This should be one of your most developed, thoughtful posts yet. Don't just summarize what you did for No Impact Week; rather, use this space to reflect upon your efforts and the effect (or lack thereof) these initiatives had on you this week. Be specific, be honest, and be thoughtful in your wording and content.
Value of post: 20 points (based on development of content and writing style/polish)
Day 1: FOOD
ReplyDeleteMy family has a share in the Williams Island farm, located in the middle of the Tennessee River, across from Baylor. This means that we give money to support the farm, and in return we receive a box of the fruits and vegetables from the farm each Saturday. There are many other community supported farms just like this one in Chattanooga.
Last night for dinner, I made a soup using ingredients from our CSA (community supported agriculture) box. When you cook with local foods, you are limited in your ingredients because you can only use items that are in season. So, I had to make some substitutions in the recipe that I used. For example, instead of using a ¼ of a bunch of kale, I used Swiss chard because it was what we had.
It’s a lot of work to only cook with local foods, but if you go to the websites of many of the farms here in Chattanooga, they provide helpful recipes each month for the crops that are in season. I encourage all of you to talk to your families about supporting the farms here in Chattanooga.
Day 2: TRASH
Okay so, today was a lot harder than I though it would be. I really didn’t think that I produced that much trash on a regular school day, but the tissues and napkins and such really added up. By the end of the school day, I had a few tissue, some baby wipes I had to use in art, and a to-go cup and some napkins from lunch (I really regret not just asking for a real cup; that was kind of stupid). That wasn’t too bad I guess, but for some reason I expected to have like no trash. Oh and today was my birthday so, I had a lot of presents to unwrap. I saved most of the tissue paper and bags for later use, but there were a lot of envelopes from cards that ended up having to be recycled. Even though I recycled them, it still seemed like kind of a waste. I mean what purpose does an envelope really even serve if the card isn’t even being mail (most of them weren’t?
Today, in order to reduce my trash, I decided to eat my morning bagel with peanut butter instead of the usual cream cheese, because the cream cheese in the cafeteria comes in individual packages and that’s just a waste of plastic. I also made myself eat all of my burrito at lunch because there was absolutely no way I was going to carry around left over food all day. Because I was I had to carry around my trash today, it made me want to produce less trash. Maybe the answer to saving the planet is to carry around our trash.
Day 3: ENERGY
A lot of my time is taken up by texting, talking on the phone, facebook, and TV, so today’s project was extremely difficult, but I found that giving up these things were actually quite helpful. Without these distractions, I was able to finish my homework more quickly. I also had time to read my favorite magazine, Mental Floss, and work on a chapel gift for my friend. I got in bed an hour earlier than usual and fell asleep faster, since I didn’t have my phone in bed with me. I think I might start turning off my phone while I work on my homework so that I can concentrate and get it done faster.
Monday: The hardest part of no impact week for me was Monday, sustainability day. I woke up Monday morning and ate breakfast and realized that I was supposed to be eating local foods. For the rest of the day, I had trouble finding sustainable food around my house. I never realized how much of my food comes from packaging and containers that I’m sure were shipped from all over the country. For lunch I had some homemade chicken tortilla soup, but even some of the vegetables in the soup were from cans or the vegetable section of Walmart. I started questioning all the fruit and vegetables in my refrigerator, thinking about where they came from. Did this piece of cantaloupe come from near Chattanooga? Is it even cantaloupe season? I realized how uneducated I was regarding food. I am so used to grabbing a snack and not thinking about where the different ingredients came from.
ReplyDeleteAt one point during the day, I went to get a piece of gum and had to stop myself. What category does gum fall into? It’s obviously not sustainable, but it’s not really food. Just to be safe though, I decided not to eat it.
Tuesday: I had another problem with gum on Tuesday. Again, I wanted to chew a piece, and then I realized that the wrapper was going to go into my trash bag. Part of me wanted to eat the gum regardless of this trash because the wrapper was so small. It would be like there wasn’t any trash. However, I started thinking about the thousands of pieces of gum I had eaten in my life. I wondered what all those gum wrappers looked like together in a landfill.
On Tuesday, I only had three pieces of trash: 2 soda cans, and one Nutri Grain wrapper. I was shocked that this was the only trash that I had. I was trying not to make too much trash, but I also wasn’t saying no to things I usually have. I wanted to get a somewhat realistic picture of my trash per day.
Wednesday: This was the easiest day of the week. All I had to do was go one day without using my cell phone and watching TV. I don’t usually watch TV on the weekdays, so no TV was nothing out of the ordinary. However, I was self-conscious of all the energy that I do use. I am constantly using my computer, sometimes making calls on my home phone, repeatedly turning lights on and off, and forgetting to unplug appliances. I hate this feeling of being so reliant on electricity. How could I use less? I have to use my computer for school, and it is saving me from wasting paper which is the good side. I need the lights to stay up to do homework, but I could use a bunch of candles instead. I need a phone to stay in contact with people like my parents or to call friends if I need help with homework. The only other option in this case would be to be out of reach. Wednesday morning I told my mother that I wasn’t going to have my phone, and she immediately said, “Can’t you just take it in case I need to reach you?” I had to tell her that that would defeat the whole purpose of not using my phone. She didn’t like the idea of not being able to reach me if she had to, and that was the one down side I found with the no phone rule.
Monday:
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty much impossible for me to eat locally on Monday because I was driving home from Boston all day. I ended up eating breakfast at the hotel, subway on the road for lunch, and I don’t remember what for dinner. Whether or not subway is considered fast food, I decided to look up some facts about where fast food comes from. What I found was that the animals used for fast food chains are fed predominately corn-based diets. Special fertilizer used with the corn allows for the animals to grow faster, and therefore the farmers to maximize the output of meat. Most people probably know that animals used for food are not treated well, but until I looked it up I didn’t know that they are only given very few foods in order for them to grow at the fastest rate possible.
But what frustrated me more about Monday was that it seems like it is so hard to find places with local food, especially when traveling. It's the kind of place you have to look up or take a detour to find. It shouldn’t have been nearly impossible for my parents and I to find somewhere to eat with local foods. Hopefully, as more people become aware of the benefits of eating locally, more markets and restaurants will begin to open.
Tuesday:
Knowing that I was going to have to carry around my trash on Tuesday, I admit that I purposefully avoided using trash. I didn't go completely out of my way to avoid it, but on a typical day I probably would not have avoided the Styrofoam bowls, straws, etc like I did on Tuesday. At the end of the day I had two plastic water bottles and a muffin wrapper. Beavan did a great job of describing America's problem with trash, but it didn't affect me until I actually thought about how much I personally waste. For example, if I mess up while making flash cards I'll grab a new one. I might grab two napkins at dinner just incase when I only use one - and then throw both of them away. I have notebook paper in my trash can with only a few math problems on them. I definitely am going to try to waste less and use less. I may not agree with Beavan's less trash and paper with more trees equals less global warming idea, but I also don't want to be living in a pile of trash in twenty years.
Wednesday:
In all honesty, Wednesday was a failure for me. As soon as I got out of school, without realizing it, I turned my phone on. When I got home, I watched about twenty minutes of TV before remembering the project and turning it off (but turned it on again later). Before I started my homework, I logged onto facebook. And it scared me a little. Not necessarily because of all the energy I use when I'm on my phone, watching tv, or on my laptop. It's more scary to me because I realize how hard it is (for me) to not use those things. I'll admit that I'm pretty much addicted to the internet/computer, phone, TV etc. I always say that technology today has gone too far (things like Japanese robots really freak me out). But at the same time, I am the one who can't seem to push it away. Using a phone may not be as advanced as a talking and walking machine, but it holds the same concept: pushing away simplicity in life. My mom told me that there's supposed to be good weather on Saturday. I'm determined to try this experiment again and keep my TV and computer off all day.
It’s official; Colin has inspired me. I’ll admit to this after the dinner I just left. Instead of scarfing down my meal, and scampering off to my room to sit and think about the homework I should do, I just sat. My mom had set the table outside, there was a slight chill in the wind, and we had candles lit. I finished my meal, and my mind immediately starting replaying the “no-impact week” I’d just finished. What did I really get out of it? Is there anything I could do now? I probably shouldn’t have used that napkin. And where does nutella really come from? So I’m thinking like this, yet I’m not acting on it. Again, what’s realistic, that I care about enough to incorporate into my life?
ReplyDeleteDay one, local food day, I was driving from Maine to Vermont. When I presented the idea to my family that I would only eat regional foods that day, I made the subconscious decision to sacrifice my ego to become the butt of all jokes that day. I was so determined to prove myself, that I didn’t eat until around 1 that day. (minus the 3 Vermont apples I counted as snacks). When I’d almost given in to eat my brothers whoopee pie, we spotted an “all organic” bakery. My family laughed, as I stepped inside, immediately noticing the sign on the wall describing their organic and mostly local grub, perfect. I was satisfied with myself but a little hungry as the sun set. My diet consisted of apples, apple cider, cheese, and bread. What would I have done without apples?
Day two, trash, easy. I put absolutely no trash in the bins. With a little resistance at breakfast to refuse the strawberry cream cheese and yogurt, and the day rolled on from there. So without eating processed and over packaged food, I easily kept my trash cans empty.
I won’t get into specifics on the rest of the week, but I’ve really picked up on something. To be “happy”, I must simplify, and focus on family time. Tonight at dinner, I didn’t rush off to be alone; I sat to appreciate my surroundings. I put all I had aside, and devoted myself to my family. This was Beavan’s idea adapted to my view. What’s practical in my life? I’m going to lower my packaged food consumption, because fresher’s better. And I’m going to simplify, and enjoy the small things around me.
Day 1: Local Foods
ReplyDeleteOn Monday I was on my way back from a college overnight in South Carolina. Six and a half hours in the car by myself. Stopping twice for food I discovered that it is completely impossible to find local foods while traveling. Chattanooga has only two restaurants that serve mainly local food and even so neither of them are right off the interstate and easily accessible to travelers. Eating locally on Monday would have been only possible if I had researched it extensively including planning what city to stop and take the extra time to drive out of the way. I feel bad because there were many times in the book where Beavan mentions people not wanting to change because of convenience and making excuses for not being better for the environment. I know that’s exactly what I'm doing but it really would have been difficult.
Day 2: Trash Day
Tuesday I found out that it is not very difficult to avoid making trash when you are constantly thinking about it. The problem is the habitual wastefulness of my lifestyle. The only trash I produced was the trash I made when I wasn’t thinking and when I couldn’t help it. In the cafeteria I opted out of the Styrofoam bowls and went for the washable dishes instead. I didn’t take a dish at all when I got my biscuit in the morning but I did make trash when I habitually grabbed a napkin to put it on. The other problem with not making trash is that almost everything I buy has some kind of package on it. The only way to avoid this packaging is going without, not buying pop tarts and skipping Sonic happy hour to avoid using the cherry limeade cup. I discovered that I can very easily cut out some types of trash, but many types of trash are hard to avoid simply because of what is easily purchased.
Day 3: Energy Conservation
This day was the hardest for me. I woke up in the morning and got on the computer to finish some homework. Then I saw that I had Facebook notifications so I checked them, checked my email, and then realized that we were not supposed to use the computer except for school. I unplugged my phone charger and other plugs in my room but forgot to turn my phone off and accidently left it at home. Not being able to use my phone wasn’t that bad during school since I don’t generally text during the day but once it got to night it became a lot harder to not to check to see if I had any texts. I was difficult not to use my electronics since I usually listen to music while I do my homework and I am addicted to Facebook. Facebook did get the best of me at one point and I logged on then got a chat from Booey and we talked about how sad it is that we cant stay off Facebook for one day. The energy consumption does not bother me nearly as much as the fact that I cant restrain myself from using electronics for one day. Why do I feel the need to use them? Do they even make me happy?
This leads into day 4: happiness
When thinking about what I would do for today I thought back to a discussion I had with a friend a few weeks ago. We talked about how happiness is simply an outlook. You can choose to be happy with what you're given or you can have a negative outlook on everything that happens to you. When I woke up this morning I decided that today would be a good day and looked at everything positively. I smiled when I passed people in the halls and even went in to my math test with a good attitude. I found that I had a particularly good day not because anything majorly good happened to me, but because I decided to be happy with what did happen. I'm not saying that its possible to be happy all the time, and not everything that happens is easy to find good in, but I found that attitude does play a big part in happiness.
Day 1: Food Day
ReplyDeleteEating organically and without wrappers is not really that difficult for me. My mother goes to the Sunday Chattanooga market whenever it is open, we live very close to Linda's Produce which has unpackaged fruits and vegetables (many of them local), and we also go to Green Life all the time. Today, my mother cooked dinner and I asked her to get all locally grown food and she did without too much effort. The hardest part, though, is that there is no locally grown sugar, salt, pepper, or other things of the like that are locally grown or produced… so this could not really be eliminated from my daily diet. A way to fix this would be I guess just to research salt and the like and see if there are any fair trade brands or anything. This was probably my easiest day this week, although it would have been a lot harder if I had been travelling like the above people or if I were at school or something.
Day 2: Trash Day
This whole week I have really seen how hard it would be to eliminate all trash in my life.
I feel like I really focused on trash more than anything else, which was good because I knew it would be what I would have the most trouble with. My trash on the trash day consisted of: two napkins from breakfast, tons of paper towels from cleaning out my fish tank, a wrapper for a water cleaning dissolving tablet for my fish tank water, two tomatoes and some leftover lettuce from a salad I didn't finish, one napkin from lunch, a straw, a straw wrapper, a napkin and paper napkin ring from dinner, and a water bottle. This was so much more trash than I thought I would produce. So, for the rest of this week, I tried to keep my trash to a minimum. I realized that trash isn't as hard to not produce whenever you are at your own house or at school, but whenever I went out to eat, the waiters and waitresses, for our convenience, seem to practically throw things at us that are non-reusable. It is sad how much trash we could eliminate by just eating at home. And all of the trash we get at restaurants does not even include the trash from the preparation of the food that we are eating that we never see because it is back in the kitchen.
Day 3:
No cell phones and lights off. I kept all the lights off in my room the whole day and unplugged everything but my computer. I had to use my computer for homework (and I also used it for recreation like skype and facebook haha), so I only kept it plugged in and nothing else. I also went around my house and unplugged, much to the dismay of my family, almost all of our appliances in our house and made sure that they kept the lights turned off in rooms that we weren't in. I even turned off my aquarium light so my frogs were in the dark all day and night (although they didn't seem to mind too much). The cell phone being off wasn't too bad either. I had to turn it on once to call my dad because he wasn't answering my phone calls from a random friends number I was using and I really needed to get in touch with him, but besides that, no texting or anything for me wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I spent a lot more time talking to people instead of texting or talking on the phone which in turn, actually made me more happy than I was before.
So, all in all, this project made me talk to my family more (with the whole discussing the lights being off and dinner plans and helping my mom cook dinner on Monday), made me think about my trash intake all week and reduce it drastically as the week went on, and made me an all around happier person because I talked to people in person as opposed to just texting or calling them.
Day one: LOCAL
ReplyDeleteI was not able to eat locally on Monday because my mom had made dinner, though we often eat local produce through our canned food.
Canning is something we do a lot. My grandmother, who is also my neighbor, has a garden, and during the summer we can tomatoes, squash, green beans, and anything else we find. We can raspberry jelly and homemade chili. When we can, we have local produce for the whole year. The great thing about canning with my grandmother’s vegetables is that I know what goes in to the vegetables. I know that they are all organic and that they have been well taken care of. There is nothing like watering a seedling in a pot on the sunroom in March and eating its fruits in July. My other neighbors, the Matthews, also grow and can a garden. We all eat together every Thursday night, and there is usually at least one canned vegetable involved.
Another great thing about canning is that it is so sustainable. The glass jars and rings can be reused once you wash them, and the only new things to get each year are the seals. An important rule about canned foods at our house is that you can’t get more unless you return the jars!
Day two: TRASH
I didn’t think that I would have as much trash as I did. I had 16 pieces, most of it paper products and packaging. So much of what I would have thrown out could have been recycled. There were paper towels from a science lab, and napkins form dinner, but I hadn’t really thought about packaging until I saw it. I knew Colin Beavan had left packaging for his Project, but I had not considered the amount of packaging that he had left behind. Some of my trash was from a box of tea bags. There was plastic on the box, then individually wrapped tea bags. It seemed so wasteful to me. Over the weekend, I saw some Halloween candy at Wal-Mart—one huge bag filled with three individual bags of individually wrapped candy. I think that there are some things that need to have packaging and some that do not. I opened a “big-e pak” of gum that was surrounded by plastic and then had another layer of plastic inside. At my house, we buy bagged cereal rather than the kind with the box and then the bag. We never buy paper towels; we instead use dish towels.
Day three: ENERGY
The day without a cell phone was pretty easy for me. Since I don’t use my phone at school, I just turned it off and kept it off. I keep my electronics (everything except the clock) on a surge protector, so when I left for school, I just unplugged it. I think that unplugging it, even though it only had two things on it, helped save energy, and I will keep doing that when I leave for school every day. I kept my lights off unless necessary, and drove as little as possible. The computer thing was hard for me, though. I had no trouble not using it in classes except when needed, but when I got home to do my homework, I had so much trouble staying on task. I kept checking Facebook, email, and Blackboard because I was bored. The computer was more of a homework break for me than a homework helper. I think that in the future, I will try to keep my computer off when necessary because I will get more work done
Monday:
ReplyDeleteEating locally turned out to be much more difficult than I had expected. Since I was at a college tour that day, I figured I could make myself a sandwich to eat in the car. However, I realized on Sunday that I wouldn't be able to keep the sandwich overnight until I ate it the next day. I would just have to do my best with eating what I could find in South Carolina and try to not use wrappers. So, for breakfast, I passed on getting a biscuit that would have been in a wrapper and instead got some fruit from the hotel, but I was unable to find out where it was from. Then, for lunch, I had my family go to an organic pizza shop near USC. There were no wrappers with the pizza, but, although it was organic, I once again couldn't find out where all the ingredients were from because the cashier wasn't sure. Dinner was pretty easy for me to eat locally for because that's mostly what my mom buys. She made salads with lots of fruits that were locally grown.
Tuesday:
By actually collecting my trash on Tuesday, I realized that I don't seem to have as much as I thought I would. I guess this is because I tend to be a pack-rat and keep everything. The only time I really tried to not create trash was at lunch. I made sure to eat everything I had so I wouldn't have to carry it around. However, the rest of the day was just my normal trash, which ended up being only three items. The first was a napkin I had used at lunch when something had spilled off someone's plate. The second was a piece of packaging tape that I had taken off a package I received. And the third was a receipt from something I bought, which I recycled.
Wednesday:
I found this day to be more difficult for me. I kept it all up until around 8 in the evening. I still didn't use excessive lights, watch TV, or use any unnecessary appliances, but I did cave into using my phone. I really did plan to go the entire day without it, which I was really looking forward to. And it really was kind of enjoyable and peaceful for the first part of the day. However, I started having a really rough day and just needed to talk to one of my friends. I didn't have any other way to contact him other than using my phone, so I did. I really wish I had been able to go all day without it. I really do think that if my day hadn't been tough then I would have been able to do it, but when my day got rough I needed to talk to somebody about it.
Day 1: Food
ReplyDeleteI was traveling on Monday and had a really hard time in trying to find local food. It was actually really depressing to me that locally grown food was not common. In the morning I ate breakfast from the Hotel's buffet. The chef told me that the food came from Sysco, which is the global leader in the foodservice industry. However, they are making efforts to support locally grown food being served in restaurants nearby. In the second year of their project, they are working on supplying local food to four cities, one of which is Chicago, Illinois. After my college tour in Columbia, SC, I asked my guide if she could give me directions to a restaurant that served local food. She thought I meant a local restaurant instead of a fast-food, chain restaurant. However, the restaurant did serve beef that was from Greenville, SC, which is about 93 miles from Columbia, SC. Later, I asked the barista at Starbucks if they had anything made from locally grown food, admittedly I was setting myself up for disappointment. She informed me that all their coffee comes from Seattle. However, I doubt that Seattle's climate is good for growing coffee. Their coffee probably came from Latin America, East Africa, or Southeast Asia. It made me really sad to think of how many people do not even know what locally grown food is or where their food comes from. This experience also made me understand how Beavan could blow his nose that first morning because when I woke up I did not even think that the coffee would come in to-go cups. I should have brought the reusable cups down from my room so that I could get coffee. Like Katie, I felt like I could relate to Beavan and it made me admire his efforts so much more. You really cannot travel while trying to eat local.
Day 2: Trash
This project made me think about my trash, so I made an effort not to make trash. I think Olivia is right when she says it might take carrying our trash around to not make any more trash. That morning, I did not eat my usual yogurt or drink my coffee in order to avoid making trash. Also, instead of getting a bowl for my biscuit I just carried it in my hand. Brandi and I have taken to doing that every morning when we eat in the cafeteria. In art I sharpened my pencil, so I had to carry around the shavings and I cleaned the weight machines for Ms. Wells so I had to carry around a baby wipe. Also, I have never thought of tampon applicators as trash. One paper towel and two Kleenexes also joined the pile. I would perform a task absent mindedly and suddenly realize that I had another piece of trash. This day made me feel like I go through too many tasks on autopilot.
Day 3: Energy
This day was actually very beneficial for me. By saying that I could not watch Bones because that was part of my homework made me a little more productive. Also, instead of watching TV, I talked to my mom about her day and helped her carry all the supplies for her baking project this weekend, which was fun. I felt really good when I unplugged all the lamps and extra clocks in my room. I've decided to leave them unplugged since I rarely turn them on. Making sure I am turning out my lights was really helpful in making me realize how often I leave my closet light on, which I do not really need. Turning off my phone all day also made me realize how often I needlessly check my phone for messages, but also that I take the ability to talk with my friends so easily for granted. I plan on talking with them more often now because I love to hear from them. That may be against the energy conservation goal, but it does increase my happiness so I think it is ok.
I am glad we did this project.
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ReplyDeleteDay 1: FOOD
ReplyDeleteDue to my schedule, it was impossible for me to eat locally on Monday. However, my mom usually buys organic products. We also grow some vegetables in our back yard. Because I couldn’t totally eat locally this day, I did some research.
Local food doesn't mean that it was sustainably produced. It can still be produced with the help of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, factory farming, hormone use, and non-therapeutic use of antibiotics. So, if we really want to help the environment, we must ask questions like if they know the name and location of the farm that the product was grown or if they know how the animals were raised and treated.
It's pretty obvious that if we eat locally, we help the environment by reducing the use of energy. A carrot (that is not local) has to travel 1,838 miles in order to reach you house. Talk about carbon emissions! So by eating locally, we can reduce carbon imprint by not even giving up our cars.
Day 2: Trash
This was a relatively easy day for me because I was pretty sure that I didn't produce a lot of trash. My family and I always keep reusing our plastic bags and recycle all of our plastic bottles. By the end of the school day I had three things in my trash bag: a paper bowl, a napkin, and a cereal bar wrapper. However, at about 11:00pm, I had to make something for a friend's chapel talk. I did pulled out my scissors and paper and started to cut away. Needless to say, my trash grew exponentially in that one hour. I was sort of frustrated at the fact that I was doing so well with my trash and suddenly the bag just filled up with piles of paper scraps. But then I realized that this is how our trash builds up. Maybe one day, circumstances were perfect and you only had to throw away two things. But maybe the next day, you have to make a poster board for a presentation and you throw away tons of scraps and other accessories (after you've finished making the poster board). So it all evens out in the end. We throw away more trash than we think we do.
Day 3: Energy
This was quite a struggle for me. I don’t really watch TV that much so that wasn’t hard, but I am always constantly on Facebook, Youtube, Skype, etc. So staying away from that was hard, but rewarding in the end because I finished my homework earlier than usual.
In school, I didn't use my laptop at all. However, at one point, I needed to send an important email, so I just used a computer in the library. This also made me question why do we have to pull out our laptops for every single little thing we do? If we need to just quickly check our email, why don’t we just do that on the library computer? It's much faster and it saves energy.
I didn’t turn my room light on when I got home. I opened up the blinds and used the sunlight! It was actually better than the room light I would have used.
I didn’t use my phone all day, which was quite a challenge. I turned it back on at exactly 12:01 am.
In all, I realized that although energy seems like a huge thing that we can’t control, we can take little steps in our lives, such as doing homework outside or turning the lights off as you leave the house, in order to help the environment.
This week has been a fun and somewhat difficult experience for me. But I have learned a lot from it and I think I can implement some of the practices that I did this week from now on.
ReplyDeleteDay 1:
Monday was really difficult for me to do because we were on the road for around ten hours. My parents went to Hardee's for breakfast and it was so hard to find something on the menu that wasn't wrapped. I finally settled on a cinnamon raisin biscuit which comes in a paper container that will break down more easily than the waxed paper used for the wrappers. It wasn't local, but we were on the road. Then for dinner, we went to Cracker Barrel and I was excited because I thought that they might be environmentally friendly...
Not so much. Their animals are grain fed and their dairy and eggs came from a major supplier and are shipped from all over the country. \
But on Sunday we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Gatlinburg, The Park Grill and on Friday we went to The Peddle, both of which are owned by the same people. We discovered that the cows they use for their their Prime Rib and Filet Mignon are pasture fed and their other two steaks are from grain fed cattle. Mom ordered Prime Rib and I didn't feel too badly about sharing the steak with her knowing it was pasture fed. :)
Day 2:
It actually wasn't all that hard to make very little trash. The day ended with only 3 pieces of trash and that felt pretty cool. I wish I could have made no trash whatsoever, but that didn't happen. I feel like I am much more aware of my trash after this day and this week in general.
Day 3:
The Cell Out was actually really easy because I generally turn my phone off at school anyway so turning it off for the rest of the day was a piece of cake. The not using my laptop was hard and didn't work all that well because I use my laptop for a lot of school work and for Model UN.(Model UN papers are due the 26th of this month so I had to work on them.)
Also water conservation is actually pretty easy and it's kind of fun trying to think up all the ways to save water throughout the day. Military showers are actually pretty cool. :)
All in all, this week has made me a lot more aware of a lot of things. For instance after Tuesday I noticed I made more trash and I felt guilty about it so I'm going to try to make as little trash as possible from now on and recycle all that I can. I also realized how easy it is to use less water and that I need to try to lessen my water usage. Finally I realized just how hard it is not to eat food that makes waste like granola bars and potato chips and candy. I need to find an alternative to this or at least cancel out all the wrappers I use with recycling everything else that can be recycled.
This week has definitely been good for me and a great learning experience.
I woke up Monday at a friend’s house forgetting it was “Eat Local Day” and grabbed a toaster strudel and popped it in the toaster and then squeezed icing onto it from a plastic bag. On my drove home I remembered what my goal for the day was. As I arrived home I felt the need to start all over again, so I re-ate my morning breakfast, this time choosing Stonyfield Farms Organic yogurt, with granola my mom had made with organic oats and nuts, and blueberries my family and I had picked in the summer off a farm in Cleveland and frozen. While this breakfast seemed more local and organic than the first, I also did not create any trash.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the day I found myself craving small hershey’s chocolates wrapped in paper wrappings, both non-organic and waste-creating. My mom had made a local farmer’s roast the night before and so I had a sandwich on some Neidloves bread for lunch. The problem was I could not add anything to the sandwich, no mayonnaise, lettuce, or anything I liked. For dinner my mom overhauled her original menu and picked up a free-range rotisserie chicken from Green Life, and this pleased me until I noticed the packaging it came in sitting in the trash can. When I commented on it she inspected the bag and found that it was 100% decomposing, and told me to take it to the compost. This made me think of how many things we don’t even know can be recycled, or composted and are instead just thrown in the trash. Why do companies not print labels telling consumers what to do with the packaging larger?
“No trash day,” Tuesday, was much easier than I expected. Other than occasionally reaching for a napkin and having to think twice to put it back, I didn’t have to make any other significant changes to my day. I ended my day with no trash!
Conserving energy on Wednesday was difficult to say the least. I felt mainly that I was only giving up my cell phone, not saving energy because every place I went lights were still turned on, computers were still plugged in, and electricity was still being used. However, I did enjoy in a way giving up my cell phone. There was a freedom that came from not worrying about getting back to people and just focusing on the present task. It was a pain to use the home phone line, but I liked knowing that many people didn’t know my home phone number. This day seemed to serve more of a purpose for the soul than for the environment.
On Thursday during assembly I was pleasantly surprised with how our class pulled our presentation together and cohesively gave the students something. I think doing something different than the norm is half the battle in getting the audience’s attention. I am really happy we took that opportunity to educate people and to get people excited for Beavan’s visit.
The entire week showed me that I only need to put more thought into what I am doing to help the environment. My habits can easily be changed to become more environmentally friendly while still allowing me to carry on with my normal day. I'm really pleased with our class that we experimented and tried new things!
Day 1- Eat Local Day
ReplyDeleteI always thought that eating local would be easy, just pop down to green life and eat, but I found out that not all of green life's food is grown locally. I discovered that eating locally is a lot more difficult then people make it out to be. I can understand why people give up on eating locally after a week or so. On Sunday I went down to my friend Kat Knarr's house and got some eggs and cheese from her family's farm. Monday morning I had organic eggs and cheese for breakfast and I was so busy throughout the day that I didn't eat lunch. So I didn't have to worry about finding out where my lunch food came from. Dinner was a burger and fries and I researched and asked and found out that my fries came from Royal City, WA, on a place called Blue Sky Mountain. So, even though that’s not exactly local I felt better about eating the fries, knowing they didn't just come from some giant plant in Mexico. I have a better understanding and more respect for those people who always eat locally. I wish I knew how to do it more often and I wish I could find a place a little closer to home that sells locally grown food.
Day 2- No Trash Day
For breakfast all I ate was a bowl of cereal in a reusable bowl with real silverware so breakfast trash=0.
For Lunch, I had chicken and fries so that makes 2 paper cartons and a napkin so lunch trash=2 paper cartons. For dinner, I had salad in a reusable bowl with real silverware and a glass of water in a real cup, so dinner trash=0. Since my blood sugar got low at home I had to drink a gatorade so also in my trash bag was an empty bottle of gatorade. I felt proud of how little trash I produced in one day. I felt worse when I thought about how much trash I use a day when I don't try to use bowls and plates that I don't throw away. This gave me some incentive to try harder to make less trash, since I know I am capable of producing so little.
Day 3-no electronics.
I felt free all day because I only used my cell phone twice and that was to text my mother that I had arrived at school and that I was on my way home. I didn't worry about who was texting me or who wasn't and I didn't worry about how stupid my computer is when it won't pull something up. I feel like technology is vital in our modern society but I also think that we would be a happier race if we only used it for the necessities like getting information and communicating instead of for entertainment and boredom.
Day 4-Education and happiness
For my happiness today I am going to hang out with my friends after school instead of going straight home to do my homework. This is my last bit of homework to do for tonight because I finished all my other homework in my other study halls. I think if I can work to manage my time better I will be able to do more things that make me happy. Also after I hang out with friends I am going to go home and watch a movie with my family and actually eat at the dinner table with them and talk about their day and how they are. I believe that this will bring me and my family happiness. I also think that our Z period went well and I feel like we informed the student body on how we can recycle. I was also encouraged by their reaction to our presentation.
I woke up Monday at a friend’s house forgetting it was “Eat Local Day” and grabbed a toaster strudel and popped it in the toaster and then squeezed icing onto it from a plastic bag. On my drove home I remembered what my goal for the day was. As I arrived home I felt the need to start all over again, so I re-ate my morning breakfast, this time choosing Stonyfield Farms Organic yogurt, with granola my mom had made with organic oats and nuts, and blueberries my family and I had picked in the summer off a farm in Cleveland and frozen. While this breakfast seemed more local and organic than the first, I also did not create any trash.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the day I found myself craving small hershey’s chocolates wrapped in paper wrappings, both non-organic and waste-creating. My mom had made a local farmer’s roast the night before and so I had a sandwich on some Neidloves bread for lunch. The problem was I could not add anything to the sandwich, no mayonnaise, lettuce, or anything I liked. For dinner my mom overhauled her original menu and picked up a free-range rotisserie chicken from Green Life, and this pleased me until I noticed the packaging it came in sitting in the trash can. When I commented on it she inspected the bag and found that it was 100% decomposing, and told me to take it to the compost. This made me think of how many things we don’t even know can be recycled, or composted and are instead just thrown in the trash. Why do companies not print labels telling consumers what to do with the packaging larger?
“No trash day,” Tuesday, was much easier than I expected. Other than occasionally reaching for a napkin and having to think twice to put it back, I didn’t have to make any other significant changes to my day. I ended my day with no trash!
Conserving energy on Wednesday was difficult to say the least. I felt mainly that I was only giving up my cell phone, not saving energy because every place I went lights were still turned on, computers were still plugged in, and electricity was still being used. However, I did enjoy in a way giving up my cell phone. There was a freedom that came from not worrying about getting back to people and just focusing on the present task. It was a pain to use the home phone line, but I liked knowing that many people didn’t know my home phone number. This day seemed to serve more of a purpose for the soul than for the environment.
On Thursday during assembly I was pleasantly surprised with how our class pulled our presentation together and cohesively gave the students something. I think doing something different than the norm is half the battle in getting the audience’s attention. I am really happy we took that opportunity to educate people and to get people excited for Beavan’s visit.
The entire week showed me that I only need to put more thought into what I am doing to help the environment. My habits can easily be changed to become more environmentally friendly while still allowing me to carry on with my normal day. I'm really pleased with our class that we experimented and tried new things!
Julia says...
ReplyDeleteI woke up Monday at a friend’s house forgetting it was “Eat Local Day” and grabbed a toaster strudel and popped it in the toaster and then squeezed icing onto it from a plastic bag. On my drove home I remembered what my goal for the day was. As I arrived home I felt the need to start all over again, so I re-ate my morning breakfast, this time choosing Stonyfield Farms Organic yogurt, with granola my mom had made with organic oats and nuts, and blueberries my family and I had picked in the summer off a farm in Cleveland and frozen. While this breakfast seemed more local and organic than the first, I also did not create any trash.
Throughout the day I found myself craving small hershey’s chocolates wrapped in paper wrappings, both non-organic and waste-creating. My mom had made a local farmer’s roast the night before and so I had a sandwich on some Neidloves bread for lunch. The problem was I could not add anything to the sandwich, no mayonnaise, lettuce, or anything I liked. For dinner my mom overhauled her original menu and picked up a free-range rotisserie chicken from Green Life, and this pleased me until I noticed the packaging it came in sitting in the trash can. When I commented on it she inspected the bag and found that it was 100% decomposing, and told me to take it to the compost. This made me think of how many things we don’t even know can be recycled, or composted and are instead just thrown in the trash. Why do companies not print labels telling consumers what to do with the packaging larger?
“No trash day,” Tuesday, was much easier than I expected. Other than occasionally reaching for a napkin and having to think twice to put it back, I didn’t have to make any other significant changes to my day. I ended my day with no trash!
Conserving energy on Wednesday was difficult to say the least. I felt mainly that I was only giving up my cell phone, not saving energy because every place I went lights were still turned on, computers were still plugged in, and electricity was still being used. However, I did enjoy in a way giving up my cell phone. There was a freedom that came from not worrying about getting back to people and just focusing on the present task. It was a pain to use the home phone line, but I liked knowing that many people didn’t know my home phone number. This day seemed to serve more of a purpose for the soul than for the environment.
On Thursday during assembly I was pleasantly surprised with how our class pulled our presentation together and cohesively gave the students something. I think doing something different than the norm is half the battle in getting the audience’s attention. I am really happy we took that opportunity to educate people and to get people excited for Beavan’s visit.
The entire week showed me that I only need to put more thought into what I am doing to help the environment. My habits can easily be changed to become more environmentally friendly while still allowing me to carry on with my normal day. I'm really pleased with our class that we experimented and tried new things!
Day 3: Energy Day
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed energy day. Turning off my phone for the whole day made it so much easier to get work done. I finished my homework at 10:00, which is so much earlier than normal. I usually don't finish until around 12:30 or later because I take breaks to text. I turned my phone back on after I had finished my homework, because I consider that the end of my day. I felt so accomplished that I hadn't used my phone the entire day.
My favorite thing about energy day was that I was so much more time efficient than normal. By not watching TV, I also was able to concentrate solely on my homework, so I was able to finish it more quickly than normal.
I forgot to unplug appliances before leaving for school, but I did unplug them as soon as I got home. I never realized how many appliances we leave plugged in, even the ones we don't use as often. In our kitchen alone, I unplugged two lamps, the iron, the coffee maker, and the toaster. Not a single one of these items were even in use. I bet our energy bill would decrease, even just a little, if we kept our appliances unplugged when they aren't in use. I felt guilty that we had left so many of our appliances plugged in when it only took a few seconds to unplug them and save a little bit of energy.
Day 4: Educate the School day
Educate the School day ended up being my least favorite day. I was looking forward to doing the sidewalk chalk because I feel that would have been a constant reminder to the students and faculty because every person walks on the front sidewalk multiple times during the day. I feel like our presentation didn't do as much as it could have if it would have been conbined with the sidewalk chalk. Our presentation ended up not being as good as I thought it would be. I was so nervous being on stage that I could barely concentrate on making my presentation interesting. I just wanted to get my part over with. Although our presentation could have been better, I do think it was slightly effective. I like that we decided to educate the school because hopefully, someone in the audience got something out of our presentation. By attempting to educate them, we gave the audience the oppurtunity to learn something they might not have known. Hopefully, someone will take something from our presentation and want to make a difference.
Day 1: Food
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest I didn't really think about food. I went to Buffalo Wild wings with some friends from out of town and It's a safe bet that the home-made chili with beef (and other fixin's) wasn't exactly local. It made me realize how difficult it would be if you weren't actually trying to eat locally.
Day 2: Trash
My biggest challenge tends to be when it comes to my allergies and when I need to dry something off. Today at home I washed my hands in the kitchen and instinctively ripped off 3 paper towels. It wasn't until after I had already ripped them off the roll that I cringed and realized I wasn't supposed to do that. All in all, though, my personal trash was a very small amount: two napkins from breakfast and lunch, a small butter container, and the paper towels I mentioned before.
I think it's easy to not produce much trash when I am living at home and attending a school that gives me options to not accumulate unnecessary trash. However I kept thinking ahead to when I am a poor college student living off Ramen noodles and cereal: that will be more difficult to keep my trash to a minimum.
Day 3: Electricity
Going without a cell phone was interesting. I ended up needing to turn mine on later in the day because my mom needed to get in touch with me, but I loved not having it for most of the day. At night, I was actually outside the whole time at a bonfire in my back yard so that was a great way to get away from needing the electricity. I definitely don't think I could go without electricity for more than a day, though!
Day One: Local Food
ReplyDeleteI knew eating locally would be the most difficult of all of the No Impact days because I was going to be in Nashville. The first stop on our trip was for breakfast at JoZara's coffee shop. I knew I would be eating locally for breakfast, but I also knew that my mom wanted to eat lunch at a place that did not serve local food, so I decided I would try Beavan's approach of making no net impact. In an attempt to balance out the fact that I would not be eating a local lunch, I brought my own cup to JoZara's with a plan to use it instead of getting a plastic cup. The first thing I remember feeling was extremely self-conscious and nervous about asking the cashier to fill up my cup. I was so nervous that I almost had my mom ask for me. But, when I got to the cashier (who turned out to be the owner of the coffee shop) and began to explain the project our class was doing, she was genuinely interested in what I was saying. I asked for her to fill my cup instead of using a plastic cup and to not give me any extra wrapping with my muffin. She was more than enthusiastic to help out and even came to our table later to ask more about our project. Through talking to her, I learned that she had majored in Environmental Science in 1974, so she was very supportive and proud of our project. Her enthusiasm was infectious and I remember feeling stupid that I was ever nervous about asking for her to fill my own cup. Through this experience I began to understand what Beavan must have been going through. I can't even imagine how uncomfortable or self- conscious Beavan must have felt at times when he was explaining his project to people. I never realized how difficult it must of been for him, because he made it seem so easy. Bringing my own cup to JoZara's and experiencing this self-consciousness made me respect Beavan even more than I already do.
No wrappers turned out to be more difficult than I thought it would be. My mom and I went to Pei Wei for lunch. We have been here many times before and each time before leaving, I always get atleast 4 fortune cookies to take home. But, because of the plastic wrapping around the cookie, I couldn't bring myself to eat one. In No Impact Man, I remember Beavan dwelling on a piece of pizza which he couldn't eat because of the paper plate it came on. I remember feeling annoyed with him and wishing he would just forget about the pizza and move on. But, after denying myself of something that I really wanted I began to understand how difficult Beavan's project must have been. I was only denying myself of a cookie for one day, while he denied himself of many more things for an entire year. Thinking about this, I begin to feel ashamed that I was annoyed by having to give up one cookie for just one day. Looking back, I'm proud of myself for not caving and eating the cookie.
I also experienced how easily it was to forget that I was trying to use no wrappers. Before my college tour, I mindlessly opened a piece of gum. After chewing it for a few minutes, I realized that I had broken the rules. I felt like I had failed, and I was frustrated with myself that I had forgotten something as easy as not using a wrapper. I can just imagine the frustration Beavan must have felt when he broke the rules to use the washing machine.
Day Two: Trash
ReplyDeleteTrash day didn't turn out to be as hard as I thought it would be. Maybe it was because I was trying not to make trash? I wish we would have done this phase of our project differently. I think we should have collected our trash on a normal day instead of trying not to make trash. My trash at the end of the day consisted of: an apple core, an empty cream cheese package, a paper bowl from lunch, and a plastic bowl with some leftover pasta in it. My trash count would have been reduced to two things if I had asked for a real plate instead of using paper and plastic. I was proud of myself that I hadn't made very much trash, but I don't feel as if this part of the project made a huge impact on me. Now, I would like to go through the trash in our household and see how much trash we make in one week.
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ReplyDeleteDay 1: Eating Local
ReplyDeleteEating local had to be the most challenging thing for me to do during our No Impact Week. I got the email reminder from Mrs. Gahan Monday morning while I was sitting on the train to Fordham University in New York. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do much local eating. So instead of blowing off the whole idea of local eating on my day of travel, I decided to be conscious of where the food I was eating came from. I asked a cafeteria worker at Fordham if any of the food was grown local. She didn’t know much but she did tell me, “You know you’re in the Bronx right?” So after having lunch at Fordham and later on grabbing a bite to eat in the Hartford airport I realized that it is almost impossible for the average, working human being today to eat entirely local. We are a commuter society. We drive everywhere, we fly to see our family, we take trains to get to work. We’re constantly rushing to get from point A to point B. And in the midst of our rushing, we have to eat, but we can’t waste our precious time on eating, so we grab something quick and easy and most likely wrapped in plastic. I was disappointed not only with myself, but with our society. We all need to take a chill pill, slow down, and cook, hopefully locally too. So, next time I find myself rushing (aka homework, college travels, weekend activities) I will make a point to slow down, go to the Sunday market and cook.
Day 2: Collecting Trash
ReplyDeleteI walked into the GPS cafeteria Tuesday morning, grabbed a muffin and sat down with Sarah Douglas. She reminds me that it’s “Collect your trash day” of our No Impact week. Awesome, it was only 7:30 and I was stuck with a paper muffin cup that held my breakfast for the rest of the day.
At school and at home all I could think about was making trash. My friends laughed at me during lunch because I refused to use a napkin and my mom was disgusted when I didn’t want to blow my nose on a Kleenex (I did eventually blow my nose on the Kleenex). Later that night, my sister and I went to dinner at a local restaurant and when it came time to pay and the bill had made its way to the table, I was upset because upon opening the bill I found 3 slips of paper. One for me to sign to pay (understandable), one for my own records (understandable, but really who takes these home and saves them) and the last one was just another copy. Then I looked back at our table and discovered the paper straw wrapper I unconsciously had unwrapped before dinner. I stuck my receipts and my straw wrapper in my purse and took them home.
Looking at all the trash I had collected, excluding toilet paper, I realized that the majority of my trash was paper products. How much paper would I have collected if I hadn’t been thinking about making trash? I felt really bad about how much paper I use in just one day. Everything in life revolves around paper. My morning breakfast, staying clean at lunch by using a napkin, our health when using kleenex’s, how we buy things and receipts, when we study math by writing in spiral notebooks. I never realized how much paper is being consumed until seeing my trash in one pile.
Day 3: Reducing Energy Consumption
ReplyDeleteI woke up to the trill of my digital alarm clock. I’ve already used energy. Mrs. Gahan reminded all of us to turn off our cell phones for the day, so I did. I didn’t use my laptop in class and I unplugged all the lights in my room when I got home. No energy day was going great until 8 o’clock came. I hadn’t done too much homework and I needed to check Blackboard. I didn’t know what else to do, so I flipped the switch and by the light of one lamp, I did my homework. I also used my sister’s laptop to check homework and email. Although I didn’t turn my own laptop on, I used the energy of my sister’s to get work done.
The work we do at GPS heavily relies on internet access and computer usage. GPS has taken steps towards being more and more eco-friendly, so we use laptops instead of paper to take notes, we send our papers in by email instead of printing them off. So on one hand, yes, we are saving trees but on the other, we are using a ton of electricity to power of laptops. Which do we choose? Is one better than the other for the planet?
Going without my cell phone for a day was easy enough. But to tell the truth, cell phones do make life a lot easier. Not being able to contact my parents was frustrating, I realized that if I were to actually go cell-phone free forever, I would have to put a lot of time and effort into planning ahead. Cell phones were created for that reason, to make life easier, but we can get obsessive. It was nice to have my phone off during school because I was able to fully be in the present moment. I wasn’t wondering if so and so had texted me back or if my mom needed me to pick something up on the way home, I was at school learning.
After experimenting life without electrical devices, I’ve decided that turning off my cell phone during the day is a must. But beyond that, I need light at night to do work, and if I plan on keeping up in class, I need to use my laptop. My solution would be to make an effort towards only using my laptop and getting rid of paper consumption in the classroom. I know that teachers will give me handouts, that’s ok, but I’m not going to write on paper to take notes, instead I’ll use my laptop for what it was meant for.