Saki Saito

EJ and Ecospirituality, Spring 2026

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
523 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.2

pounds

food waste prevented
UP TO

6.9

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

70

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

200

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

1.0

conversation

with a person
UP TO

30

minutes

spent learning

Saki's actions

Water

Take 5-Minute Showers

I will save up to 20 gallons (75 L) of water each day by taking 5-minute showers.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Invite a Friend to Calculate Their Footprint

Individual actions are important, but people and organizations working together can make a real impact. I will share a carbon or energy calculator with a friend and invite them to calculate the carbon footprint of their living space.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Engage in a Mindfulness Practice

I will spend 10 minutes per day practicing Mindfulness.

COMPLETED 6
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Learn About Trans, Femme, and Nonbinary Experiences

I will spend 30 minutes learning about the experiences of trans, femme, and/or nonbinary people.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Turn Off Lights and Electronics

I will keep lights, electronics, and appliances turned off when not using them.

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Power Down the Computer

I will power down my computer and monitor when not using it for more than 2 hours, saving up to (1.1) lbs of CO2 per day.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Switch To Cold Water for Laundry

I will switch to washing my clothes in cold water, saving up to 1,600 lbs of CO2 over the course of the next year.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Plan Meals for the Week

I will reduce food waste and save money by planning a weekly menu, only buying the ingredients I need.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy

How is electricity generated where you live? How does it impact the environment, animals, and humans?
Saki Saito 2/13/2026 10:07 AM
Electricity in DC mostly (>95%) comes from other states, with around 5% being generated locally, most of which is renewable. This lines up with what I discovered about 55 H St while doing research to fill out the carbon footprint calculator, which said that 5% of our electricity came from the solar panels on our roof.

It seems that most of the energy from outside states is non-renewable, which would release a lot of pollutants such as CO2 into our atmosphere. This causes global warming which has severe effects on animals such as habitat loss, and impacts humans as well through increased intensity of natural disaster events.

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Saki Saito 2/11/2026 7:48 PM
I feel that some of the daily actions, such as turning off the lights and electronics, are starting to become habits at this point into the month. In the same way that small actions that save just a little bit of energy add up over time to save a lot, I think each small action each day adds up into making it a habit over time.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Water

What did you notice about your habits or routines when limiting your showers to five minutes? What changes—if any—do you think you’ll continue long-term?
Saki Saito 2/09/2026 5:24 PM
I took a 5 minute shower this morning, and I found it to be much easier than taking them at night. I think this might be because I'm more tired in the evening which makes me want to stay in the shower and relax for longer.

This made me think about how reducing my showers by even just 5 minutes adds up when this is something I do daily, and I think this principle could be applied to other daily tasks as well. For example, shutting down my laptop or turning off the lights in my room each time I leave the apartment.

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- Savannah Samano 2/09/2026 6:36 PM
  I also took a quick shower this morning, but it was very much forced considering there was no hot water.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

How is equality for trans, femme, and nonbinary people important to a just and sustainable society?
Saki Saito 2/08/2026 8:25 PM
I asked my nonbinary roommate, Scout, about the way they've experienced their identity being a barrier in classes. It was surprising to me how there were so many different ways that microaggressions and even explicit discrimination was evident from professors and other Georgetown workers.

I think it's important to include trans, femme, and nonbinary people in conversations because in order to achieve true equality, all people's perspectives and stories need to be heard. It is relevant to creating a just and sustainable society because a more unified community will be able to work more efficiently towards environmental goals as well. Furthermore, as we discussed in our definition of ecofeminism, the system where humans dominate over nature mirrors the wider society's domination over trans, femme, and nonbinary people.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy

What are other easy things you could do to save energy and reduce your environmental footprint?
Saki Saito 2/08/2026 7:15 PM
I shut down my computer and unplugged the charger while hanging out with my friends today!

Some other things I could do are to turn off the TV when it's not in use, and even unplug it from the wall during breaks when I know that no one is going to home for a week.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy

What kinds of discussions did you have, or are you hoping to have with friends about climate change?
Saki Saito 2/07/2026 3:20 PM
I completed the survey on https://www.footprintcalculator.org/, and my result was that we would need 5 Earths if everyone lived like me. This result is quite poor, and I hope to decrease it with more intentionality. However, I think one large contributing factor to this result was that I spend a lot of hours on flights annually (~90), which I think is difficult to decrease due to the fact that I am an interntional student from Japan/the Philippines, and I have to fly a lot in order to see my family.

To respond to some of the questions about housing, I referred to this: https://www.usgbc.org/projects/georgetown-university-55-h-street. I didn't know about this publicly available source of information before, so it was really interesting to learn that 5% of 55H's energy comes from the solar panels on our roof.

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- Angelina Zhao 2/08/2026 7:33 AM
  I really liked the footprint calculator site you used. I filled it out twice, to compare my lifestyles from high school when I lived at home and commuted, compared to now that I live on campus. First, I got 6 Earths, and then 4 Earths. It isn't much better than your responses either, but I think there is this large of a difference in how I live because I'm living more independently and have to travel and make food decisions for myself, instead of my parents making larger decisions for the family. Also, living on campus decreases the time I spend commuting by tenfold, since I live really close.
  I also found that Arrupe, the dorm I live in now, is more energy sustainable than I thought. I knew it was a fairly new building, but I was not aware about the green roofs. I did however, immediately think to how all the lights in the dorm turn off after 15 minutes of no motion, which helps a lot if someone forgets to turn the light off.
  
  Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity

What best helped you with your Mindfulness Practice? How does Mindfulness keep you grounded and sustain your work with compassion?
Saki Saito 2/07/2026 1:09 PM
I used this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W19PdslW7iw to do guided meditations yesterday and today. I did it at my desk yesterday, but I found it much more helpful to do it on the couch today to get some separation between work and mindful focus.

The Mindfulness Practice helped me to reorganize my thoughts and plans for studying this week, feeling less overwhelmed about my study schedule.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four in the US spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. Does this surprise you? Where else would you rather invest this money instead of wasting food?
Saki Saito 2/02/2026 7:34 PM
It is shocking to me that US families waste $1500 worth of food, but I had actually thought about this before in comparison to the amount of food a Japanese family wastes, which to me seemed to be a lot less. I think one reason could be that there is a big culture of driving to grocery stores in the US, so people tend to bulk buy lots of ingredients and load up the car; in Japan, however, people only go on foot to grocery stores, so they are forced to be more selective/conservative in the ingredients they buy, since they can only carry so much.

I went to the grocery store today and bought ingredients for three different dishes, all of which make two servings. The ingredients I bought should last me until Tuesday. Attached is a photo of the tomato cream cheese pasta I made!

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