Camden Benesh

So for this week I decided to look into getting alternative energy sources, at first I definitely didn't know what direction to go towards. But no after some researching I decided to purchase a pretty small solar pannel online, just to see how it goes. I think it would be beneficial to have my own alternative energy sources, especially since I'm always looking for ways to save energy in the things I do like charging my phone or camera. I think this purchase allows me to develop better habits towards saving electricity and prioritizing my actual needs in my life.

week 7!

So for this week, it was very challenging, to say the least, I only bought what I needed each day. As a relatively broke college student, this was by no means too hard of a challenge, since the majority of the time I try to save and not give in buying coffee and donuts every day. Something I did at home was make coffee! It was definitely a little challenging since I have never made my pour-over coffee but needless to say after a few ruined coffee filters I learned to enjoy making it myself!

week 6, this is pretty late forsure.

I've decided to take public transportation the whole week instead of driving for my eco change. Although, the days I don't have class I have also been saving money by biking because it can add up. I've definitely enjoyed the ride a little more weirdly even though the bus can be sketchy at times (public transport in general), but the majority of the time it's alright. I found myself enjoying the ride and since I wasn't driving, I could be more in the moment and more mindful. I practiced deep breaths on my way home today on the 12 bus because I was bored so it was kind of nice to sit back and go with the flow rather than with driving, I can definitely feel the stress both mentally and physically on my shoulders. I live in NE Portland which is about 6-7 miles from campus, so to and from is about 14 miles in a day and my car gets 30 miles to the gallon, so I realized while the bus fares can seemingly feel like they're adding up, it's way cheaper to take the bus and not have to spend 100-130 dollars every 2 weeks or so. So that's something I've definitely enjoyed while doing this echo change this week.

For my eco challenge regarding the topic around water, I thought what better way than to use my own water bottle then instead of buying a plastic water bottle? I'll just use my Nalgene bottle the whole week which wasn't even hard, it's something I've been doing in middle school honestly because I remember getting really bad headaches and learning about the importance of staying hydrated so I always try to chug mad water throughout the day and it's so easy to not have to buy a beverage at like chipotle. So I'm actually saving money when buying food by using my own water bottle versus buying a soda and throwing it away after, so my plastic footprint is much less than before.

I know this is kind of late since this was for week one but I did start this sustainability journal and really noticed how many extra clothes or shoes I had and what I ate throughout the week and how much plastic I used. I think with every day I tried to use less plastic bags for carrying food but some days I mailed it in, definitely hard too to want to bike when it's pouring rain but I did try to take the bus more than driving..

Last week I decided to go a on a different hike, which was the Leif Erikson trail in Forest Park. I found it pretty fun but realized I probably needed boots and not my sambas because by the end my feet were killing me. It was really nice to take a break from using my phone and be mindful and in the moment while walking, especially since I went in the morning. Really inspired me to find more hikes in the area and try something new, maybe trail running next time, seems kind of ambitious though.