Waterless Wednesday
1. Consumption - What did you consume today? Please make a list for your usage of the following substances Water: .5 minute shower, 1 toilet flush, a few short hand washes, about 4 cups of drinking water including coffee and tea Food: toast, carrots, hummus, pasta, meat Electricity: no lights!! used the microwave a couple times and opened the fridge about 3 times. had to plug in computer for this project and other homework Gasoline (fossil fuels): train to school, train home, turned on stove twice $$Money$$ - What did you spend money on today? nothing! 2. Reduction - In what areas of your current lifestyle did you try to scale back the use of specific resources? Although it was waterless wednesday, I would consider this a winning wednesday for me. I did not turn on any lights from the time I got home, about 4, and I’m not planning to turn on lights at all tonight. I lit 22 candles in the kitchen but other than that everywhere is dark except the light from outside. This is a huge reduction for me because I usually have a lot of lights on while I’m home. I also conserved water today by not flushing the toilet twice which wasn’t actually that gross. This reduced my water consumption by 6 gallons. I also didn’t spend any money again today. 3. Sustainability - Are there any changes that you made to your daily routine that you could envision making for the long term? Can you reduce your consumption permanently? Why or why not? Please be specific, and provide examples. I can’t really see myself not using electric light all the time for a few reasons. One, it’s still pretty hard to see which is straining my eyes a lot. Two, I think there is going to be wax EVERYWHERE tomorrow. This will take a long time for me to clean up, and I’m not sure the amount of wax i used is worth the energy I saved. I’m going to try to do this sometimes though, like once a week maybe. I would definitely recommend reducing consumption in this way because it’s cool to see that I can live without electric light, and candles are pretty. I feel like I’m reducing my consumption in a really tangible way because the way it effects my life is very noticeable.
Money Monday
1. Consumption - What did you consume today? Please make a list for your usage of the following substances Water: I took a 6 minute shower and drank maybe 2 cups of water. I also washed my hands and brushed my teeth Food: toast, granola bar, pasta, bacon, soup Electricity: used lights in my house and the computer for homework and accidentally facebook. I also used the microwave and refrigerator Gasoline (fossil fuels): took the train to and from school $$Money$$ - What did you spend money on today? nothing 2. Reduction - In what areas of your current lifestyle did you try to scale back the use of specific resources? List the areas of your daily routine that you made an effort to limit your usage of certain substances. Ex. Did you reduce your water usage? Electricity? Food consumption? Technology (iphone, ipod, computers, facespace etc…) I didn’t spend any money today because it was money monday. I kept track of time in the shower and I tried not to take more than 5 minutes, but I ended taking 6 minutes. Tomorrow I’ll try for 5. I didn’t really reduce my usual food consumption which is something I could do in the future and also pay more attention to where the food I eat comes from. People in 3rd world countries are probably more likely to eat food around where they live rather than get food from across the world. Except for people who are into eating local and things like that, most people including myself don’t pay very much attention to where the food we eat is made. 3. Sustainability - Are there any changes that you made to your daily routine that you could envision making for the long term? Can you reduce your consumption permanently? Why or why not? Please be specific, and provide examples. Not spending money for one day didn’t really have an effect on my life. It doesn’t seem like I’m reducing my consumption at all if I go home and eat food that I bought yesterday and then buy more tomorrow. It doesn’t really matter that I didn’t technically spend any money today because I would still consume the same amount. That is why I am going to not spend money for the rest of the week. I think this will legitimately reduce my consumption because hopefully I will realize that there are things I don’t need and I won’t go out and buy them as soon as the week’s over. 4. Following: I noticed that someone used candles instead of electric lighting which I think is a good idea. I will do that tomorrow. I think it’s going to take a lot of candles to have enough light to do anything.
Try Harder Tuesday
t1. Consumption - What did you consume today?
Please make a list for your usage of the following substances Water: 6 minute shower, some drinking water, a few toilet flushes Food: bacon, toast, carrots, hummus, bagel Electricity: 1 hour of tv, computer because it was necessary for homework, usual light usage Gasoline (fossil fuels): drove to school, took train home $$Money$$ - What did you spend money on today? nothing 2. Reduction - In what areas of your current lifestyle did you try to scale back the use of specific resources? List the areas of your daily routine that you made an effort to limit your usage of certain substances. Ex. Did you reduce your water usage? Electricity? Food consumption? Technology (iphone, ipod, computers, facespace etc…) I did pretty much the same amount of reduction that I have been doing all week, shorter showers, no spending money, less food, more conscious of water, electricity, and gasoline usage. 3. Sustainability - Are there any changes that you made to your daily routine that you could envision making for the long term? Can you reduce your consumption permanently? Why or why not? Please be specific, and provide examples. I can continue doing all the things I have been doing forever I think. Taking shorter showers is not a big deal and saves me time in the morning anyways.
Day One: Social Networking Sunday
1. Consumption - What did you consume today? Please make a list for your usage of the following substances Water: Coffee, Tea, 5 minute shower, a few toilet flushes, washed my hands a couple times, brushed teeth twice but didn’t leave water running Food: french toast, pasta, broccoli, thin mints, meat Electricity: watched 1 hour of tv + spent time on the tumblr and probably 30 minutes on the facespace Gasoline (fossil fuels): Drove probably 40 minutes total $$Money$$ - What did you spend money on today? French toast and public transportation 2. Reduction - In what areas of your current lifestyle did you try to scale back the use of specific resources? I tried not to use the facespace so much, which would count as technology and electricity I suppose. This was not entirely successful because I kept forgetting not to go on. I also took a 5 minute shower instead of the usual 10 or 15. I also walked home from church instead of driving. List the areas of your daily routine that you made an effort to limit your usage of certain substances. Ex. Did you reduce your water usage? Electricity? Food consumption? Technology (iphone, ipod, computers, facespace etc…) 3. Sustainability - Are there any changes that you made to your daily routine that you could envision making for the long term? Can you reduce your consumption permanently? Why or why not? Please be specific, and provide examples. I can definitely take shorter showers on a regular basis. I am going to try to reduce the time I spend on the computer. After paying closer attention to how much I use the computer, I was surprised to find that i use it way more than I thought I did. This is because I almost always play music from it whether I’m using it or not. I think I can cut down on my consumption by not playing music all the time. I can also work on not turning on lights if I don’t need them. Another permanent change I can make is to spend less time on the facespace, which uses a lot of computer battery, so then it needs to be charged more often.
