Jill Sejd

This week, to work on the community aspect of eco-change, I introduced myself to my neighbors! I have lived in my apartment for almost a year but have only met one set of neighbors before, which they have since moved out. I recently had two new neighbors move into the unit across from mine, so I recruited my roommate to go with me to introduce ourselves. We brought them cookies that we had made and they seemed very happy about the gesture. We actually ended up exchanging numbers with them and will be going over to their apartment next week for dinner! I am glad I pushed myself to do this task as I was able to help my neighbors feel more welcome in their new home, and it has given me an opportunity to make new friends!

This week, I decided to work on decreasing my water usage by taking shorter showers. Not only is this helpful for the environment, but also financially for me since my utilities are not included in my rent. I sometimes tend to dilly-dally when I shower so this challenge was a good thing to work on for me to save water, and save money!

For this week's eco-challenge, I went to the PSU farmer's market to pick up some locally sourced fruits, veggies, and other goods. I got two onions, carrots, tomatoes, some serrano chilies, cilantro, kale, apples, blackberry jam, a huge loaf of sourdough bread, and vegan cheese from my favorite stand at the farmers market, they are called Vtopian :) I will combine this organic, local produce with some of the ingredients I already have at home to cook my meals this week which I am very excited about! For dinner tonight I plan to make a vegan burrito bowl of sorts with beans, rice, tofu, guacamole, peppers and onions, kale, and the serrano peppers and kale from the farmers market-- which I will probably put in the guac. Not only does shopping local support sustainable farming practices and local businesses, but it also tastes delicious!

For this week's ecochallenge, I decided to reconsider my energy usage and how myself and my roommates are using energy based on our thermostat settings. Considering that I now pay for my own utilities rather than them being included in my rent, this is a factor I want to really think about as it increases my personal sustainability, but also saves me money. As our weather continues to get warmer, but not too hot, this is the perfect time to practice conserving heat in my apartment. My apartment faces west so we tend to get most of our sunlight (and heat) in the evening, so when I am home I close my blinds at least halfway for an hour or two to prevent my room from heating up so much. Without closing the blinds, the temperature in the apartment can raise over 5 degrees in temperature, which is quite toasty. If this does happen, I have been cooling down the apartment by opening windows rather than turning on the AC. My goal this spring is to have the thermostat completely off as much as possible!

For this week's eco challenge, I decided to make a change in my workplace that would help us cut down on a great deal of paper waste. I work at the PSU Rec Center, and at least a few times a week I work at the till and sell memberships, swim clinic sessions, intramural passes, etc. There is a lot of paperwork that needs to be shredded after it is done being used, as well as many miscellaneous receipts and nonconfidential papers that always just get thrown in the trash. I simply just added a new bin next to the one for things that will be sent to the paper shredder, whereas this new bin is for recyclable materials. I am also talking with my boss about sending the shredded paper to the recycling instead of the trash after we are finished with it. Per my request, my boss also just ordered a new, bigger, and more clearly labeled recycling bin that will replace the dinky, ignorable one that I just put there. This change doesn't have any effect on patrons and is barely noticeable by employees, yet it will contribute to so much more paper being saved from landfills. I am surprised that we have not implemented a system like this sooner, but I am happy that we have a way to recycle all of this paper now!

The recycling bin is on the left. Soon to be replaced by a bigger, more clearly labeled bin.