This week we had an assignment-taking place for the class
right before Thanksgiving. We were assigned a worksheet that held us
responsible for tracking our travel, food, waste, energy and commodities. For
one day we had to record all of these things, this really made me realize the
impact that I have as an individual on the environment. One of the things it
really made me think about was the consumption of my food. As pitiful as it
sounds I don’t always know where my food is coming from unless we get it at the
co-op, farmers market or from our garden. But a lot of foods even “fresh”
fruits and veggies are coming in from all over the country. That is something I
will really start paying attention to. Eating locally and seasonally, I
believe, would be very beneficial. Before doing this assignment I considered
myself to be an environmentally conscious person. However, from doing this I
found that I have a lot to work on and have many areas of improvements in
helping make a clean environment.
I posted a video clip about the experiment of the No Impact Man,
which eventually became a book and a documentary. The clip shows why the family
decided to this and what they ultimately gained from doing so. They went
completely green for one year, they did not use electricity, or waste anything
for a year, and they also did not buy anything new for the entire year. They
ate completely local and seasonally. They found that as a family they became
closer and felt like they made a real difference. This family did something
that would be very difficult for an average citizen. Most people could cut out
some of these things but doing all of them I think most people would find
extremely hard at first.
I, too, found my allegedly "eco-friendly" habits of bringing my own jar for drinks, thrift shopping, showering rarely like a hippie, and avoiding styrofoam would make for a proud score... however, almost 3 earths later, I realize there is much improvement that I need to make in my life as well!
ReplyDeleteDo you think you would ever be willing to try and live like No Impact Man?
I would love to try it, but that is tricky at college.
I agree with both you and Callie that living like no impact man would be really hard if not impossible. It almost seems like someone would have to be somewhat independently wealthy (own their own home, have the time/money to only shop organic) in order to be successful. It's telling that No-Impact Man's family only were able to endure the experiment for a year. Perhaps it's just too difficult to live that way for an extended period of time (like a lifetime). I'd like to think its not but the contemporary world seems too connected and complex to allow for those types of choices to be made on a massive scale.
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