Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So I feel like something great is about to end, but it feels good in a way too. I look forward to shaving my (rather scruffy) face, taking a shower where I don't have to rush out. Not using plastic bags was not that hard and it is one of those things that I think it would be good to continue, even if I don't have to. I never did get around to planting anything, but I have no doubt that my mother will require my service at some point in relation to her garden. Turning off lights will not change, at home I always do because of the whole solar thing, and almost anywhere else I don't really have control over the lights. It has been a good two weeks, but to some extent I'm glad it's over.
-Timm
Showing posts with label Timm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Timm. Show all posts
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Thursday, Post #8
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So I have pretty much reflected on everything I can for this project, but I still have two more blog posts to fill so I have to come up with something. Here goes!
We have been making videos this week that relate to our challenges. I guess the purpose of this whole project was to reach out and make an impact on someone else and their life. I really hope that our video and/or our blog will do so but I can't help but think that it is rather funny that we are using computers and such to spread our message. I don't really think that there is any other way to spread our message, but ultimately will it matter? Ah well, I have been impacted by this challenge and perhaps that is all it needs to do.
PS Sorry for all the horrible titles I have been using.
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So I have pretty much reflected on everything I can for this project, but I still have two more blog posts to fill so I have to come up with something. Here goes!
We have been making videos this week that relate to our challenges. I guess the purpose of this whole project was to reach out and make an impact on someone else and their life. I really hope that our video and/or our blog will do so but I can't help but think that it is rather funny that we are using computers and such to spread our message. I don't really think that there is any other way to spread our message, but ultimately will it matter? Ah well, I have been impacted by this challenge and perhaps that is all it needs to do.
PS Sorry for all the horrible titles I have been using.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Wednesday, Musings on Trade Offs (post 7)
As many of those who are reading this know I live about 32km from the high school that I attend. We are doing this low impact challenge but is that awareness and the good education that I get at the high school worth the greenhouse gasses that I spew into the air every morning on my way to school? Is any education worth the environment?
On a totally unrelated note I bought something and instinctively asked that it not be in a plastic bag. Go me!
Finally, I was at the house of someone else and I turned off lights that were not needed, and she did the same. Go education!
Shorter showers are going really well, though I had to take two today because I ran when I got home (Usually I take my shower in the morning). Go me (again)!
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
On a totally unrelated note I bought something and instinctively asked that it not be in a plastic bag. Go me!
Finally, I was at the house of someone else and I turned off lights that were not needed, and she did the same. Go education!
Shorter showers are going really well, though I had to take two today because I ran when I got home (Usually I take my shower in the morning). Go me (again)!
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Planting Stuff and Showering (Day 9, post 6)
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So today I got to turn off the first unneeded light this whole project today! I walked into the bathroom and no one was there and so I got to turn off the light, GO ME!
As for gardening, I never thought that it would be so hard to plant stuff. When I first started this project I thought that all I would have to do is stick seeds in the ground and that would count as growing stuff. The only things we have to plant are garden veggies though. These take time to prepare beds for, and such. Hmmm, how difficult. At this rate I will never plant anything :(
The rest of my challenges are going well.
(Sorry for the short post, have to go prepare garden beds)
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So today I got to turn off the first unneeded light this whole project today! I walked into the bathroom and no one was there and so I got to turn off the light, GO ME!
As for gardening, I never thought that it would be so hard to plant stuff. When I first started this project I thought that all I would have to do is stick seeds in the ground and that would count as growing stuff. The only things we have to plant are garden veggies though. These take time to prepare beds for, and such. Hmmm, how difficult. At this rate I will never plant anything :(
The rest of my challenges are going well.
(Sorry for the short post, have to go prepare garden beds)
Monday, May 17, 2010
Monday, Post #5
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
It's Monday so I'm just going to do a check in on each of the challenges.
I have been doing really well with lights. For the most part our classes are light-less, and when I go home to my house (even though it is solar) I turn off lights that I am not using. It occurred to me that as we live off the grid and do not have an unlimited amount of power turning off lights has been drilled into me as a habit, so is not much of a challenge. Oh well.
I REALLY SUCK AT PLANTING STUFF, haven't even planted one thing yet. More on this tomorrow.
Not shaving is going well. My girlfriend and/or Ricia haven't yet forcefully shaved my, so at least it isn't that bad :)
Haven't really bought anything, so nothing to really say about the plastic bags.
Shorter showers are going really well, I've gotten down to about 5 min total.
-Timm
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
It's Monday so I'm just going to do a check in on each of the challenges.
I have been doing really well with lights. For the most part our classes are light-less, and when I go home to my house (even though it is solar) I turn off lights that I am not using. It occurred to me that as we live off the grid and do not have an unlimited amount of power turning off lights has been drilled into me as a habit, so is not much of a challenge. Oh well.
I REALLY SUCK AT PLANTING STUFF, haven't even planted one thing yet. More on this tomorrow.
Not shaving is going well. My girlfriend and/or Ricia haven't yet forcefully shaved my, so at least it isn't that bad :)
Haven't really bought anything, so nothing to really say about the plastic bags.
Shorter showers are going really well, I've gotten down to about 5 min total.
-Timm
Friday, May 14, 2010
The end of a Low Impact Week
This post marks the end of the first 5 days of low impact me. It has been an interesting week with lots of things I learned, many of which surprised me. The most interesting thing I learned this week was that it is relatively easy to feed a three person family for a week with only $100. Our family tries to keep it under $250/week but often doesn't make it because we try to buy organic and local. I wonder if we are really making that much of a difference by buying local/organic in terms of the environment, especially with something else that I learned this week: that driving more to get to local food actually pollutes more then buying commercial food.
This week I glimpsed America at its best and its worst. We are a culture of inventors and innovators, but all that creation comes at a price. Lights are wonderful things, much less dangerous then torches or candles, but the power has to come from somewhere. I wonder if burning a candle or using a light creates more CO2...I guess that I will carry with me forever the realization that although our lives are high quality, that quality comes at cost.
I would really like to share with people how easy it is to give up a few things that may not matter much when it's just you, but how much it would matter if everyone gave up just one thing.
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So taking shorter showers is becoming more and more easy. I am able to have the water running for perhaps 2 or 3 minuets and get just as clean as if I took a longer shower. On the other hand I have a lot more time in the morning. Win Win. The only thing that is hard is turning off the warm water when you are cold. Oh well...
I would really like to share with people how easy it is to give up a few things that may not matter much when it's just you, but how much it would matter if everyone gave up just one thing.
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So taking shorter showers is becoming more and more easy. I am able to have the water running for perhaps 2 or 3 minuets and get just as clean as if I took a longer shower. On the other hand I have a lot more time in the morning. Win Win. The only thing that is hard is turning off the warm water when you are cold. Oh well...
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Blog 3, Day 4
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So, I have miserably failed at planting something every day so far. I have not had time or not had materials, or something such that I have not been able to plant anything. It occurred to me during my (short) shower that it is relatively easy to give something up. I have had little problem giving up shaving and plastic bags. Short showers have been a little harder but not much. Planting though, that takes me going out of my way to do something I don't usually do. I will try much harder from this point on to follow through with this challenge.
P.S. If it were not for this blog I could have just planted a flower or something. Just saying...
-Timm
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
So, I have miserably failed at planting something every day so far. I have not had time or not had materials, or something such that I have not been able to plant anything. It occurred to me during my (short) shower that it is relatively easy to give something up. I have had little problem giving up shaving and plastic bags. Short showers have been a little harder but not much. Planting though, that takes me going out of my way to do something I don't usually do. I will try much harder from this point on to follow through with this challenge.
P.S. If it were not for this blog I could have just planted a flower or something. Just saying...
-Timm
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Day 2 and What Not
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
I have had an interesting experience with lights in the last 24hrs. I do not miss or need lights most of the time. When I do need a light I can turn it on and use it. The thing is that in my house it is more habit then anything that gets me to turn on the light. I notice especially in my room that when there is less then enough light to see clearly I automatically turn on the light when entering the room. I wonder if this is the purpose of most of our modern technologies, to just make our lives that much easier. I could have seen just fine, it's just that I can see better with a light.
On a side note I have decided to give up shaving for the next two weeks because my razor has disposable heads that are also adding to the waist I create, and giving up shaving altogether feels like more of a sacrifice.
-Timm
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
I have had an interesting experience with lights in the last 24hrs. I do not miss or need lights most of the time. When I do need a light I can turn it on and use it. The thing is that in my house it is more habit then anything that gets me to turn on the light. I notice especially in my room that when there is less then enough light to see clearly I automatically turn on the light when entering the room. I wonder if this is the purpose of most of our modern technologies, to just make our lives that much easier. I could have seen just fine, it's just that I can see better with a light.
On a side note I have decided to give up shaving for the next two weeks because my razor has disposable heads that are also adding to the waist I create, and giving up shaving altogether feels like more of a sacrifice.
-Timm
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
First Post
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't use shaving cream (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
Reflection:
So, it is just the first day but I already failed with one of my goals, planting something every day. Today I am going to find some seeds and plant several to make up for my not planting any yesterday.
Shaving without shaving cream went a lot better then I thought it would have. I was expecting it to be an unpleasant experience, where I would cut up my face and not actually get to shave. It turns out that shaving without shaving cream works almost as well, and is not significantly more uncomfortable. Go figure.
No plastic bags was easy, I didn't buy anything.
I fail miserably at taking short showers, and as I just added this one now I haven't had a chance to take a short shower yet. This should be the biggest challenge of all.
I failed at trying to not use lights in my house, but personally I don't really feel like I made any significant bad impact because I didn't just turn on lights for the heck of it, and I live in a solar house. Ah well, the class decided this one.
-Timm
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't use shaving cream (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)
Reflection:
So, it is just the first day but I already failed with one of my goals, planting something every day. Today I am going to find some seeds and plant several to make up for my not planting any yesterday.
Shaving without shaving cream went a lot better then I thought it would have. I was expecting it to be an unpleasant experience, where I would cut up my face and not actually get to shave. It turns out that shaving without shaving cream works almost as well, and is not significantly more uncomfortable. Go figure.
No plastic bags was easy, I didn't buy anything.
I fail miserably at taking short showers, and as I just added this one now I haven't had a chance to take a short shower yet. This should be the biggest challenge of all.
I failed at trying to not use lights in my house, but personally I don't really feel like I made any significant bad impact because I didn't just turn on lights for the heck of it, and I live in a solar house. Ah well, the class decided this one.
-Timm
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