Day 5-8

Energy

I made sure to unplug all my chargers and switch off my extension cords when I wasn't using them. I also made sure to only use my lights when necessary, otherwise I just opened my window/blinds for natural sunlight. It's kind of hard not using that much electricity since our society heavily relies on electronics, so I didn't really like it because it made me feel like a caveman sort of. I'm so used to not really taking recognition of it though, so I do feel bad that I don't care as much as I should. I just have to get used to unplugging everything when I'm not using it and turning on the lights only when needed. Since I'm dorming it's not like I can really change the light bulbs though, so we're still using the inefficient kind.

Water

I had to take really quick showers...Dorms don't have bathtubs so it's not like we can take sponge baths (which I wouldn't usually do at home either) but I did try to think about water usage and cutting back. I usually don't take that long anyways since I have short hair, which doesn't take as long to wash but still it's all about maintaining the mindset of conserving. I always turn off the faucet when I'm not using it so that was already easy enough for me. Overall I think for my own consumption I'm pretty good about water conservation.

Giving Back

I had to say today was probably the worst...I had to work Saturday, but I work in Westminster which is very far from my house and so I probably used up a lot of gas. I didn't really have time to do anything that's probably considered "giving back." I mean I kept to the other tasks about conserving (besides transportation) so that was good but I mean it's hard not driving places. There's no unified public transportation system and SCHOOL HAS NO OPEN ON-CAMPUS JOBS for me right now. Thus I have to travel to work in a car. At least it's a hybrid car that we own (= ???

Eco-sabbath

IMPOSSIBLE. I go to church on Sundays so it's kind of easy in the sense that I'm not at home, but at the same time we need to drive to church, we need to use a lot of electricity to power the amps and mics for praise, the light bulbs probably aren't that efficient in the church, and my mom uses appliances to make dinner, and I have to use the computer to type this so, it's really hard to not do anything that impacts the environment. I just could not do this one to my full capability.