The week before last I had three separate conversation with my mom, my dad and my best friend about sustainability. I talked to each of them about it all on the same day (Thanksgiving) because when they asked how I had been and what I had been up to my efforts to become more sustainable seemed really relevant. My dad even said he was going to get reusable shopping bags (I was really surprised he didn't already use them. Bad on my part for assuming I guess)

This week I shopped locally instead of buying anything online. This was useful for the few gifts I'm purchasing for family for the upcoming holidays. It's nice to know shopping locally supports local businesses and lowers my carbon footprint when I don't have something shipped to my house. I checked out Ship John over on Division for a wallet I'll be gifting. It's all made in the U.S which is cool too!

This weekend I bought a couple things that let me continue doing something sustainable. One of my classes is in the evening and I get kind of nervous biking to class when it is pitch black at 6pm, so I finally stopped being lazy and bought a rechargeable bike headlight and backlight, as well as a bright jacket. These items might not directly let me be more sustainable but they let me bike with a slightly lower risk of being hit by a car.

Lately, I have been giving things away that I don't need to friends and goodwill, and I have also been selling some of my old things to people as well. This cuts out the need for many to buy new items, reducing everybody's environmental impacts.

Previous post that I've posted to the wrong place. 

7/10: I am getting used to the public transport with the new fall schedule. I noticed that it’s actually pretty close in between stops of street car. I got off a few stops earlier and walk to where I have to go when it’s not raining.  As I go between OHSU and campus, I notice that there are a lot of people that park their car in one place and walk or take the street car to the other campus. 

14/10:I always hear coyotes at night but I have never seen them before. I really like wolfs as I think they are cute. We mowed our lawn a couple days ago and I finally saw 2 of them walking by. They are so cute although people think I am crazy. 

21/10:I’ve alway wanted to walk along the waterfront from OHSU back to the main campus and I finally did that. It was calming even thought I can’t really hear the water and there are constantly people running by and talking. But I still got some exercise in between class. 

28/10:School have been pretty busy and I didn’t have the motivation to exercise. But during my hours long studying I squeezed in 30 minutes of rope jumping. It actually worked on whole body muscle and coordination. It’s also less harsh on the keen than running as you are landing with 2 feet together. 

4/11:My friends and I all major in biology and for some reason we have way more midterms and reports than other major but we finally found a week that we are all free and can play badminton. It was fun and it’s my first time going to the rec center too. 

Yesterday our family and I went on a hike in between preparing food for thanksgiving. Some of them just flew down from LA and they always like to hike and breath in some fresh cold mountain air when they come visit.

This week I spent time in my hometown and did quite a few things relating to this class. I spent time introducing people to disc golf, where we grew a sport that takes place in wooded areas or on existing golf courses. While golf courses aren't deemed sustainable, it was a great reason to push the family to go outside instead of huddling around the television. We also were able to help clean up litter we found on the course too! I also spent some time helping people in my family go through clothes that they do not use and donate them. We've done this before in our family, but this time we made sure that if we haven't worn it in a specific amount of time, we donate it. Too often our clothes pile up because they are sentimental but they never get used.

After our trip to Tryon I decided to spend time looking at nature around where I live. Despite the fact that it is going to be winter soon there are still so many plants around, even flowers. Even just walking down town for class there are still trees and the sky to look at. It was great to go out into the woods but it's important to remember nature is all around us. I don't usually take picture when I go walking as I just like to experience it. Here are some pictures I took of the sky the other day. Have a great holiday if you celebrate. :) 

 

This week I took my dog on some walks. She's really old and she can play in the backyard so we don't really take her on walks. But I decided this would be a good motivator to get outside more than I usually do. Also I wanted to share this picture from the field trip today. I love how green it is. 

For this week I have decided to launch a recycling program at my work. I work at a juice bar and we compost like crazy but we do not recycle! There are so many times that customers will either throw away items that can be recycled or ask us if we recycle in which we reply that we don't. I am going to reach out to my boss and ask if we can set up a recycling bin next to the trash bin in order to encourage recycling. I think these will be a great opportunity to get more people active and aware about recycling.