Cut the Crap with a New Goal

     When re-evaluating my EF goals and strategies, I knew that I could do more. I have been very good about keeping on track with the goals I'd already come up with at the beginning of the quarter. What I am going to add is bringing my own lunch to work. I currently buy fast-food every day I work besides Monday on my lunch break. Every Monday I bring a vegetarian alternative, because of my "No-Meat Monday" rule and have found that it really isn't a hassle preparing a meal ahead of time and bringing it with me to work. I want every meal I bring with me to be local and packed in a reusable plastic container, because the main reason why I'm doing this is to eliminate the idea of getting my food from long distances and cut back on the unnecessary packaging that all goes along with fast-food. When looking at the "Open the Future" website, I saw that the CO2 of one cheese burger is 4.35 kilograms. I eat at least two per meal at work. Excluding Monday, I still work four days a week, which equals out to 32 kilograms a week. That's just over 70 lbs per week! I would be cutting out about 3,625lbs of CO2 per year that was associated with fast-food. I overall want to cut fast-food from my diet.

Sustainability progress (week 1)

     I have successfully set my water heater temperature to 120 degrees. I actually haven't noticed much of a difference in water temperature, probably because I'm focusing so hard on finishing my showers within five minutes. I like leaving in my hair conditioner for a couple minutes, so I've found that it's a good idea to turn off the water while I wait. It's been weird going from spending at least 15 minutes in the shower and relaxing in the hot water to spending 5 minutes in the shower and stressing over the amount of water I'm consuming, but I know that over time I will get used to it.
     I had my first no meat Monday yesterday and I have to say it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. I like that I'm being more concious and aware of my food consumption. For breakfast I had a muffin, for lunch I had a salad and an egg sandwich, and for dinner I had bean and cheese burritos. The hardest thing for me when trying to avoid meat is that I work at the mall, and usually go to the food court on my break to eat McDonalds or Subway. I never quite feel like I'm getting my moneys worth if I don't get meat in my meal if I'm paying the same price, but I know that the low price of meat is hurting the environment. I've decided to bring vegi meals to work, because paying the same price for a sandwich with meat and without at Subway doesn't seem logical. Overall I think I've had a successful first week.

Old Spice Red Zone Body Wash Aqua Reef Ingredients

     I decided to go with my Old Spice Red Zone Aqua Reef body wash, because it is one of the products I stick with. I love the scent and the feel of this bad boy, and it really does "DROP-KICK DIRT AND ODOR". When looking over the ingredients list I was relieved to see that none of them showed up on the OED's toxicity list. It wasn't until I got to the Environmental Working Group's website that I saw the dirty truth. The ingredient I researched more into was fragrance, because it was the only one with a high hazard warning on the site. The concerns for fragrance are neurotoxicity and allergies/immunotoxicity. This is not good, because I don't want anything messing with my brain. One of my biggest fears is being diagnosed with alzheimers or some other form of dementia. Fragrance is an undisclosed mixture of all sorts of scent chemicals and ingredients that are used as fragrance dispersants like diethyl phthalate, which is on the toxicity list. Fragrance mixes have also been associated with allergies, dermatitis, respiratory distress and potential effects on the reproductive system. The fact that this product may be harmful to my respiratory system is pretty bad, because I have reactive airway disease, which is a very mild form of asthma, but my mom has very bad asthma. As of right now I only have a slight breathing problem when I'm sick, but I'm worried that my respiratory system will get worse over time.

     I could switch to a nonscented soap with less chemicals, but I'm still not sure if I'm willing to make the change. I will definately try out other soaps, but I'm hooked on the scent of my body wash and when I smell good, I feel good. All of my morning rituals give me a lot of confidence in myself. I will spend a week trying new soaps, and when I find one that I like I will test it for a week and see how I'm feeling. One of the function/uses of fragrance according to EWG Skin Deep is masking. I want to find out whether or not I really need to mask myself with chemicals when washing myself in the morning.

Ingredients:
WATER, SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE, SODIUM SULFATE, COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE, FRAGRANCE, SODIUM LAUROAMPHOACETATE, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM BENZOATE, POLYQUATERNIUM-10, DISODIUM EDTA, METHYLCHLOROISOTHIAZOLINONE, METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE, COLORANTS

Ecological Footprint Calculations

After taking the Ecological Footprint quiz at www.footprintnetwork.org I was shocked to see that 5.8 planets would be needed if everyone lived the way I did. I know I have to start making steps towards changing the way I live my life. According to http://uw.kqed.org/climatesurvey/index-kqed.php my climate profile is "Concerned", which I do agree with. I want to change the way I eat and think to be more sustainable.

Action 1:

     The first action I will take is eating meat 6 days a week instead of 7. After taking the ecological footprint quiz, I saw that my choice in food consumption is having a huge negative impact on the environment. I eat meat almost every day of the week, so I want to limit that down to 6 days a week. This will reduce my CO2 use by 700 lbs a week, which equals out to 7,000 lbs by the end of this quarter and 36,500 lbs by the end of the year!

Action 2:

     The second action I will take is reducing hot water shower times to 5 minutes. I normally take 15 to 20 minutes showers. This will reduce a total of 300 lbs of CO2 and will really save me money on my utilities bill.

Action 3:

     The third action I will take is setting my water heater to 120 degrees. This will reduce my C02 by 150 lbs.

Action 4 (Will not be recorded in specific savings):

     Another action that I will take is riding the transit more often to work than driving an old Ford Explorer that gets about 15 mpg. This will save between 450 and 4,000 lbs