Alisha Conroy

My food challenge for this week is meal planning. I have done this in the past when I worked in an office, but can utilize this for meals at home since I am home for a lot of my meals. I am just setting this up today and will grocery shop with 2 meals in mind that I can alternate for breakfast and lunch to eat for at least 4 meals in this coming week. I think one will be spaghetti and the other will be rice, beans, and veggies. I have spaghetti sauce in my fridge opened that needs to be used so I can utilize an ingredient I already have. I am going to go to a farmers market to get my veggies for the other meal.

For my energy ecochallenges I have been more diligent about keeping my thermostat all the way down before I leave the house. If I am in my room and not using the main space I have kept the heat off out there. Also just in general I have kept it down and utilized my blankets and warm clothing if I get cold. I make sure to power off my tv and other appliances when I am not using them.

A big focus for me is to quit fast fashion and be more intentional about the clothing I buy. I currently have a large wardrobe and do not need new items, although I do fall into the consumerist mindset of wanting more sometimes. I have wanted to shift from fast fashion for awhile but have not made an intentional effort until now. One of my actions I selected for this week was to learn about sustainable fashion practices which I learned at https://www.earthday.org/toolkit-how-to-shop-for-your-clothes/. There is a great list of things to look out for when buying clothing and it's not just to buy secondhand. Being aware of what our clothes are made from and who is making them is a huge part of being sustainable in regards to fashion and ethical treatment of people involved in the process.
Another focus in regards to waste for me and a topic I selected for this week is to skip the straw. This is actually a big one for me because I go out a lot and order drinks. I actually already have a set of metal straws at home and if I bring one with me in my bag I can use it at the restaurant/bars I go to. I don't care about looking weird for pulling out my own straw from my bag because who cares! Little things like this are worth it even if it seems to be a strange thing that most people don't do. Along these lines, bringing my own container for leftovers is something I also want to start doing, I just have to carry it separate or bring a bag that is big enough to fit the container because a lot of the time I bring a small bag with me.