No Impact week

Sunday(consumption): Consumption day was really bad for me because I wasted a lot of things and also bought a lot of things. I consumed more than 8 bottles of water that day which i went to buy at our local H-E-B. I just could have filled bottles of water that I had hanging out in my dorm but no i had to go and buy new ones instead of using what I had.

Monday(trash): Trying to limit myself to reduce trash is a challenge to me because I alone create to much trash in my dorm. This challenge was a fail for me :/. I couldn't do anything about reducing my habits of creating trash. Maybe just maybe I think I created less trash this day.

Tuesday(transportation): You all should be happy because this day i did not use any method of transportation that were not my two human legs. This day I walked to all my classes without using a car, bus, or anything that may harm our precious environment. I felt so proud of myself this day because it felt good being able to help out.

Wednesday(food): This day I can admit i ate like a pig. One thing is because me and my roommate ate a lot of junk food all day and we obviously did not do nothing productive this day. We just hanged out and watch T.V. while eating fatty foods. I can admit eating like this is fun but it comes at a price.

Thursday(Energy): Energy was a hard challenge for me because i use energy to do everything. I just can not live without energy. I fail again this day because I watched t.v., played video game, used the computer, and well washed my clothes which obviously wasted a bunch of electricity.

Friday(water): Water is what i always drink in my dorm nothing else so I kinda cheated like the past no impact days and well drank water that day. I also took a long relaxing shower because I needed one of those after a long stressing week from homework. Sorry but this day was pretty bad for me.

Saturday(giving back): The day of giving back i spent my whole day sleeping so I did not give up to no one. Maybe I gave back to the environment because i woke up at 7 P.M. and did not create trash. Almost the end of no impact week and i felt really useless because i was not able to do almost any good for our environment.

Sunday(eco-sabbath): I felt so proud of my self because this day for twelve hours I did not turn on the light at ALL. The reason for this is that me and my roommate slept for 12 hours straight and did not wake up after those twelve hours. I felt so proud of myself! Man twelve hours without turning the lights thats a new record. Thing is we went to sleep at 5 A.M. in the morining that day.

No Impact Week!

Sunday- Consumption

I'm not gonna lie, I'm extremely wasteful. Consumption is my weakness! I just love buying stuff because having something new is always fun. I don't go out and buy useless stuff though, I'm more of a clothes/shoes/accessories-crazy kind of girl. Of course I bought snacks today to get me through the week. It wasn't even in bulk either because my mom was waiting until next week to renew her Costco card. Random information that nobody really needs to know, but it helps add on to my story.

Monday- Trash

I did an uh-oh because right when I got into University Seminar I opened up my granola bar. Oops! I was just so hungry and finding something that didn't use trash was way too much work at the time. It's not like I just so happened to have some fresh fruit stuffed in my bag either. I'm definitely going shopping for fruits this weekend though

Tuesday- Transportation

Because I live on campus it just seems like walking is the only way of getting anywhere. I hardly drive my car anyway because at the College Inn dorms it's almost impossible getting a parking spot, and luckily I had one. Actually I don't even think I drove this whole week because I had a parking spot.

Wednesday- Food

I love food with a burning passion, so this one I wasn't too thrilled about. I pretty much did everything normal except I drank more water and less sugar filled drinks.

Thursday- Energy

Now I'm more aware of when I leave things plugged in after I'm done using them, so I did good for that. Also my roommate and I usually rely on the sun for light until about 6 or so, and today we stayed true to that habit.

Friday- Water

We bought a water filter!!!! And luckily my sister came into town to visit me (..okay and go clubbing) and she brought me my reusable water bottle. Of course it's this cute blue one with a big pink peace sign on it. Nothing but the best :)

Saturday- Give Back

I usually try and be as nice to people as I can so today felt like every other day. Except we did drive down to the Square, even though it would have been a nice little walk.

Sunday- Eco-Sabbath

Eco Sabbath was sort of non existent for me. It was difficult to just...sit there. Probably because of this fast paced world we live in, I always want to go out and do stuff, or watch TV or check my Facebook, etc. I actually went shopping and drove to the outlet malls D: I know if my heart was really in it I could of been more aware of my actions

-Alex Castillo(:

No Impact Week

Monday (Trash): Since I arrived on campus, I haven't really been using the trash can too much. I have a very small trash can in my room which starts to get full by about after a week, but i manage to make it two weeks before I throw it in the dumpster because I'm to lazy. If I was serious I could have went through the trash and recycled some of the stuff, but I didn't.

Tuesday (Tansportation): I don't have a car up here so I never use one. When I want to go home I take the bus so I have been doing good on the transportation aspect since I've been going here.

Wednesday (Food): I love food so 99% of the time I eat all the food on my plate. I don't like leaving food on the plate, and I didn't do it this day.

Thursday (Energy): I don't remember which day it was, but I did open the windows in my room and tried using the sunshine as a source of light, but that did not last very long. I also probably left my computer charging all day so that wasn't good. But when i leave the room i always turn off the light. I could have done better.

Friday (Water): I stayed at my friends apartment and they have a bunch of water bottles so i drank a lot of them. I didn't really think about using tap water. And they don't have a recycle bin at their apartment so I just threw them in the trash... Not a good day. My bad.

Grant Fisher

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

Anti-No Impact Man

9/27 Consumption:

I woke up on Sunday morning back in my hometown lying in my comfortable memory foam Serta bed. Knowing this was the start of "No Impact Week", I thought, "Hey, wouldn't this day be perfect for shopping?" My mom needed groceries anyways so I tagged along. She thought I had left my mind back at San Marcos when we needed a half a dozen apples and I bagged each one individually--twice. The cashier's expression was puzzled to say the least. Throughout the day, I consumed $785 dollars consisting of two pairs of prescription glasses, a Miles Austin jersey (go Cowboys!), a flashy cross to wear around my neck, a pair of comfortable asics shoes, and three pairs of Jordan shorts. I suppose I did help the economy out.

9/27 Trash:

I live at Blanco residence hall which has recycle bins on the 3rd and 1st floor. The third floor is pitiful with plastic bottles overflowing into the walkway. What if I did not use the recycle bin? There's a perfectly good empty dumpster outside to throw away plastic. Sounds good to me.

9/28 Transportation

It is Tuesday morning around 7:30. There is a nice breeze outside to make anyone consider a jacket. This weather is perfect for walking to class. However, my knee is a slight bit tender. I do not want to risk further injury so I decided to drive everywhere. So what if Harris is right outside Blanco? Just kidding. I would not try that hard to be that impactful.....or would I?

9/29 Food:

I do my normal routine of eating whatever I want.

9/30 Energy:

They do not allow microwaves at Blanco Hall due to the fire hazard. I wonder if this applies to all other electronics? With everything plugged in already I just hit the switch on everything and BOOM! Nothing happened. Big disappointment. Do not worry I am not crazy. I used surge protectors. At least I not have to foot the electricity bill yet. Later in the day I see my laundry basket with a couple of workout shirts and shorts in it. I do not want to procrastinate doing laundry! Those 4 shirts and 3 shorts received a good washing and drying. Especially the lonely white shirt and shorts.

10/1 Water:

I do not know your personal lifestyle, but if I do anything containing a toilet--I flush. This helped me out tremendously for my wasteful water ways. I did not realize that when I shaved that I leave the water on the whole time. It takes me about 10 minutes each time to shave. I could be using a Dixie cup to wash off my razor. Maybe I will change this routine, but not today.

10/2 Give Back:

I just feel like studying today and watching college football. Texas is losing 21-7 to Oklahoma. This depresses me to the point I do not even want to even hold doors open for people. I tried to help Tamara but I feel inferior to her intelligence. She keeps giving me put-downs that I am "slow".

10/3 Eco-Sabbath:

Doing the opposite of what No Impact Week was about opened my eyes to what I could actually be doing to help the environment. I will officially be walking everywhere and try not to be wasteful with water as I shave and shower. Why would I have to stay in the shower 30 minutes to get clean? Just soap up, rinse off , and get out. Most of the environmental problems are just laziness. Come on people quit being lazy and when you miss the trash can trying to be Kobe Bryant, make sure you pick it back up.

No Impact Man Blog

After reading "No Impact Man", I thought there was no way I could go to the same extremes as Colin Beavan did. He sacraficed so much just for the environment. Although I know I cannot do as much as Colin accomplished, I have started to do little things to reduce my "carbon footprint". I was not able to bring my car with me to college so I do walk mostly everywhere. I try to use recyclable products as much as possible and I hold on to my trash (which sounds gross) until I am able to find a recycle bin to put it in. I am also trying to get my roommate to start recycling now that the dorm has provided us with recylcing bins. I also turn off all lights and electronics when they are not needed and we do not use the air conditioning system unless we are sleeping, and the setting is normally on low.

Bright Start for Going Green

Well, since the beginning of the week to, I've been hearing everyone talk about going green. Students to administrators, the school blog to groups on campus, and local news articles to national news and advertisements are all buzzing about the brand new fad "you just gotta be apart of", and the reception is quite impressive. You can't walk into a Target or Walgreens with out seeing refillable bottles and t-shirts fashionably displaying the recycle symbol, and the best part about all the paraphernalia is the pricing in the long run. I bought a water purifier today because I figured it would be stupid not to. I spend a good $25 on a pack of water bottles that'll last me at most a month, and then I have to go back to the super store to perpetuate the cycle, and standing back to look at this ritual makes me feel stupid (Oh, and I hate tap water. Personal preference). It makes more sense to buy one 40 ounce water purifier in order to save every cent I waste on plastic wrapping for a free resource.

I really enjoyed going green this week, even though the steps I took seemed a bit small. I unplugged my appliances when not in use, I didn't use a single water bottle (which meant I didn't drink any water this week, sadly), and I definitely and gaspingly trekked up each flight of stairs in Alkek Library. This may not be as noteworthy as Mr. Beaven's attempts, but these were my choices, my sacrifices, my gains, and the ability to reduce the impact our community has on our campus and this one earth we take for granted leaves me in a jovial mood.

The Going Green Movement is rising, and we get the benefit of seeing its influence on Texas State (hence the picture).