I took a loot at my energy usage on my electricity bill and attempted to use less energy this month. Pacific Power emails me my monthly energy report so it was easy for me to measure what type of energy I use the most. This month my power bill was $10 less than last month and my rating was great! The way pacific power displays your energy usage on a scale of fair to great is very helpful. I noticed that I use more energy in the winter time due to having my heater on. During February my power bill was $63, thats twice as much as it was this month! I live in an old building so the insolation is not very good, which causes me to have the heater on a lot during the winter.  

This week I watched the Netflix documentary "Fantastic Fungi", I have always wanted to learn more about mushrooms and this documentary was a great starting point for me. Before I watched it I knew practically nothing about mushrooms. I must say towards the end I began to get emotional when they were talking about Psilocybin helping cancer patients. As someone who has attempted to take psilocybin but could not digest it this made me want to try it again, perhaps start with a micro-dose. I have had many spiritual experiences with LSD so maybe that is why I got so emotional while watching this. No one truly understands the power psychedelics hold until they try them. I do not want to ramble about psychedelics so I will cover what else I learned from this documentary. Apparently mushrooms have been on this earth longer than any other organism. Fossils of mushrooms were found from thousands of years ago. They even survived the asteroid that caused dinosaurs to go extinct. There is so much to mushrooms and I am excited to begin my learning journey of mushrooms.

For this weeks eco challenge I decided to buy things only if I absolutely needed them. I did this to help reduce my consumption rates. I usually try to do this anyways but when it comes to certain things I tend to splurge. It is best to live life like this because not only are you reducing consumption rates but you are also saving money. Us Americans spend a lot of money on things we really do not need, it seems to be part of our culture. We also are constantly pushed to buy things by ads. We live an a consumers world and we are the consumers, if we can make an adjustment of our shopping habits we could really help the world.

For my eco challenge this week I signed a few petitions for environmental change in Oregon. The first one I signed is titled Stop Punishing California Residents. The water problem is YOUR fault. This petition struck the heart for me because I am from California and have dealt with the drought basically my whole life. There was so much pressure on California residents to cut back on their water usage which we did tremendously. Although years of cutting back there is still no solution to the drought. States such as Oregon and Washington get much more rain fall than California does so it seems that they do not believe they need to reduce their water usage. The petition argues that it is not fair for us to continue cutting back our water usage when Oregon and Washington do not have to. There are also many other great arguments listed on the petition which I will link below for anyone who wants to read and sign it.  https://chng.it/r2ZWcWBVd2 The second petition I signed was titled Please stop delivering unwanted phonebooks to Oregon. The petition stated that 8.3 million phonebooks are delivered to Oregon residents even if they do not want them. Let's face it no one uses phonebooks today, so the fact that they are wasting this much paper, gas, and money to deliver these is just wrong. Sure some people use them still but there should be a sign up sheet for those who want a phonebook. Here is the link for anyone who would like to sign it https://chng.it/FdwZ2CcczY

I have been using reusable water bottles for about 3 years now. Although I used to use plastic water bottles to fill up my reusable one. I realized that this is not helping me reduce plastic so I stopped. I used to do this because the tap water in California tastes horrible. To make this change I began using the filtered water from my fridges water dispenser. When I moved out of my parents home and moved to Oregon I was concerned with how I could get tasty water without using plastic bottles. Luckily the tap water here tastes great! It is not hard to find an affordable reusable water bottle that is well insulated. The brand I always buy from is Contigo, they range from $14-$30, and they last a long time. My living situation makes it a bit difficult for me to not use a lot of water. I do not have a dishwasher so I have to hand wash everything. If anyone has any tips on how to save water while hand washing dishes please share! My shower also has bad water pressure so I find I have to take longer showers. Not quite sure how I could fix this problem, I think it is something that comes with living in an old building. The plumbing here is very bad. My toilet overflows frequently due to cheap plumbing and a cheap toilet. There are also a lot of leaky pipes here. About a month ago the person who lives above me left their sink on causing my ceiling to leak. I know it was their fault for leaving the sink on but that just shows how careless people can be!

I watched "Explained" on Netflix and I chose the "Future of Meat" episode. As a meat eater I found some of the information difficult to hear. When I think about not being able to eat meat I honestly get scared. It is in my culture to eat meat everyday, it is so ingrained in my life. Although the information about the impossible and beyond burgers intrigued me. Before watching this I never considered trying one of those, but this episode made me more curious about them. The meat industry is causing great damage to our environment and if we continue this routine the future of our environment will suffer. Hearing this information made me worried, mainly because I know most of our population eats meat. I know how I feel about it but I am not as hard core as other people. My Dad loves meat and he loves to BBQ, which is part of the reason why I love meat. I do not think people like my Dad would be willing to cut meat out of their diet even if they knew the consequences. I could possibly do it, if I find a meat alternative that I like, but I am a very picky eater. I avoid documentaries on meat for this reason, I almost feel like the less I know the better. Even though I know that is not logical at least I am being honest. I think if vegan and vegetarian foods were more affordable more people would be will to try them. There are a lot of things in the food industry that need to change especially in our country. We need more affordable and easy access to healthy food. I am sure in some states the grocery stores do not even carry meat alternatives. Meat is a very American thing which is why I think it would be challenging to get a lot of Americans on board to not eat meat. I liked this documentary because it did not seem biased. It showed arguments from all view points.

For my eco challenge this week I chose recycle everything I can. I do this anyways but my boyfriend does not always recycle everything. If I saw something in the garbage that could have been recycled I make sure there is no food on it and recycle it. I also use Brown paper bags from the grocery store as my recycle bin.

I signed two petitions this week involving our city and sustainability. The first one I signed was tell the Portland Timbers and Thorns to stop using single use plastic cups. This is the link for those who want to sign, it is almost at its goal of 1,000 signatures! https://chng.it/mYQffH2YkG Instead of single use plastic cups sports fans will have the option to buy re-usable cups to bring to the games. Not only is it environmentally friendly but fans will also have a souvenir. The second petition I signed was to pass a bill banning grocery stores from throwing away food that is still edible and donating it to non-government food organizations. Here is the link for those who would like to sign it https://chng.it/QZ5fmYFwyV. This petition is very important because so much food gets tossed from grocery stores. Food that may have a misprint on the packaging or fruits and vegetables that may have grown a bit funky are not considered good enough to sell get thrown away!