Robin Hand

This week for my simple living challenge, I decided to focus on mindfulness and meditation. I have been trying to integrate meditation into my routine for some time now, and for some reason I've had a really hard time prioritizing it. I've noticed that I keep so busy that I can go through entire days without really having a moment to stop and just be alone with my thoughts. I think having time where you aren't entertained or occupied is really important for mental clarity, creativity, and overall mental health. This is the reason why I stopped using a smartphone, although I have noticed that since giving it up, I'll use other things to distract myself from being present. This week, I've started trying to take at least ten minutes after waking up to just lay or sit in bed and ground myself before getting up to make coffee and start my to do list. I haven't noticed much of a change yet, but my plan is to gradually increase this into a 30 minute meditation practice that I'd like to do each day. I did really enjoy the walk we did in Tryon Creek, and that was probably the closest I got to actually meditating this week.

This week, I made a concerted effort to spend time outside, slow down, and notice my surroundings. I was visiting my family in Tucson for my sister's graduation, so I went hiking in the Sonoran Desert where I grew up. I took myself shoes off and walked barefoot to ground myself in the environment, feeling the warmth of the sand beneath my feet. There is a severe drought in the southwest right now, and I felt really sad noticing how dry and brown the plants were this year compared to the past. Even the desert adapted plants like Creosote, Jojoba, and Globemallow looked brittle and dry. Despite that, I noticed Cactus Wren, Cooper's hawks, and woodpeckers sitting atop Saguaros and scavenging for food. It felt good to be outside in the silence, aside from the sound of birds and lizards rustling in the bushes.
Being in a place so much dryer than Portland this week has made me appreciate water in a different way. Even though I grew up in the desert, I didn't often think about the preciousness of water. Knowing what I know now, I value every drop and try to conserve it as much as possible.

This week, I worked on cutting back on driving and replacing it with walking and riding my bike for my transportation themed eco-challenge. Although I did do a lot of walking this week with my dog (my partner is out of town so I was walking him 2x as much as usual) I didn't actually use walking as transportation. I haven't really needed to go anywhere that is within walking distance of my house. However, I have been riding my bike more, and I've tried to ride even when I would prefer to drive because I'm tired or the weather isn't good. I rode my bike to work this week, which is a bit of a challenge because it's a long ride, and I am often tired after work. I actually really enjoyed it, and felt good throughout my shift having gotten some exercise. I also challenged myself to ride my bike to a show I went to on Thursday evening, which I ended up regretting because it was raining pretty hard and I was wet and cold by the time I got there. I'm still glad I've been pushing myself to use active transportation more, I think I just need to get some better rain gear.

This week, I tried to be extra conscious of my water use in the house for things like showering, washing dishes, and doing laundry. I conserved water while washing dishes by turning the water off while I was washing and just turning it on quickly to rinse. I also reused leftover water from cooking projects (like making pasta) to water my garden. I tried to be as efficient as possible with laundry, doing full loads on cold to get the most out of the water I used. I have been more aware of how long my showers are, and I generally tend to take 10 minutes or so. I only shower once every 3 days though so that isn't an area where I feel like I need to cut back necessarily.

This week, I planted herbs and tended other plants in my garden. I am currently growing garlic, potatoes, kale, beans, cilantro, and arugula. I've tried to put more energy into making sure my plants are doing well, and hopefully soon I'll be able to harvest a little. The garlic is doing really well, which is very satisfying because it's been overwintering, and soon I'll be able to enjoy the fruits of my hard work. I also finished clearing out some invasive English ivy from part of my yard, which was covering almost half the yard when we moved in. I raked out the remaining roots and replanted some native wildflowers. They haven't sprouted yet, but maybe next week! I had also resolved to go to a farmers' market this week, but unfortunately didn't make it. I'm hoping to go next Sunday.

This week I focused on making sure lights were turned off when I left a room and turning off appliances when I'm not using them. It was challenging because I live with roommates, and I realized they leave their lights on a lot, but I didn't want to be constantly asking them to turn their lights off. I focused on the lights in the basement, which is where we have our laundry and the lights are almost always on when I go down there. I've made a habit of checking them when I walk by the basement door. I also unplugged all my chargers that tend to just stay plugged in even when I'm not using them. This was a pretty easy adjustment, and now I don't have to unplug my laptop charger to plug in my phone because the chargers are all in a drawer. I also chose to switch to using cold water for laundry, which is an easy switch that I hadn't even realized could save so much energy. I did try hanging my laundry out to dry, but our landlord sends landscapers to work on our yard and we never know when they're coming, so my roommate brought my clothes inside right before they got blown to the ground with a leaf blower.

For my challenge this week, I decided to do a personal waste audit. I tried to be really mindful every time I threw something away- what was it? why was I throwing it away? Did it serve a purpose in my life that could be served by something that wasn't single use? I found that most of what I was throwing away was food related. Almost everything I buy at the grocery store seems to come in plastic of some kind, aside from fruit and veggies. It's interesting to me that there is such a large conversation about bringing your own bags to the store, but the main problem to me seems to be the plastic that so many products are already packaged in. At work, the main things I threw away were gloves and paper towels. I use plastic gloves both to avoid spreading pathogens and cross contamination of food, and also because the sanitizer solution we use irritates my skin so I can't come into direct contact with it. I'm not sure what the solution is here. I think one reason restaurants are so unsustainable is because we have to use so much single use plastic just to follow health code. I think one positive thing I've taken away from working in restaurants is that I'm now much more conscious of the waste associated with take out food. I try to only dine in when I'm eating out, rather than getting food to go. One change that would be pretty easy if people were interested in it would be to start normalizing bringing Tupperware to take left overs when eating out. Even though a lot of takeout containers are that brown cardboard material that makes them look "eco-friendly," they are lined with petroleum-based wax to prevent leakage. This sort of turned into a tangent, but the conclusion is that I'm going to continue this waste audit and see if there are other ways I can throw away less, especially when it comes to groceries.