Bucket Shower

Today I attempted a bucket (bowl, really) shower. I found a big plastic bowl in our kitchen and filled it with water. Dunked my head in to get it wet. Used that to shower. It was a little harder to rinse, so I did turn on the shower at that point. But it took only about 30 seconds to fill up the bowl, and that served to cut my shower time down to just 1-2 min. I probably could have found a way to work it better so I didn't even have to turn on the shower. That also saved the gas (and greenhouse gases) needed to heat the water. It worked reasonably well, overall.

One more day down

I'm starting to realize how hard it is to go no-impact. Whether it's grabbing a paper towel in the bathroom (to clean up a spill or just to dry my hands) or having oyster crackers in my soup at the caf, there's some trash I produce. Some of it I can more easily eliminate; some of it I can't do without structural changes - hand dryers installed in the bathrooms, for example.

The weather today being so erratic also made me realize something: it's not safe to bike while there's lightening nearby. Confession: I had my roommate pick me up instead of biking home in the storm. How do bikers deal with this problem?

This has led me to the question: Is it enough just to reduce? How far do we need to go?

Food, Food, Food, we like food in fridges. (Sung to boys, boys, boys, by the Gaga)

Well, for starters I really didn't eat that much food today. That's not really relevant nor is it sustainable, but I did not consume as much as I normally would have. I had a main meal in the Hoff and a main meal at home. I don't eat meat so there is a +1 already and the food in the Hoff really does try and be sustainable. It's hard to get all of the food locally produced when you're feeding 1000's of people a day. So I don't know exactly how "sustainable" my food consumption was but I feel better knowing that it is at least and issue being discussed on X's campus. The other meal was a pre-packaged Tia noodle kit and some sun chips. Not exactly the pinnacle of sustainable eating. The biggest problem with trying to have a sustainable diet is the expense. You ever been to Whole Foods? That stuff is off the charts expenses. Peanut butter should not cost that much. This in lies the problem. There is a push to be more sustainable yet actually being able to do so is a question of financial status.

carpooling is my jam

Not having a car will make the transportation aspect of this week fairly easy for me. I am a pretty avid carpooler and have gotten pretty good at bumming rides off my roommates/friends. Even when I drive home for breaks I am usually in a car with two or more people.

Alternative Transportation Tuesday

So today was pretty easy for me - it's beautiful out; I ride my bike to campus most days, and I didn't have anywhere to go off campus. The trash was still a little challenging for me, and I did waste a little bit of food.

I realized as I grabbed a paper towel in the bathroom today that I didn't even think about that yesterday. I remembered before I threw it away, though, and brought it with me to compost. (Now that I think about it, I'm not really sure what happened to it, though... oops.)

NEXUS garden service was fantastic. Got to be outside, do physical work, and hang out with Laura and Molly. All-around, a good time.

Confession Time

I'll admit it: I drove my car today. Tuesday is grocery day for me, and I hadn't been getting very much the past few weeks so I needed to do a big run (ended up with 3 reusable bags full...def too much for a bike). Not that this makes it better, but I did feel really guilty about it. Also, I haven't driven for the past three days.

I am lucky enough to live close enough that I can walk to campus. However, transportation is an interesting issue for me because it is so wrapped up in safety. I don't live in a particularly safe part of town and several of my friends report being help up at gun point outside of my house. Therefore, I don't feel safe walking home at night by myself, but often have meetings on campus late at night. My solution is to bike when I know I will be on campus late. I love this - the feel of the wind against my face, zipping past pedestrians, flying down the hill by my house - except when it is rainy or really cold. This isn't totally safe or completely comfortable all of the time, but it is the solution I have come to.

I do own a car (a big white mini-van we fondly refer to as the flying marshmallow), but I only drive her about once a week (usually somewhere within a mile for safety reasons). I don't use her very much, but I have trouble eliminating the times when I really do need to use her.

too many post-it notes

Something I learned today was that I am an excessive post it note user. (I also learned I have never posted to a blog before cause it took me 15 minutes to figure out how). I remember things a thousand times better if I write them down therefore I write even the littlest things down. I find myself getting satisfaction from crumbling them up and throwing them out when I complete the task too. I also tend to write large having to use more than one post it. Today, I made sure I recycled every last one of them. I got out my new handy dandy sustainability notepad. So one of my challenges this week, as silly as it sounds, is to use only my recycled post it notes, use less of them by writing smaller, and recycling them when everything is completed.

Gettin' Trashy

Since today was a focus in waste I decided to keep all of the trash I collected throughout the day (this includes recyclables):

2 small orange juice bottles

2 granola bar wrappers

a piece of paper

paper bag

plate

to plastic food spears

a small plastic cup

First reaction, pretty damn good. Second reaction, still too much. This is probably not my normal consumption and even though some of the stuff is recyclable, it still gets thrown out and takes energy to make. Imagine it this was the amount that everyone threw-out today? It would be a lot less than usual but still a done of stuff going into a land fill. The challenge continues!

Wasteful Monday

I actually had a pretty good realization today (thanks to Deanna Martin): the plate I was using at the CFJ opening was compostable. No, it wasn't reusable. But it was biodegradable, so technically I didn't throw it away. Which I then proceeded to do with a post-it I used for directions to get to a jazz concert I had to go to and the napkin they gave me there even though I didn't order anything. I actually think the only thing (of today's) that I threw away today was the plastic wrapping that my cheese came in.

Even better was that I was able to pack myself a lunch in this way while getting completely ready for the day and biking to campus in under 20 minutes because my alarm was turned on silent... so it's not necessarily too time-consuming.

Conclusion: I'm not sure we can completely get rid of food packaging, but there are definite ways to reduce it. Some of it is possible on an individual level, but some of it has to be done system-wide. (Let's go back to using glass milk bottles and washing them instead of recycling them.)

Monday: Waste

Yesterday and today have been pretty typical. The first time I had to make a significant change was as I was eating lunch earlier. I made this sandwich, and frankly, it was awful... Except I couldn't just throw it away! It's really nothing tragic or huge. But now there's this mediocre sandwich in my fridge that I'll be eating later because I don't want to let it go to waste.

I wonder how often I throw away food I don't feel like eating without thinking twice about it?

Monday - Waste

I didn't purchase anything yesterday so consumption wasn't a big deal, but waste is proving to be an interesting challenge this week. I am currently battling a cold, which is contributing a lot to my waste. My waste includes tissues, tissues, and more tissues. There are also a lot of cough drop wrappers. It is interesting to me that being able to throw things "away" has allowed us to just dispose of things that are gross rather than clean them up. I toyed with the idea of getting some reusable handkerchiefs, but I just don't think they can accommodate the amount of snot that I am dealing with this week. It makes me think about other ways that we have tried to limit our exposure to gross things by creating waste (toilet paper, feminine products, paper towels, etc.). I'm not advocating that we stop using these. I'm not ready to take that step, but it is interesting to think about what our other options might be.

Other than that, I've noticed that most of my waste is food wrappers. Any creative ideas on how to reduce this????

No Consumption, Day 1

So I actually did some shopping Saturday, before I had the commitment to reduce my consumption (though it came by way of carpooling to the store). So I intended to go to buy a clothes drying rack in preparation for this week. No success. But I bought a minimal number of excessive items. And I used the opportunity to buy phosphate-free dishwasher detergent for my house. Because of this, I succeeded in not purchasing anything today.

I did, however, forget to collect my trash throughout the day. Still, I attempted to significantly reduce the amount of trash I generated (borrowed a mug from the caf to do so). Most of the trash was just stuff generated by packaging. And that's the stuff I generate as trash almost every day.

Overall, a successful day, but not too out of the ordinary because I generally only need to go shopping once a week, at most.

So today was the first day of the challenge. I focused on reducing my consumption. To be honest, Sunday's are pretty chill for me. I usually stay home, do homework, cook for myself, and the try and rest. I did have my light on when I was at my desk and I thought I needed it but my cool roommate turned it off and guess what? I didn't need it! I didn't do any shopping and the only thing I bought was a Subway sandwich (didn't take a bag), had water from my water bottle, chips from home, and a candy bar for my boss. It will be interesting to see what the end of the week will bring when all of the challenges pile up. I look forward to it!

Sunday: Consumption

We now have a link to access the guide online: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/12/the-no-impact-week-guide_n_317277.html

"Ninety-nine percent of the stuff we harvest, mine, process, transport - 99 percent of the stuff we run through this production system is trashed within six months." -Annie Leonard, "The Story of Stuff"

Today's actions:

List all of the things you "need" to buy the list, then remove the things that you don't actually need. Figure out what of the rest you can purchase used, borrow, or make yourself. Try not to shop for new items throughout the week. What better things can you do with your time and money?

Instead of throwing away the trash you generate today, place it in a re-usable bag to make yourself aware of the types of trash you generate, to prepare for tomorrow.

Questions for reflection: What was the hardest part of decreased purchasing?

No Impact Man blog, August 9, 2007: "What stings is the fact that we often find that getting more isn't making us happier."

Remember: Check out the guide for more tips (like how to make things on your own)!

Welcome

Hi everyone! Just a brief overview of what we will be doing this week. No Impact Week is a week-long challenge that came out of Yes! Magazine and the movie No Impact Man. A group of students will be participating in this challenge March 20-27. The week is cumulative, so each day's challenge is in addition to all the challenges from previous days. Each day has its own individual theme, which are:
* Sunday: consumption
* Monday: trash
* Tuesday transportation & take action
* Wednesday: food
* Thursday: energy
* Friday: water
* Saturday: giving back
* Sunday: eco-sabbath
This blog will serve as a space for students to reflect on their experiences with the week. Each day we will update with more information about what the day's challenge entails. We invite you to join us on this journey.