Colin Russell

I have been using a lot of single-use plastic or paper utensils and cups this year. Something to think about, too, is plastic lining in paper cups or in canned goods. It almost feels inevitable to have some form of plastic in our food products. It also makes me think of how studies have shown an increasing amount of microplastics in people's bodies, which is not good to say the least.

I checked my water footprint using the water calculator. I've actually done a personal study of my water footprint before, and lucky for me, I live in a building that doesn't let me use a lot of water. This is mostly because of low-flow toilets, I handwash my few dishes, low-flow shower heads, and so on. Where most of my water use comes from seems to be from 2 things. One is diet, I eat meat daily, which requires a lot of water, and secondly, is just the fact I live in Portland, and electricity requires water. And that latter part really surprised me. Now I can't do much about where I get my electricity, as I'm in my dormitory, but maybe I can do something about my diet?