Still going strong... It's getting to the point now where I don't even need to think about the tasks I'm doing, and it just comes naturally. Quite honestly organic food taste really good and is good for you so that's easy, and saving water is so simple. For example, when you brush your teeth you simply just don't need water running when you're not using it.

My Eco challenge is going fantastic as I've saved so much water now, I'm actually making a difference. I've learned now that it's so easy to help our world and it's as simple as not being lazy. The thought is everything and I've learned that it's easier than you think once you build a passion towards what you're doing. I hope to soon get to the point where I don't even need to think about what I'm doing, and it just comes naturally because in reality it's just the right thing.

I chose four actions, one is related to energy, one is related to waste, and the other two are related to water. For me, challenges, ‘turn-it-off’, ‘use a reusable water bottle’ and ‘conserve toilet water’ were not challenging at all because these were already my habits. I use the library most of the time, so I do not often use my light in my dorm room, and I always make sure I do not plug in something. I always carry my water bottle and refill my bottle from water dispensers. When I flush, I always think about and flush appropriately. However, I found a challenge related to water ‘five-minute shower’ was difficult, and I am still struggling to accomplish this challenge. Although I cannot finish my shower in five minutes most of the time, I believe I am not taking as much time as I used to take before I committed to this challenge. As a strategy to reduce the amount of time I am using a shower, I play a song every time and take the end of the song as my cue to end my shower time. Besides that, I tried to sit near the drinking bar at Whitney so that I would not forget to refill my water bottle. Furthermore, ‘Use a reusable water bottle’ is related to combatting the issue of PET bottle recycling, as we learned in one of our classes. Recycling PET bottles uses a lot of energy; even if recycled, it would not be the same product anymore. Additionally, visiting the La Crosse water treatment plant encouraged me to do the ‘five-minute shower’ challenge. By visiting there, I understood how it is difficult and expensive to treat water and to recycle the used water and the huge amount of electricity being used as well. By saving water, I believe I contributed to saving water and energy, which further leads to low carbon emissions. I had a few conversations about my challenges outside of class. When I talked about the ‘five-minute shower’ people seemed unfortunately less interested and their reaction was,“Is that possible?”

1. How it was honestly challenging and new for you at this time
- this activity was challenging for me since it is hard to track how long my computer is on/off and remembering to power it down if I don't use it for more than 2 hours at a time
2. What conversations you had with others about it
- I didn't really have any conversations with others about it except for telling a classmate what our challenge was and why we chose it
3. Something specific you discovered from the action
- I discovered that sleep mode, restarting, and shutting down your computer are not the same thing and have different benefits. Specifically, shutting down your computer can help the overall health of the computer in the long run because of energy saving and battery enhancement.
4. How you learned at least 2 things relevant to the action in this class.
- Shutting down your computer when you are not using it significantly reduces your personal energy consumption
- Shutting down your computer may save money as you won't have to charge it as much, which uses electricity that you have to pay for, which contributes to CO2 emissions

I think my ecochallenge is going very well because I used to be vegetarian for about 8 years so I'm used to eating meatless options and how to navigate those challenges. However, it is harder to not eat meat now that I do eat it again because the food options are normally so much better when they have meat. It is a challenge for me and I have to keep my ecochallenge in mind when going to go eat.

My challenge is going surprisingly well. The biggest challenge I'd selected was switching to cold water when washing my clothes. I've noticed that washing on cold makes no difference to the quality of washing my clothes go through.

My ecochallenge is actually a lot harder than I thought. I didn't realize how often I use paper cups for things, both on and off campus. Last weekend I tried going to a coffee shop that I know serves their drinks in ceramic mugs (if you say 'for here' when they ask), but they were closed on Sundays, so I ended up going to a different coffee shop but I forgot to bring my own mug. And then on campus, I asked at Badger Street Subs and they let me use my own cup, but they seemed kind of reluctant so I'm not sure if they'll let me do it again. So all in all, a lot more difficult than I expected.

My ecochallenge is going well. The other day I used a reusable straw instead of a plastic one. It was nice to know I'm helping improve the environment and reduce waste.