These results surprise me for the following reasons:
- When shopping, I most often choose to buy locally grown or organic veggies, cage free eggs, organically grown chicken (I rarely eat any other meat), and whole grain (often times from Great Harvest or another local company) breads and pastas
- Our house thermostat is never above 64 degrees
- Part of our energy comes from the Green Power reusable energy program from Puget Sound Energy (for an extra monthly fee)
- Our house recycles all glass, paper, most plastics, and we all compost when on campus
- Not to say that I don't believe in personal hygiene, but naturally I don't shower every day
- Most often, clothing and furniture is purchased second hand at local thrift stores
Regardless, these steps towards lowering my consumption are not enough. (Obviously, if my consumption is taking up more than three times of what it should on this earth). This quarter, I plan to make a serious conscious effort to reduce my ecological footprint. I am very excited to learn more about sustainability this quarter through the Sustainable Marketing course at Western Washington University.
Hence, here are a few of the goals that I have to reduce my carbon emissions and resulting ecological footprint:
- Keep up with the class reading, as well as regularly reading blogs on sustainability
- Stand Up To Stand-By: as the Global Cool website (http://www.globalcool.org/) suggests, I plan to make a commitment of watching no more than 4 hours of television per week (2 long movies or 4 television shows) and to turn off my laptop and unplug the power charging cord when I am not using it at night
- Turn The Lights Out Baby: as suggested by Global Cool, I will double check house lights before going out in the evening to save electricity
- Techno Logic: as brought to my attention by Global Cool, I do have at least 1 cell phone myself (and possibly others from roomies) at our house that could be recycled rather than sitting in an empty desk drawer
- As suggested by We Are What We Do (http://www.wearewhatwedo.org/actiontracker/) Action 122, I will break my habit of charging my phone overnight, so as not to use extra energy that is unnecessary!
For more information on my ecological footprint, check out:
http://www.myfootprint.org/en/your_results/?id=638264
Kelsey -- looks like you have already adopted some good sustainable habits :) I like the globalcool site, spread the word :) And good luck with your reduction goals, they appear doable!
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