were the athletic trainers who let me weigh the compost on their scale, and I owe them a huge thanks. Although there was not a very large volume of compost, the event definitely increased awareness and got people talking about composting which was wonderful. I loved walking around and hearing random people talking about it. At one point I was considering pushing the Commons to get a bin and put it where I did, but for now I think that it would be too much effort for too small of a reward.
I checked on the compost bins again this week, and found much of the same thing as last week with some trash, too many wet things, and a slightly unpleasant smell. I broke things up with a shovel, and added a bit of finished compost that I had brought from home, but much more needs to be done. Hopefully, I can add some dried weeds from the garden next time, and if necessary, some cardboard or other dry things. The problem is that I do not have much time to spend walking around to each bin and taking care of it. I may look into working with the food committee in SEAK to assign a person to each bin (or a few people) in order to divide up the work. Also, at some point I will be meeting with Bob Mathis and a few other people to discuss the industrial composter and the possibility of a student worker for the compost.

week 2

I had a lot of doubt after the first week in my ability to be vegan; however with a lot of help from research and awesome friends I had much more success. I was better able to make my way around the Commons after our conversation last week, but unfortunately that meant that I ate a lot of french fries and rice. Morning Star and Boca, which are two brands of food that make vegetarian and vegan food options, have basically been keeping me alive. Morning Star and Boca both have awesome veggie burgers and "fake" chicken, which is actually really delicious! I have a huge respect for vegans, more than ever now, because I have found that being vegan is extremely difficult. I thought that this project could possibly turn me into a vegan in the future, but now, I do not see that happening, I miss my "normal" diet.
The other parts of my project are going really well; I have been extra conscious of my water and electricity use and I have been trying to get my roommate and suite mates to do the same. We have done really well with turning off the lights when we leave a room and we have cut down our shower times. I also decided to not use my car for my project. I had my parents bring my bike for me this weekend, which will be really useful because even though I enjoy the extra walking it is really time consuming. I am excited to use my bike and I think it will definitely cut down the number of times I use my car in a week.

Throws like a girl

Week of November 9-13
Wednesday, November 11

So far today has not been good. After fasting from trash two days last week, I relished in every opportunity to throw something away over the weekend. Unfortunately, my tenacity did not dissipate upon waking up this morning. Today I threw away a cotton ball, two q-tips, a napkin, and a candy wrapper on accident. I am rather disappointed in myself. I will note, however, that I took a short shower this morning and have spent most of my day working in natural light. No progress thus far on my project but I hope to get started tomorrow by contacting my boss about recycling bins. Oh…and I just remembered that I washed my hands about 5 minutes ago and I used paper towels .

Thursday & Friday, November 12th &13th

The water and electricity conservation continues to go well. In keeping with my trash fast I have not thrown anything away over the past couple of days. In fact, after dinner on Thursday, I bunched up my leftover corn and peas and carried them from the commons, all the way to the compost bin behind Brown-Cody. It felt like warm throw-up in my hands. Gross to say the least. Once I arrived at the bin, I went to throw the food in and I missed. It spilled all over the ground. My friends and I stood there and laughed at my exhausted efforts. Next time, I will practice better aim. This Sunday I set up a temporary paper recycling bag next to one of the registers at work. I was excited at how much paper was recycled over the course of one day because it makes me feel like a permanent placement would be useful. I also bagged up the newspapers that an employee had been saving from the past few weeks. They are currently sitting in the back of my car in boxes because I am not sure where the closest paper recycling collection site is located. There are several empty small trash cans in work storage that I plan to paint and place next to each of the registers and next to the desks in the back. Ta ta for now!

Hillside

So, my instincts were right in thinking that this project would take longer than three weeks. That's ok though. It's taking a lot of work. But who am I kidding, I love digging in the dirt. With thanks to the garden clubbers this last weekend, the hillside is on its way to being cleared out. Once that is finished, I have some ideas on how to start the terraces and what types of materials I can use. I can't wait to see what possibilities are in store for this area of the garden.

trash to treasure

The holidays are coming up and nothing says I love you like a hand painted beer bottle vase.

My activism project event is scheduled for this week!
When: Thursday, November 19th @ 9:30 p.m.
Where: Korouva Milk bar on campus

Directions: Korouva can be found on Maple Street, just south of the KA fraternity, right next to your friendly neighborhood campus police station.

There will be a clothes and book swap, craft tutorials, as well as some music and snacks. (Sweet potato muffins from the garden are in the works.) We will be making a variety of projects - from notebooks to t-shirt dog toys. I am going to have some supplies and projects planned, but I would also like to encourage everyone to come out and bring their recyclables - we'll find something to make out of them!

Some other sample crafts for this Thursday:
Frames
Pencil holders
Vases
Boxes for wrapping up gifts
Altered books

I'll have some supplies and tutorials but please bring your old magazines, recyclables, books to alter/decorate, clothes, etc. if you can - we'll try and find something to make out of them!

(Definitely bring out some unwanted clothes for the swap - we have accumulated some great stuff thanks to SEAK and Dr. Van Horn's wife, Marcie. [Is that how she spells her name Dr. Van Horn?] She has some pretty killer fashion taste.)
____________________________________________________________________

I used to go to the Austin Children's museum a lot when I was a kid - I always loved the pretend grocery store play area. I loved their craft area just as much however. It was this amazing room with all sorts of materials in it - paper towel tubes, yogurt containers, material scraps, old calendars and postcards, etc. They had pencils and scissors and glue - it was a great deal of fun to brainstorm and come up with something to create out of these materials. I hope this event will capture some of that spirit - I always find it refreshing to just take a break from school and make something.

Furthermore, after looking online, I have been really impressed by the many different projects people have concocted. This site especially:
Craftbits.com - recycled crafts

I like how this project has made me stop and thinking before I throw anything out - what could I make with that piece of "trash"? It has also made me more conscious about reducing my use in the first place and trying to satisfy my needs or desires with things I already have - by refurbishing or recreating them into something new. Depending on how this event fares, I am also thinking about possibly holding a greater campus-wide event during the day sometime in early December. I am also working on coordinating with the Georgetown Boys and Girls Club to set up a similar activity with them.

Week 2

Hey guys. So this past week wasn't as bad as I expected. I'm not going to lie...all this past weekend I was dreading having to technology fast and such. However, I managed to make it work with only minimal deviations. I technology fasted on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I did this intentionally- these are the days I have the most classes and labs and would thus be distracted the most from getting on my laptop for fun. My mom isn't a fan of not having to get a hold of me on these days but I just shoot her an e-mail really fast when I'm in the library working on my homework. I did in fact have to use the computers in the library all three days this week to work on homework instead of using my own. There is a lot of them and usually are always running. I've found that there is a lot of good to come out of this project despite being uncomfortable (three days isn't that bad!). For instance, I did really well on a biology test in which my leisure time was spent re-reading the chapters. I've spent less money this past week because I haven't offered to drive anytime my friends want to fourth-meal. Late-night cravings are replaced with an apple or some crackers instead of a trip to Taco Cabana. There really is a sense of pride tagged along with this project. It's like when you finish a paper with confidence and at the end of the day you can let out a deep sigh and relax. At the end of each of these days, I can let out a sigh and realize that I've done my part today.

I reduced my garbage on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday this week. This part of the project is the most entertaining and innovative to me. I've found that the small cups that hold microwaveable macaroni are perfect to cook oatmeal and (sometimes) soup in. I've had to do a minimal amount if dishes this week which I'm sure my roommate appreciates. And of course, I;m still watching how many napkins I use during each meal.

Conserving water and electricity is the easiest part. As long as I'm conscious of what I'm doing at the time, it's not that bad. Showers aren't that long and I try to open the windows during the day instead of turning on lights.

All in all, it's going great!

Third time's the charm

This week went comparably well as last. The addition of a day sort of threw me off in terms of staying with it whole heartedly, but I decided to slightly alter my project after Thursday's showing of King Corn anyway.
This week, I did my technology fast on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Tuesday went great-from midnight to midnight I didn't turn on the TV, computer, tv, blowdrier, ipod, or really anything else I can think of. I really have learned to take pride in this project actually. People will get mad at me that I'm not taking their texts or they can't get a hold of me, but since I've now accomplished it so many times, it feels nice to know I have that self control. Thursday didn't go as well. I had a paper due Thursday at 5..by email.. and of course, I had procrastinated and done the majority of it Monday and Wednesday, but for whatever reason, I hadn't done the bibliography or emailed it by midnight on Wednesday night. So on Thursday, I finished up my paper and had it emailed by 2 pm, then I began my technology fast and stuck with it for at least the rest of the day. Saturday was easier than I expected, as I was with my friends the whole day anyway, so I had no need to call anyone, and my laptop is practically obsolete on Saturdays in a normal week because I'm always out and about. I ended up using a GPS on Saturday though- definitely technology. The only way I can justify that is that I don't own a GPS, so obviously I don't use one often at all.
I did electricity/water and trash reduction on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday this week. I continue to notice the small things with this. The little sugar packets are still a pain in the butt because like I said before, I put those in my oatmeal and I realized, in my coffee. So, I just don't get my coffee on those days (which is probably a good thing in itself) and my oatmeal either gets more cinnamon than usual, or a eat it with plain/with salt. My road excursion on Saturday took me to Whole Foods, MY FAVORITE PLACE ON THE PLANET, and I bought a big bag of cereal, so once I run out of oatmeal, the cereal (who is in a bag, no box) will be taking it's place, and cutting back on the amount of sugar packets I use. I've started to notice that my roommate and suitemates leave the lights on during the most unusual times..like while we're sleeping? I think I'm going to look into an energy efficient night light so I can turn off the light every night and not feel like a jerk. I've also talked to my one friend about getting a water filter instead of buying bottled water, but he has a really rude roommate who argues just for the sake of arguing and I don't see that happening in the near future. I might buy them one for Christmas..or Thanksgiving.
After watching King Corn on Thursday, I realized how much corn I really do consume, even though I don't eat meat. Being vegan, I'm very aware of what I'm eating, so I knew that corn syrup was in everything, but I guess I only thought about this whenever I concerned with it health wise, and King Corn helped me realize that it also effected (affected? I never know the difference) the environment and the economy. Both of these reasons have helped motivate me to cut back on the things I know either contain corn (specifically syrup, because I know I'll feel better about eating things that lack the high fructose). Also, one of my brothers is actually allergic to corn and it's biproducts, but he still eats them frequently, and just suffers from migraines later. I was thinking that if I try to cut out corn, maybe I could come up with some good alternatives to his favorite foods for him to consider. Easier said than done for a 20 year old boy who's motto is "for every animal you don't eat, I'm going to eat three", but we'll see.
I'm eager for my 4 day technology fast to begin! Good luck everyone!

"Shady" flowers =]

This week I worked on finding native plants that grow well in the shade. I tried to go to the library to find books about native plants, but they did not include information about where the plants like to grow. The book “Tough Plants for Tough Places” by Gary Vergine sounded promising, but was not very helpful. I found various websites with lists of shade hardy plants, but the most helpful websites were the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center: Native Plant Database and the USDA plant profiles. The Native plant database has a list of recommended plants for central Texas, so I looked through the list searching for plants that prefer shady or partly shady areas (this took a very long time). I also looked up plants from other websites to see if they were native to this area. The plants I am considering are: Tropical Sage (there is an abundance of this at my house, I can transplant a few), Turks Caps, Cardinal Flowers, Wild Red Columbine, Jack-in-the-pulpit, and Prairie Goldenrod. I am not sure if I will have room for vegetables, but if I do some options are: broccoli, cauliflower, and leafy vegetables. These will still grow, but they may grow slower than if they were in full sun. Next week I plan to clear and plan the area. As well as determining how to get these plants and when to plant them.

Hey I had some problems posting on Monday.

Week of November 2-5

The categories that I selected to work on were garbage, electricity and water, and my own project of attempting to convince the people that I work with to stop using Styrofoam and get recycling bins in and around registers. So, with the first two days of the project completed I must say, the garbage conservation/elimination category has proven to be more difficult than I originally assumed it would be. I already try as hard as I can to conserve electricity and water by minimizing my dependence upon artificial lighting, air-conditioning, showering, and wasteful water use, so that will not be as challenging. But I must admit, I throw a lot away, and not just my own trash! Over the years I have developed the habit of picking up other peoples’ garbage that they deem necessary to throw on the ground. People poke-fun at me for doing it, some even seem offended that I should touch other peoples discarded napkins or tissues, but hey, no one else is going to pick it up, so I might as well! Starting out on Thursday morning I woke up and got dressed, using the least amount of light and water as I saw possible, and rode my bike to the commons for breakfast. Breakfast was a delicious egg, cheese, and potato burrito that I had to wrap up in four napkins so that I might transport it more easily to my Sustainability class in my bicycle basket. Every time I do this I pray that the burrito will hold tight and not fall apart all over my books, and miraculously, every time I have done this so far, it has not. Regardless, after class I texted a fellow SEAK member to see if I could compost napkins, but with much time and no response, I grew impatient and simply chucked the napkins in the compost. It turns out they are not compostable because of the bleach in them. Oops, my bad. Moving on. Any inclination I have of re-using disposable resources has been passed down unintentionally by my grandpa. My Grandpa Jim reuses things for 50+ years until they fall apart and he is forced to buy something new. This, however, is not because he gives a crap about the environment, rather, that he is just really cheap. I always used to tease him about being so set in his old ways and refusing to retire equipment or clothes, but after thinking about, grandpa is probably the most environmentally friendly person in the whole family. He certainly would cringe if he heard me say that. I have him to thank for the conservationalist household I was brought up in. But back to the trash. As I had previously mentioned, I pick up trash every time I see it on the ground. It took every fiber of my being to not bend down and pick up every piece of trash that I saw on my way about campus. I am almost certain that the grounds got dirtier over my 2-day trash fast. Luckily, I found an outlet. It turns out that a lot of the bottles cast upon the ground are recyclable. So I was able to use that as an outlet for my compulsion. At my job, working as a lab technician for Dr. Burks, I found it a little more difficult to stick to the plan because of the other people I was interacting with. For example, I left only the lights on in the front of the lab to conserve electricity. When Dr. Burks walked in, though it was not wholly necessary, she turned on all of the lights. I also had a head of lettuce that I had set aside on the counter to compost that must have found its way into the trash can by Dr. Burks’ hand. To elaborate upon my electricity/water conservation project, thus far I have utilized the minimal amount of both. I take only five minute showers, have the lights on only when necessary and even try to convince others to do the same, though this part is the most difficult. The appliance that I found most challenging, in respect to minimizing usage, is my computer. I didn’t realize the gross dependence that I have upon my laptop until I had to record it for this project. Over Thursday and Friday I had my computer plugged into the wall for approximately 15 hours! 15 hours! Its simply terrible to fathom how much electricity this must be using up! Yikes! Next week I need to reduce my dependence upon the computer and guarantee that the food I eat is not prepackaged or wrapped in anything that I might have to throw away. Peace out for now!

-Allyson Plantz

Venezuela confronts energy questions

Hey all,

A short article was in the NY Times today on power blackouts in Venezuela. I thought it was interesting -- an implicit commentary perhaps on the importance of decentralizing energy sources/usage. Perhaps it will give some who are taking shorter showers some encouragement, too (see Chavez's comments below). A contrast to the U.S., where you can't get away with berating your fellow countryfolk ... unless you're a comedian.

[...] “We’re paying for the mistakes of this president and his incompetent managers,” said Aixa López, 39, president of the Committee of Blackout Victims, which has organized protests in several cities. In some cities, protesters have left household appliances on the steps of state electricity companies.

In response, the president is embarking on his own crusade: pushing Venezuelans to conserve by mocking their consumption habits.

He began his critique last month with the amount of time citizens spent under their shower heads, saying three-minute showers were sufficient. “I’ve counted and I don’t end up stinking,” he said. “I guarantee it.”

Then he went after the country’s ubiquitous love motels and shopping malls, accusing them of waste. “Buy your own generator,” he threatened, “or I’ll cut off your lights.” He similarly laid blame with “oligarchs,” a frequently used insult here for the rich, for overconsumption of water in gardens and swimming pools.

Mr. Chávez is even going after his countrymen’s expanding waistlines. “Watch out for the fat people,” he said last month, citing a study finding a jump in obesity. “Time to lose weight through dieting and exercise.” [...]

Trial 1

Being that I do not have a car, a functioning heater, nor any good ideas for the "Create Your Own" category, I chose to the options of trying to eliminate garbage, reduce my use electricity/water, and eat more efficiently.
Garbage was actually relatively easy for me to do. The only garbage I really produce comes from foods I buy off campus and keep in my room, in addition to paper towels, solo cups, and napkins. For these days I made it a point to eat all three meals a day so that I wouldn't be as hungry for the snacks around my room. This prevention was probably my greatest contribution to this portion of the project because it enabled me to consume less disposable items as a whole. I did, however, throw away a Solo cup, a couple napkins, and a empty Fruit Snacks package. Even though I was not able to completely eliminate garbage this week, I definatley greatly cut down on my rate of throwing things away, and the three things I did throw away were also recycled.
Electricity and water were a couple things that I did not realize I use/waste as much as I do. Ironically, and totally unplanned, I recently misplaced my cell phone so the charging and use of my phone was automatically taken out of the equation, which is a daily part of my life and thus decreased my energy usage not being there. Keeping the lights off, unplugging my clock, turning my fan off and opening a window, along with opening the blinds were all easy things I could do that decreased my usage dramatically. The only thing that was slightly difficult was cutting back the use of my laptop. In part, this was because I had to do assignments and look things up online, but just as much so is the terrible habit I have of constantly going online to check my email, facebook, and surf the web when I'm bored (which made me realize how unnecessary some waste is. The way that I dealt with that was to just leave my room and go to a friends, or even better go outside. The water portion was super easy for me. I just cut my shower time down by about half, kept the sink off when brushing my teeth instead of running which is a bad habit, but drank a good amount of water from the Ruter water fountain since I was also trying to cut back on my garbage output.
Eating efficiently for me was probably the hardest part, mostly because I am used to not regulating what kind of foods and how much I eat, and just eat until I pretty feel content. For the most part I get most of my eating done at the Commons, which is supposed to be very flexible to people's diets. Vegetarians, especially vegans, must have a very frustrating time with eating there. Upon walking into the commons the first time I basically just went ahead and put a little of everything on the salad bar on my plate. I drank some water and some juice, and tried to eat a vege-burger but really did not like it. This basically was what I ate for the 2 days of being as vegetarian as I could. I plan to look much more closely at what is available as a vegetarian option so that I can broaden my food horizons a little better.
Overall, I feel that already I am a little more aware of how much I waste, how easy it is to prevent a lot of it, and how I personally actually do contribute to environmental issues.

Journal 1- no heater in apt

After a week without using a heater in my McCombs apartment, I can say I have been pretty lucky so far.  I've been able to take advantage of the nice weather so far, though I know it won't stay that way.  Probably the most challenging day was Sunday, when I came back to by room after walking through the pouring rain from the athletic training room.  The morning had been cold, but not too cold.  However, when it started raining hard in the afternoon, the cold front came through.  All I wanted was to turn the heater on for a moment when I walked into my apt.  However, I was able to resist and took a hot shower instead.  I kept in mind the energy impact of a hot shower, which is pretty substantial, and limited it to 2 minutes.  Most of my showers are on very low heat.  I have found that closing the blinds on the windows keeps some heat in.  Plus, I've been spending more time in my room and less in the living room area, which is colder w/ more windows.  

Phase One

So, I've decided to look at my clothes critically and through the lens of sustainability for my activism project. I figured the first step would be to take out all of my clothes and just see what I actually have and attempt to count and categorize everything. I didn't imagine that it would take so long to go through all of my clothes. I had no idea how much extra and unnecessary clothes I have. I found that things with absolutely no story or relevance. I couldn't remember when or where I'd purchased some stuff or even roughly how long I'd had it. I found some shirts in the depths of my dressers that I had forgotten I'd had. I had planned to lay all my clothes out together and take a picture as a visual starting point for my clothing related excess, but due to the wet lawns of the past two days I decided to find a place within my dorm to spread everything out. Before I was able to get very far I realized that even the biggest room in Mabee couldn't showcase all of my clothes.

While the rain was somewhat of a setback, it was just another reminder of how much stuff, clothes in particular, I have that I need an entire lawn to spread it all out. I'm going to do some research on where and how a few of my clothes are made and evaluate what I actually need soon, but for now remain shocked and a little embarrassed by how many clothes I have.

Week 1

The three categories I chose were garbage, electricity and water, and eat efficiently. Before the project I did great with the recycling and composting and was aware of the importance of saving water and electricity (although many times I would knowingly waste unnecessary amounts of them.) However, I really wasn’t aware of the real implications of producing garbage and eating meat.

During the two days I found that flipping the garbage bin in my dorm was an effective reminder to not create trash. I did well the first day, but I admit that on the second day I had to throw away the paper liner of a muffin. Plus, going an entire day without using a napkin during lunch or to dry your hands is difficult. When it can to not throwing food away, which can correspond to two of my categories, I succeeded at the task although it was difficult the first day during lunch. I had gotten some pasta from the Commons (which I really didn’t want in the first place) and not only did they give me a large portion but it tasted bad because it had too much pepper. I finished it though and was more careful about what I got after that. I was disappointing though to realize how much food is wasted at the Commons and how little people seem to care about that. Not being able to eat meat was difficult since many of the decent items at the Commons included meat. My solution was to have cereal as the main course during most of my meals, which was a better alternative anyways since I don’t drink enough milk. Regarding electricity and water conservation, I found it more practical to save energy than water. During the two days I spent less time in my dorm and more time in areas that always remain lit and made an effort to use less hot water. Overall, I enjoyed the eye-opening experience of realizing how little actions make a big difference.