No Impact Week

NO TRASH MONDAY:

I must say that the first thing I did this morning was buy a non-recyclable Starbucks cup of coffee. I didn't realize my mistake until I went to my US1100 class this afternoon. However, to make up for lapse in judgement I recycled my sprite can in the proper container. I also went to lunch at Lair and they have these bins separated into organic material, paper and plastic. And once I was done with my lunch I separated my trash into the specific containers. I then went back to my dorm and correctly separated my recyclables from what could not be recyclable. If it wasn't for today I wouldn't have realized how much trash one person can produce in one day.


TRANSPORTATION TUESDAY

I think today was the easiest day out of the week for me. I live on campus, have a bike at school, and I am car-less. Unfortunately, I don't use my bike as much as I would like, I think I walk more to make up for it. I even walked to HEB today to pick up some few groceries I needed. While others had to cut back on their gas intake or had to walk to class for the first time, I just had to do what I have been doing since I got here.


FOOD WEDNESDAY

Every morning I have an 8am class so getting breakfast is a challenge for me. After my class I usually go get coffee and biscotti or go to the dinning hall for a mid morning "snack", but today I went back to my dorm and ate a granola bar. I don't know if this helped or not because the granola bar was individually packaged. This will probably be my hardest day. Living on campus has its perks and its disadvantages. Trying to be food savy is definitely a disadvantage. Our dining halls only provide their food on styrofoam plates or containers and when it comes to snacks everything is usually individually packaged. I did the best I could with the limitations I had.



SAVE ENERGY THURSDAY

This will probably be my favorite day. I am a big fan of sunlight coming in through my windows for light, so today I really made an effort not to turn on the lights.I usually leave my chargers plugged in, but today the only plug that was connected was the refrigerator and the extension cords. My roommates however had a hard time. I was the last one out today and I had to go around and turn off everyone's lights, straighteners, TV, and the coffee pot that was still on. But by the end of the night everything was trying their best to conserve energy.


SAVE WATER FRIDAY

When I was about eight I went to Girl Scout camp. It was by far the worst camping experience I ever had. For an 8 year old I was not looking forward to making my own food, pitching my own tent, and taking a two minute shower. Around that time I had long hair that fell to the bottom of my back. It would usually take about 30 minutes if I was lucky to take a shower. So before I went to camp my mother and I timed my showers and I was able to wash my long thick hair, lather up, and rinse in 5 minutes. So when Friday came around I figured it would be nice to relive my Girl Scout days. I was able to take a 5:30 minute shower and the water was on for a total of 2:00 minutes. As far as drinking water, I used my reusable containers and grab tapped water every time I was empty.

No Impact Week made me aware of everything we COULD be doing to help our planet but we don't. This week has opened my eyes to all the little things we should be doing. I think from now on I will try to continue to take shorter showers and use less energy as possible. I do need to work on the food portion of the week. But overall it was a quite a learning experience.

-Karen Zamora