Reflection: Weeks 3 & 4

Well, there isn't much to say about week 3.  I had a short meeting with Steve.  It was truly helpful though.  I learned of a few things I hadn't done yet, and a few things I didn't even know I had to do!  I'm still kind of playing around with google reader.  So far so good!  I think remembering to keep up with comments is my most significant battle with blogging.

We had an excellent class period during week 4.  We started class with a little question and answer session (prizes included).  I mean, I didn't walk away with tampons, but I guess a paper tablet is pretty good too.  The most significant thing we did on Monday was view a movie called "An Inconvenient Truth".  Al Gore is the narrator.  The film is about global warming and how it's progressing so rapidly. When the data is laid out so plain and simple like that, it's pretty scary.  What's even more scary is how our government seems to be doing so little.  They think by taking a stand on global warming, our economy will suffer.  On the other hand, if we don't do something, we may not have an earth anymore.  How is there even a contest?  It's frustrating because I feel like if our government set some policies in motion more Americans would start taking notice and work to be more eco-friendly.  I guess for now I'll just have to do my part and hope everyone else does as well!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week1: My SMART Goal

Over the next 10 weeks I will use reusable bags 100% of the time I shop.  This will include picking up items at grocery stores, convenience stores, and retail shops.  I will keep a reusable bags in my car, and if need be, use my purse.

This is completely an eco-chic lifestyle change!  I did some research on using plastic bags and we really abuse this resource.  I mean, it takes billions of gallons of oil to create them when that oil could be used for fuel, or heat.  Not only that, but they aren't biodegradable.  They say it takes up to 1,000 years for one plastic bag to degrade in a land fill, but really it's just breaking down into a bunch of tiny toxic particles that get absorbed into the soil and water table.  Also, animals often ingest the stuff so these toxic particles enter the food chain.  Another super interesting fact is that in the U.S. we use approximately 380 billion plastic bags a year, 100 billion of those being from retail stores.  The production of only the bags from the retail stores cost over 4 billion dollars.  People often choose paper as an alternative to plastic.  This is also not the most eco-friendly choice.  We use 10 billion paper shopping bags each year.  That's adds up to a lot of forest chopped down for our food to sit in for a few minutes on the way home from Cub!  Check out this website for these and other facts about plastic bags: http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/reusablebags.htm

I wanted to change this behavior because it's totally realistic.  It's not a very big lifestyle change, but it's one with a big impact.  It's something is attainable.  For me this is a goal that I can accomplish and maybe even influence some of my friends while I do it!  When I lived in England, there were a few grocery and retail stores that would charge you 10 cents for each bag you used, and now it makes perfect sense why!  I can't imagine how much oil and money we could all save if every American started using only reusable bags.  I mean, when I go to Old Navy at the mall and only get some socks, or a t-shirt, why do I even need a bag?  It's not like I don't have an enormous purse slung over my shoulder!  I'm excited to make this change!

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

Wow...this assignment was almost scary.  If we are using up the earth's resources at a pace1.3 times faster than they can be renewed what's going to happen to us?  It's almost like we're carrying out our own death sentence.  The fact of the matter is, I imagine this information isn't totally common knowledge.  I know I've heard the term "carbon footprint" and I got the general idea, but what I didn't realize is how large of a footprint I was leaving until I took a few quizzes.  One of the quizzes I took was called "Redefining Progress".  My results stated that, "If everyone on earth lived your lifestyle, we would need 4.59 earths".  That really sucked to hear.  My lifestyle is the reason our earth's resources are running out.  It's hard when you finally realize you are to blame for all the current ecological crises.  What's even more interesting, I really didn't think my lifestyle was that outrageous.  I mean, I walk to school 9 times out of 10, I carpool whenever I can, I recycle, I don't even eat meat everyday.  The results are just so staggering, it seems out of my control.  Like, I don't even know where to go from here to make this better.  The problem just seems so urgent and yet I know there is no immediate solution...talk about an eye opener!