Electricity: 23,475.4 weekly output of CO2, 17,974.84 kWh/year
Water: 65,920.4 gallons/year
NO NATURAL GAS
Heating Oil: 730 gallons/year, 314.1 weekly output of CO2
Vehicles/Rail & Bus Travel: 470.6 gallons/year, 177.8 weekly output of CO2
1. Consumption
Water: (Friday) two bottles of Poland Spring, four stops at the water fountain, flushed the toilet four times, took two showers, washed my hands
(Saturday) a glass of hot chocolate, one bottle of Poland Spring, took a bath and a shower, flushed the toilet thrice, washed my hands
Food: (Friday) a slice of pizza, a cookie, a salad, pasta, peanut butter
(Saturday) two pieces of chicken, a steak, a salad, four cookies, an apple
Electricity: (Friday) My ipod, my cellphone, my laptop, the TV
(Saturday) My cellphone, the TV (Bruins: 8 and 0 baby), my laptop, lights in my room
Gasoline: (Friday) School bus (4X)
(Saturday) none
Money: (Friday) $2.50 on lunch
(Saturday) none
2. Reduction
(Friday) I didn’t spend money on movies or candy today. I turned the lights off in my room and only had one lamp on.
(Saturday) I didn’t spend any money at all and I limited my diet today by not eating any ice cream or other delicious treats.
3. Sustainability
(Friday) I can continue to limit the amount of electricity I use in my room, like not using my ipod.
(Saturday) I didn’t spend money today and I didn’t use my ipod. I can try to do that if it really must be done, but it would be manageable.
4. What did I learn?
(Friday/Saturday) I saw how people struggled to do things like not eating too much and that made me feel normal b/c I was also struggling to not waste water or to eat less. Overall, this project helped me examine how much I really need and how much I actually waste everyday. I hope to keep at least a fraction of this routine in my everyday life.
1. Consumption
Water: 3 bottles of Poland Spring, four cups of apple juice, two showers, flushed the toilet four times, washed my hands twice
Food:A banana, pasta, two salads, a muffin
Electricity: My ipod, my cellphone, my laptop
Gasoline: School bus (3X)
Money: $2.50 on lunch
2. Reduction
I didn’t use the TV today and I had no lights on in my room (went to be after I came home at 9). I also didn’t eat any sweets and I tried not to use my cell phone for random texting and what not.
3. Sustainability
Although i’s hard not to watch TV, I think I can do at least every other day with no TV and my reduction of lights was an easy thing to do. All I have to do is do my homework and then go to bed.
4. What did I learn?
I liked how people didn’t even use their laptops or cellphones today. Although i can’t go that far yet, I was positively inspired to try even harder to reach a state where I won’t need to use my laptop and cellphone for unnecessary things.
1. Consumption
Water: 1 bottle of Poland Spring, one cup of apple juice, one gogurt, two stops at the water fountain, one shower, flushed the toilet three times, washed my hands 4 times
Food: A ham sandwich, a banana, a cookie, pasta, and cereal (no milk)
Electricity: My ipod, my cellphone, had only one light in my room, my laptop
Gasoline: School bus (3X)
Money: NONE
2. Reduction
I didn’t spend any money today, I walked home instead of taking the 4th bus, I cut back on my water consumption greatly (I fell asleep again and woke up in the middle of the night, but that was my way of going into hibernation so that I wouldn’t have to keep drinking water or using electricity), and I didn’t watch TV.
3. Sustainability
I could keep doing this forever. I got 8 hrs of sleep last night, I am wide awake and ready to get to work today and I could easily walk home and not spend money on lunch.
4. What did I learn?
I saw that people went even harder than I did (quicker showers, no money for several days, humbler food choices). This affected me positively because now I want to go even harder and cut back even more.
1. Consumption
Water: I drank my routine 2 bottles of Poland Spring, a glass of apple juice, and I had 3 stops at the water fountain. I flushed the bathroom 4 times and showered twice. Brushed my teeth.
Food: Slice of pizza, peanut butter sandwich, 2 cookies, a banana, a brownie
Electricity: I used my ipod to look up some words for a German test, I texted about 5 times today, I kept two lights on in my room
Gasoline: I was driven to the school by the bus. Thrice.
Money: I spent 3 dollars again on lunch.
2. Reduction
Instead of taking the 86 back home, I decided to man up and walk the rest of the way. I also didn’t spent money on anything other than my lunch, which I really needed.
3. Sustainability
I could keep taking the 15 min walk home instead of taking the 86 home. That, unlike not buying lunch, is really realistic and I will try harder to do this all week. I can probably do this 9/10 times because there might be an emergence that I won’t be able to for see.
4. What did I learn?
I liked how people kept cutting back and even went to extremes like not showering. This affected me positively and made me think about what I could give up to be even more energy-efficient (maybe I won’t watch TV for the rest of the week…)
1. Consumption
Water: two poland spring water bottles, drank from the water fountain twice, a cup of tea, a cup of apple juice, gogurt
Food: a peanut butter sandwich, a slice of pizza, beans, a sausage, two cheese heads, an apple, two cookies
Electricity: my phone, my ipod, didn’t use my laptop b/c I fell asleep yesterday (same for tv)
Gasoline: bus ride on my way to school and back
Money: spent 3 dollars on lunch today
2. Reduction
Today (being yesterday but I fell asleep…) I cut back on my spending, as I only used 3 dollars for food and didn’t go to subway or dunkin donuts or 7/11. I also cut back on electricity usage, mainly because I fell asleep, but I’m sure I would’ve cut back on it either way. Lastly, I took brief showers and I didn’t go overboard with the amount of electricity usage.
3. Sustainability
I think that I can limit myself to about 3 dollars a day on food EVERYDAY b/c my hunger was satisfied and I didn’t feel the need to go out and spend more money. Also, I think that if I stay away from my laptop and my TV, I could easily not use either of them and thereby save lots and lots of electricity/energy.
4. What did I learn?
I learned that other people are also taking major steps to reduce wasting energy (quicker showers, less time on Facepage haha,etc), which inspired me to keep pushing myself to avoid unnecessary consumption of energy. I really like verderico’s post b/c his nomadic, yet realistic life-style changes made me want to cut back even more (maybe I won’t spend any more money on lunch and just make my own…).
1. Consumption
Water- two bottles of water, two glasses of tea, one glass of apple juice, flushed the toilet, took two showers
Food- a bowl of salad, a bowl of soup, one banana, one cheese stick, one yogurt
Electricity- turned on my computer after 4 p.m., didn’t turn on the TV until the Pats game, only went on Facebook for about twenty minutes to ask for the homework, used the phone ten times today, didn’t turn on my bathroom lights today
Gasoline- used the stove to heat up the soup, drove to church
Money- NONE and I can’t believe it
2. Reduction
I tried to use less electricity today by not turning on the TV until the Pats game and by going on the web only a few times. I didn’t use twitter today at all and I limited my use of lights both in my bathroom and in my room.
3. Sustainability
I can limit my use of electronics permanently because I honestly don’t need to check my Facebook or my Twitter daily. I have found ways of getting around using this type of electronics/technology by going outside much more often, which is better for my health and much more energy-saving.
1. Consumption:
Food/Drink: Burrito, 4 bottles of Poland Spring, turkey-breast sandwich with cheese, 1 banana, 2 green peppers, a bowl of cereal with milk, 3 glasses of lemonade
Electricity: Night lamp, TV, cellphone, laptop, bathroom lights, living-room lights
Money: A burrito at Bean Town Burritos
2. Reduction:
Food/Drink: Candy, Ice Cream, Chocolate, Soda (Pop haha), chips, brownies
Electricity: MP3 player speakers, TV (only watched about 30 minutes), laptop (only went on to do homework: no games, unnecessary facebook chats, etc.)
Money: I only bought a burrito today. I wanted to go get some gummy bears, soda, ice cream, and other cavity-producing sweets, but I remembered my poor brothers in the third world countries and I decided to tame my sweet tooth for the day.
3. Sustainability:
* I didn’t keep all the lights on in my room today like I normally do
* I didn’t go on facebook for non-school related business
* I didn’t cave into my sweets-consuming routine
Even though it was extremely hard for me not to eat any sweets or refrain from facebook usage or to control my electricity squandering, I believe that I can and will be able to make a permanent reduction in these areas. Facebook is a major distraction that prevents me from focusing on my homework and because I promised myself that I will get all A’s this term, I will have to refrain from using it to accomplish my goal. I LOVE candy, which will make it hard for me to stop buying it forever, but what I learned today is that there are substitutions for it, like peanut butter or cereal, that are much healthier and better for the environment, since they’re not processed like Swedish fish. Lastly, I also believe that I can be more aware of my electricity usage because having the TV, the radio, my laptop, and all the lights in my room on will only serve as another distraction to my work routine and I will therefore be forced to save more energy.
