Is it really trash?

Walking to class, I noticed this trash can. Inside is a lot of material that could easily have been recycled. Yet it is overflowing because people don't take the iniative to seek out recycling bins. Granted, the recycling bins on campus aren't easy to find, but they are there. That needs to change because students will just throw stuff away if it's more convenient.

Ride a bike

My first goal to reduce my impact is to ride my bike. I already ride my bike regularly to class but I thought I could expand that to more places.

I now not only ride my bike or walk everyday to class but I also ride to work and for small grocery runs too. Biking has greatly reduced my impact on the environment. I used to spend $50 or more a month on gas. I have cut that to less than $20 a month. Riding my bike instead of driving reduces my energy consumption but it also gets me out and exercising making me more healthy too.

Where I'm going

As I started thinking of what I could do to reducing my impact, I began to notice the gross negligence of others around me. I knew right then and there that my goal with this project was not only to reduce my impact but to show the gross negligence of those around me. I figured I could have a bigger impact if the things I show you changes the way you think too. I'm putting my life out there, why not others? So, in this journal, I will not only write about my struggles to become more sustainable, but I will show you what I am doing and what others are doing through my photographs. I will use this blog to record my effort to reduce my impact on the earth and will share my struggles and triumphs. I welcome any of your ideas and comments on this project.

Footprint Journal

I'm taking a sustainable business practices class this semester. This is a class to actively engage in thinking of ways that businesses can become more economically sustainable while being economically profitable. For example, if a company were to redesign its packaging to reduce material waste and decrease the size of the package, it would allow for more products to be shipped in the same area with less material usage. This saves costs by reducing material usage and shipping costs.

On the first day of class my professor informed us that we would need to keep a personal journal of our own efforts to actively reduce our impact on the earth. My professor wants us to not only think of what we can do but actually walk the walk to reduce our own carbon footprints. He recommended the following websites for help calculating our current footprints on the earth. Most of these websites offer helpful tips to get you started right away. I've listed them here because they are interesting.

ecological footprint calculator:
http://www.ecologicalfootprint.org/ www.globalcool.org/myco2/

Buy Less Crap http://www.buylesscrap.org/

The PB&J Campaign http://www.pbjcampaign.org/

We Are What We Do www.wearewhatwedo.org/index.php; this site has an action tracker that you can participate in

personal footprint calculator at the New American Dream Website, www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=calculator

carbon footprint calculator at conservation international, www.conservation.org/act/live_green/carboncalc/Pages/default.aspx?gclid=COS7uKrOi5QCFQZinAodUFc3Wg

setting up a nag, (like good old mother earth : ) http://www.thenag.net/

My results using http://www.ecologicalfootprint.org/:






Really? 3.92 Earths to sustain my current lifestyle.

I took this class because I knew it was going to stretch me and get me out of my comfort zone. I'm not a "green" thinker. I hardly recycle and after the first day of class, I realized that I do waste a ton of things and I could reduce my impact greatly. This journal has already gotten me to actively look at areas of my life where I am wasting more and not reducing enough. My mindset now is more of that of a backpacker leaving a campsite. There is the old adage: "Leave a campsite better than they way you found it." I will approach this journal project in the same way. How can I leave the areas I impact better than how I found it?