I also was looking at the actions for the economy section and remember doing the trash exercise in high school. My AP Environmental Science teacher made us carry around our trash all day to make us realize how much waste we produced. She even had us tracking how many sheets of toilet paper we used 🤭. 

I definitely want to try compost more in my house next year. I do at home and it not only creates more space in the trash can but is also more sustainable! 

I forgot to mention a few things that I wanted to post on here. First, I went grocery shopping yesterday and I tried to buy local or organic when I could. I love shopping at Trader Joes for this reason because I think they really pride themselves on trying to support local and sustainable food options. 

Another thing is about the transportation; my wifi prevented me from enjoying the second half of class, but I will continue to try to walk to campus when I can. It is too short a walk and the weather is too good (most of the time) for me to make up excuses as to why I couldn't! 

Because my job is 20 minutes away by car (with no traffic), it was difficult to cut down on my transportation this past week. I did carpool a couple of times and made sure to run all my errands in one trip instead of multiple. I just got my bike refurbished, so I'm really hoping to do any local commutes by bike this summer. I also made sure to pay attention to when my car was running while parked - I nanny and the pickup area is so congested. Instead of waiting with my car running, I found a shady spot nearby and waited there. 

I was not able to complete most of the transportation challenges this week, due to having had knee surgery three weeks ago. That being said, I set the goal to carpool to the school everyday this week, instead of driving solo as I usually do. I did accomplish this goal, two of my football teammates and I rotate driving everyday and we plan on doing this through the rest of the school year. Also, I made it a goal to not drive anywhere this weekend and I accomplished that goal. 

This week's transportation challenge was a bit hard to check off the boxes. I did not go in person to work at all so I actually commuted 0 miles by bike, but I also commuted 0 miles by car. I'm pretty sure I only used my car once this week to drive to a gravel trail for a bike ride. I was able to walk to the store and didn't have any other needs for transportation. One area I am hoping to improve is driving by car between Seattle and Tacoma. We have family and close friends in Seattle and end up driving there almost once a week. We have come up with a bike route via Vashon Island that I think could work to commute by bike. The challenge is finding ways to carry items that we need, especially, weather, and the extra time it would take. I'm looking forward to exploring this as an option for future commutes between Seattle and Tacoma though.

This past week with the transportation section was a bit hard for me to change habits much.  As. I mentioned in our meeting, living outside of the city leaves very limited options.  It was interesting to discuss the possibilities and other options, yet unfortunately, none of them are really viable for where I reside.

This week on transportation, I realized conveniences are costly, both economically and environmentally. I learned with my privilege that I have a choice in the way I transport myself in an environmentally friendly way. I have been more attentive in not using my car for unnecessary trips, which has health benefits as well. I began to skateboard and walk most places especially if my intention is between 1 and 3 miles. In return taking longer in transit allows my mind to wonder - which I like. 

Over the last week, I've been really conscientious about my water usage - everything from cooling used boiling water to water my plants, taking shorter showers, and recycling as much water for household chores as possible. I had a bunch of laundry to do, so I did the loads using cold water on the lowest pressure setting possible, and then dried them on clothing racks in the sun. There are so many small steps at every point of the day that requires constant effort to reduce water use. I'm also trying to be really intentional with my shopping, both food and items, as I'm realizing more and more each week how much my dollar counts as a vote. 

This week was interesting as when it comes to making large impacts on one's water usage it is easier to make the biggest impact by removing meat from your day-to-day life.  As such I focused more of last weeks goals to make that happen as well as this weeks again.

Over this past week I kept a water journal to keep track of my water usage. Growing up in multiple states, I learned that not all tap water is the same. In some places, like a community I lived in in Arizona, the tap water was not trusted as drinking water. Where I happen to live now though, in Tacoma, I can use tap water for all of my needs including to drink. The fact that clean freshwater is so readily accessible to me and many others though, means we needs to be extra mindful of how much water we are using. I have to admit to being a huge contributor to over using, including; leaving the shower running, leaving the sink running while brushing my teeth, buying plastic water bottles, and the list goes on. Over this past week I have began to change that though, here is my progress: 

            Day one – Tuesday 4/20: This morning, before I finished the chapter on Water, I took a 20-minute shower and left the sink running while I brushed my teeth for two to three minutes. After I read the chapter and started this water journal though, I threw away the plastic bottle sitting on my nightstand and brought out my Hydro Flask.  

            Day two – Wednesday 4/21: I shortened my shower to 10 minutes, and made sure to turn the sink off while I was brushing my teeth. Also, I did some research on how much water humans should be drinking per day, and I found some alarming numbers. There are some suggestions like the one on the Mayo Clinic website that suggests “an adequate daily fluid intake is: About 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids a day. I used the word “alarming” before, because this is honestly an insane amount of water intake. My hydro is a 40 oz bottle, which is about 5 liters. I have to force myself to make sure I get through one full bottle a day, and you mean to tell me that I’m “supposed” to be drinking three of those. No way. It’s b.s. science like this that is allowing our capitalist society to be as destructive as it is. 

            Day three – Thursday 4/22: Today I kept my shower under 10 minutes and used even less water in my teeth brushing process. I also made sure my water intake was limited to my 40 oz Hydro Flask. 

            Day four – Friday 4/23: Again, kept my shower under 10 minutes and used as little water possible in my teeth brushing process. Kept my water intake limited, but I did have some soda. 

            Day five – Saturday 4/24: Took a longer then normal shower this morning, but still used minimal water when brushing my teeth. Drank very little water today but ate and drank many other unhealthy things which negatively contribute to our water issues. 

            Day 6 – Sunday 4/25: Kept my shower under 15 minutes, and minimal water use in brushing my teeth. I went through two hydro flask’s worth of water today, which to me is excessive. 

            Day 7 – Monday 4/26: Completely took away the shower in the morning, and instead substituted it with just putting some warm water in a towel and washing my face that way. Also, I reduced the amount of water I used when brushing my teeth by even more by only using a little water to wash my mouth out when I am done. Further, I reduced my water intake back to one Hydro.