Haley Underwood

For my seventh eco challenge, I wanted to attempt to do the reverse of consuming. I achieved this by heavily reducing my personal shopping for clothes, drinks, or eating out, and donating to thrift stores that reuse my clothing for resale. A large portion of the success of our country's economy has been discussed in our reading to rest on our ability to continuously go out and purchase things that marketers have convinced us that we ‘need’ (Northwest Earth Institute, 2012). I attempted to try to think about what I am lucky enough to have and how I can share these items or make new things from what I have. I ended up donating two bags of my clothes that are too small for me to Goodwill, including some gym clothes, sweatpants, shirts, etc. I also attempted to reduce my purchases of coffee or tea while going out by making my own matcha latte at home the past few days. Also, a fun little thing I did today was making my own raspberry syrup at home for my lattes, which can be used on pancakes as well. It was surprisingly easy, and I just followed an online recipe (1 cup water, 1 cup raspberries, 1 cup sugar), but added some cornstarch to it, so it would have a thicker consistency.

References

Northwest Earth Institute. (2012). Discussion course on choices for sustainable living. Northwest Earth Institute.

For my sixth eco challenge, I wanted to focus on limiting the amount of driving I did throughout the week, whether that meant carpooling with my family or borrowing my dad's car, which is a hybrid vehicle. His hybrid car is extremely cost effective from how little gasoline he has to buy, because of the ability for the car to run on electricity as well. This also reduces the car's carbon footprint, as we learned how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere and our individual environments from the use of cars or planes (Northwest Earth Institute, 2012). I was able to reduce my trips to 1-2 a day, depending on how busy I was, as well as avoiding going to specific areas where I knew there would be stop-start traffic. Additionally, I had conversations with my family about trying to avoid unnecessary trips, as well as inquiring how my dad tracks how many miles per gallon he gets using his hybrid car. He discussed how he tracks it through doing some simple subtraction and division, which, at the car's best, it was able to get between 70-86.5 miles per gallon. It proves to be a great way to avoid continuously utilizing gas for his car to run, while also saving money. Also, we plan to get rid of our other vehicle and trade it in for another hybrid vehicle in the future.

Northwest Earth Institute. (2012). Discussion course on choices for sustainable living. Northwest Earth Institute.

References

Northwest Earth Institute. (2012). Discussion course on choices for sustainable living. Northwest Earth Institute.

For my fourth eco challenge, I wanted to examine different ways that I could minimize my personal water use/footprint within my routine. This included attempting to take shorter showers, which at times can be challenging when I have to wash my hair. However, I was able to reduce my showers where I don’t wash my hair from 10 to 5 minutes, as well as reducing my shower time from 30 minutes to 15 minutes each time I added in washing my hair. Additionally, I attempted to suggest meals that my family and I could make that didn’t involve beef, as our reading discussed how “...two pounds of beef requires 4068 gallons of water” (Northwest Earth Institute, 2012, p. 76). Beef is usually a staple that my family and I cook with multiple times during the week, but I was able to cut down my use of beef to two meals this week, substituting it with salmon and halibut on other days.

Northwest Earth Institute. (2012). Discussion course on choices for sustainable living. Northwest Earth Institute.

For my third eco challenge, I chose to attend the Shamanski Farmers Market after class, which they have every Wednesday. It’s on the park blocks near the end of the Portland State campus, and many different stands were selling fresh fruits, veggies, flowers, truffles, honey, nuts, granola, etc. I settled on grabbing some fresh carrots to bake for my dinner with my family later that day, as well as some local strawberries and honey. By grabbing the fruits and veggies I need for dinner from a local farmers' market, it not only reduces the amount of food miles, but also my food waste, as I use these fresh fruits quickly and efficiently. Researchers within our reading discussed how our culture supports supermarkets having whatever product we need in that moment; however, this has detrimental impacts on our planet through CO2 emissions and climate change as a whole, as well as the health of our food (Northwest Earth Institute, 2012). I wanted to specifically find strawberries, as they are currently in season. I discussed within my reflection how I had been eating strawberries year-round, without really taking into consideration that these strawberries were either taking long and strenuous trips or being modified on the farm with extreme pesticides. The carrots were absolutely delicious, as well as the strawberries and honey, while also being priced semi-fairly.

References

Northwest Earth Institute. (2012). Discussion course on choices for sustainable living. Northwest Earth Institute.

References

Northwest Earth Institute. (2012). Discussion course on choices for sustainable living. Northwest Earth Institute.

References

Northwest Earth Institute. (2012). Discussion course on choices for sustainable living. Northwest Earth Institute.