It was cool to see how many people also did food related projects. It's something we have control over which has a huge ecological impact.

I just ordered my first mason bee cocoons from Territorial Seed Company. They are blue mason bees and will come around February. I am both excited and terrified. My father and I have divided to go on this beekeeping adventure together and it has really brought us closer. Times have been hard and this project has introduced some much-needed fun into our lives. I would highly recommend if you have the time and space.

This week I started recording what I throw away. So far I have three tie tabs, two rubber bands, lots of floss, a travel-sized bottle of face wash, 1 oat milk cartoon cap, and 1 plastic pill casing. I have found that because I am recording all of this I am much more likely to find an alternative use for something than throw it away. I have found that all lids are great painting pallets, and toothbrush heads are great for cleaning those hard to reach places. kind of gross question but does anyone know if there is a zero-waste swop for floss?

Living in an apartment it is hard to physically see the amount of energy and water that I am using, since utilities are included in rent each month at a certain price. I wanted to run and develop an energy audit, but since I do not have access to see what I am using I decided to do this a little differently. I thought about what I could change in order to live more sustainably. I unplugged all devices that are not being used in the moment, even things like toasters, phone charges, lights and anything similar I decided to leave unplugged until they are needed to be used. I also am trying to take shorter showers and only use lights when necessary. 

I watched the documentary Forget Shorter Showers. It follows the idea that we are personally contributing to the waste of water, energy, and waste in general in a very small scale. The ones who are "stealing" the water, creating the waste, and contributing to capitalism are large industries. If we want change it has to be on a social level and not only individual. We are only effective all together and no single person can see the giant change we need to see. 

Even before taking this class, I have been tracking my spending habit through an app on my smartphone. One big reason I prefer using cards instead of cash is that it is so much easier to track how I spent my money monthly. So far my July spending breaks down into $175 services (Portland Art Tax for all of my family) because I used to live in City of Portland that is 30.77% of my total spending for July, $126.65 restaurants and groceries which is 22.27% of total, and $124.94 vehicle services such as gas, insurance and car wash which is 21.97% of total, and $113.95 personal use like doctors visit and merchandise which makes up the rest 20 % of my spending. This is for both my sister and I, we share responsibility on the things we share together.  

This way, I can review it at the end of every month and check to see if any improvement can be made for the next month. I think I am doing okay so far this month. 

My sister and I have been sharing a car to commute. I will drop my sister off at work in the morning. While she is at work, I can use the car to get groceries, go to doctor's visit ect., and I pick her up later in the day from her work. Due to COVID-19, we do not travel as much so it allowed us to save gas too. I have a bike I can ride on so I will try to bike once I get familiar with the road around my new neighborhood. 

One thing I need to make my neighborhood cleaner was to pick up other dogs' litter. We have lots of dogs around my neighborhood and I sometime notice litters unpicked on the street. I have a leash that is attached with a roller litter bags which helps me not to forget bringing bags to pick up my dogs' litter. I also use decomposable litter bags to avoid using plastic bags which will only be used once to pick up the litter. 

Taking this class made me feel guilty about how much trash I collect weekly. One challenge I did was to limit myself with one bag of trash bag for the entire week including recyclable things. I take out my trash every Thursday and I still have lots of room for this week which I am proud of. One thing I tried was buying less grocery for the week. If I buy less, I produce less. I also reused the bottles and containers to store the left overs in order to reduce waste. One hardship I faced was the boxes. I had some packages from the stuff I ordered online and I just couldn't come up with one idea to reuse those.  

Today morning before class, I took a short walk with my dog in Rock Creek trails which is a 5 minute drive from my home and 20 minutes by walking. It was emotionally therapeutic since it is difficult to get out and get fresh air due to COVID-19. The weather was perfect for a walk, not too cold and not too hot. Having a time off from my phone and being surrounded by trees and grass gave me a chance to appreciate what nature has to offer. I loved it!