Reflection: Weeks 3 and 4

These last two weeks have been really informational. I started by meeting with Steve which was so helpful, because I was struggling with learning on this blogging stuff! I'm becoming much more confident in learning how to blog. I also picked my book for the my Read 'N' Seed posts, which is now "Under a Green Sky," by Peter Ward. I've started reading it and it seems like it's going to have a lot of good information in it.  I really liked the movie An Inconvenient Truth that we watched this last week. It was so eye-opening and scary! It makes me really want to start pay attention to my actions and how they may affect the environment. The same goes for the Earth Day Footprint quiz I took on monday. My results we're surprising so I'm excited to start with my Eco-Chic lifestyle change of using a reusable bag every time I go grocery shopping. I went grocery shopping for the first time today and remembered my bags! I hope I can everytime!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My Smart Goal

The SMART goal that I have chosen to do for the next the next 10 weeks is as follows:

"I will use a reusable bag everytime I go grocery shopping."

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This is eco-chic because all of the plastic and paper bags from the grocery store can really start to add up. By using a reusable bag I will cut down on garabage and there will be at least at least a little less trash in landfills.  This is important to me because I read on the National Geographic website that it can take months to hundreds of  years for a plastic bag to decompose, and as it does so small amounts of toxics leak into the soil, lakes, oceans, and rivers. Aslo, a lot of the bags end up floating away and landing on river beds. However, a paper bag consumes % 40 more engergy, and  produces %70 more atmospheric emmissions, than a plastic bag. So though a plastic bag is the better choice between the two, to me it's still a lose-lose situation, and a reusable bag is by far the best way to go!

Ecological Footprint

I completed the "EarthDay foorprint Quiz" Quiz. I answered questions that pertained to my normaly habbits such as how much meat do I eat, how often do I ride the bus, and how much trash do you think you generate compared to the typical American. My findings were that it would take 3.9 planet Earths to provide enough resrources for me! It also takes 17.4 global acres of the Earths productive area which is 18.2 TONS of carbon dioxide. I was shocked by my results for this quiz. I knew I wasn't doing everything I could to live 'green', but i was surprised to learn that my habbits can make that big of an impact. I think everyone should take this quiz at some point just so they can become aware of how many resources we use and how much carbon dioxide just one person can produce. This makes me want to start taking the bus more often, and also when I'm not living in a rental house to be sure that I have energy efficient appliances in my home. Eating more locally grown produce could be something that I could start doing now to help improve my ecological footprint.