Final Post - IT'S OVER!

Well folks, I have officially gone a whole week without purchasing a single item at Rite Aid, CVS, or my biggest weakness; Starbucks. I would call that a huge accomplishment in itself. Before I would run to Rite Aid whenever I "needed" the littlest thing. I have learned to live with what I have and not spend money on trivial wants. My use of facebook was dramatically cut down over the weekend and I can honestly say that the food I ate over the past few days has been some of the best quality and lowest priced local food I have ever consumed.

Transportation -
On Sunday, my mother managed to get me in a taxi once again, after I had specifically told her about the purpose of my project. But, surprisingly, I was okay with getting into that baby blue Crown Victoria. I was tired and didn't feel like shlepping a huge L.L. Bean duffel bag onto the metro at nine am, in my Easter outfit. While this was yet again another low-point in my experiment, I believe that while these two trips in cabs over the past week could have been avoided; they were timely and efficient. I only used the shuttle once between Friday and Tuesday - a huge accomplishment! On Monday I decided it was necessary to make the trek to Whole Foods. My fridge was almost barren and I was in dire need of supplies. I laced up my sneakers and grabbed my debit card, iPod, and dorm key and was off on a jog to Tenleytown. The plan was to walk back with my groceries but I was a little overzealous in that thought. I had bought more than what was comfortable to carry back without my back giving out, again. So I used the shuttle as a means of transportation, but while riding the shuttle, I had a spurt of genius. Drum Roll, please...I should bring my bike to school. A bike is an easy, reliable, and energy efficient mode of transportation.

Food -
Since my food intake at the beginning of the experiment was a complete failure, I decided to go out with a bang and stick to at least one more day of vegetarianism. Over the weekend I was lucky enough to dine with my mother at local seafood restaurants and eat what is considered to be a local fish - rockfish. This is a fish a lot like sea bass, but with less of a carbon footprint, because it is caught in the Chesapeake Bay. On Monday, I was able to stick to a completely vegetarian diet, eating a protein bar for breakfast with a full grapefruit, a boca burger with spinach, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese (all accoutrements were purchased at a local farmers market). When 4 o'clock rolled around and I was beginning to become famished I reached for a Greek Yogurt and some strawberries. I ended my day with a meal of scrambled eggs over a large bed of spinach. It was a great way to end my day of vegetarianism and it really wasn't that difficult! "Meatless Mondays" will now be a staple in my weekly diet plan.

Consumerism -
Starbucks, check. Rite Aid, Check. CVS, check. I can honestly say that I did not purchase a single item from any of these chain corporations during the week and tried my best to contribute to mostly local markets. I feel that I have made a great improvement in this area. I realize that I do not need to have an iced chai tea latte multiple times a week or buy extraneous packs of gum or nail polish from Rite Aid or CVS. Over the full week I only purchased one plastic water bottle, which is a major improvement from the sometimes multiple purchases of plastic bottles in a day.

Technology -
While over the weekend my use of the internet was extremely limited, on Monday and Tuesday I spent the majority of my free time surfing Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Netflix. These are my top-visited sites to date. I feel that this was a very difficult part of my experiment because for every hour of homework I do on my computer I always reward myself with a few minutes (which oftentimes turns into hours) of online browsing. Yes, I realize that I am technology obsessed, but that is a common problem for individuals growing up in an era of extreme technological success and growth. However, I have come to understand that I feel more at ease and happy when I spend my time doing activities away from the computer. It is a very distracting yet helpful device.

Positive Impact -
This week I attended "Take Back the Night." It was a great experience that really hit home for me and many of my peers who attended. By attending this rally I felt that I was taking part in an important social movement in supporting women's rights. By just attending this rally I portrayed myself as an ally to those who have suffered from sexual assault, harassment, or rape. It was an extremely moving and unifying experience.

Health and Happiness-
I am a generally happy person, but this week I have tried to make time for myself in ways that I usually find little time for. I have committed myself to a daily workout routine and have found that I have more energy and have been sleeping much better. I love having "me time" while jogging through the streets of Northwest DC and exploring areas near the school. I have brought friends along on a few of my outings and have thoroughly enjoyed our time spent catching up and laughing together. But, I find that when I take the streets alone I am more focused on myself and meeting my goal of staying out for at least forty minutes. Ingrid Michaelson and Lady Gaga help make it easy for me to focus on my goal. I have come back from every outing feeling absolutely refreshed and almost like a different person. All my problems seem to have melted away once I return to hop into a warm shower.

Overall, I have learned so much from this experience. I now know that when I put my mind to it, I am able to live a more active, less popular culture obsessed life. One thing I wish I would have done was keep a real journal. But, maybe this will become my journal. We'll see how I'm feeling by the end of the weekend. But for now, A Bientot.

Mid-Week Update

It is safe to say that today, I have completely failed in every way to adhere to the guidelines of this assignment. Yesterday went so well! I did not use a single form of transportation aside from my feet and ate only organic and local produce, purchased at the on campus farmers market. Again, I went for a thirty minute run and hung around on the quad -- the weather was beautiful! I was able to cap my use of technology and spend quality time with my friends. Overall, Wednesday was a success.
Today, I did almost everything wrong. Let me break it down for you.

Transportation -
Well, I had planned to walk to the Tenley Metro stop this morning, but due to class conflicts and timing problems I had to take the shuttle to and from the Tenley Metro stop. Another issue that arose this evening was when my mother came to DC to visit for the weekend. She picked me up in a taxi (major faux pas) and then proceeded to try to get me in a taxi from Friendship Heights to AU Campus. Luckily, I put up a big enough stink that she allowed me and my friends to take the metro back to Tenley. We then proceeded to take the shuttle back to campus because it was dark and cold. In total I took the metro and the shuttle three times today, along with one ten minute taxi ride. Serious FAIL.

Food-
Breakfast went well -- I ate an organic apple and locally baked whole grain bread. But then I walked to Chinatown and succumbed to the tasty and delicious sushi place, Wok and Roll. My friends were craving sushi and while I know it is completely against my project, I could not turn down an opportunity to eat raw tuna (my favorite). Then for dinner I went to Maggianno's Italian Restaurant with my mother and ordered calamari and chicken marsala. So basically all food rules went out the window, making my day a complete failure in that area.

Consumerism -
While I have not bought anything in stores or online in the past few days, I have been contributing to the growth of chain restaurants. My trash has only had to be emptied once and I have been taking shorter showers, about eight minutes instead of twelve to fifteen. I still have not purchased any bottled products or gone to Starbucks in the past four days - I call that extreme success.

Technology -
Today I was very busy so my technology use was limited. I only went on facebook twice to check on a group project and of course checked my twitter account a few times. I have replaced my use of technology with books and hanging with friends, a much more productive way to spend my time.

Positive Impact -
I have been spending so much quality time with my friends and realizing that they are some of the most important people in my life. I am so grateful for this week because I have started to hangout in the floor lounge more and am beginning to form stronger bonds with more residents of the hall. This has contributed greatly to my overall happiness.

For the rest of the week I will be more conscious of my input and output into the environment. So far I have learned that I can completely cut out plastic bottles just by carrying a nalgene around with me and am not feeling the desire to go to Starbucks or Rite Aid for frivolous purchases. Those parts of the experiment really are not that hard to follow.

First Day Evaluation

Yesterday, I completed my first day of living environmentally, and I am proud to say it went well (minus all the packaging that I realized all food comes wrapped in). I am even contemplating going more Eco-friendly by adding in two days of going meatless. I think this will help benefit my body and the environment by partaking less in the meat industry wars. So here is a final breakdown of my day.

Morning Time: I woke up to the bright sun streaming through my window. It was hotter than Hades in my room, but instead of turning up the AC I retracted my shades and pulled (with all my might) the rusty window open. Then I presumed to go about my morning per usual; brushing my teeth, washing my face, and brushing my hair. During this time I used very little water, only turning the faucet on to rinse off my tooth brush and wash my face. Then I remembered that I could no longer buy a Dasani downstairs so on my way out the door with a breakfast of an organic Pink Lady apple and a clementine (packaging free), I grabbed my Camelbak and ran for the sink in my lounge. I completed my two classes for the morning by 11:35am and then decided it was time for some lunch which ended up being a healthy portion of organic baby spinach with mozzarella cheese and a boca burger. I had unintentionally gone meatless by this point in my day and it was not until after I had finished my meal that I realized what had happened. It is a rare occasion to see myself not eating meat with a meal, aside from breakfast. After this I hunkered down to finish a four page paper before a 4pm class. I was done within two hours and had managed to stay away from facebook and twitter that whole time. The only problem was that I had to print out my paper and it was not double sided :(. I also grabbed a greek yogurt before I left for class (more packaging, but at least that is recyclable).

Afternoon:
After class I walked with my friend to Rite Aid and did not buy anything! It was very empowering. I even walked past Starbucks and didn't even hesitate to keep moving and not enter into the heavenly world of overpriced and decadent lattes. After this I decided to turn up the tunes and go for a 25 minute run/walk by myself before I had to meet my friend for dinner. This was a great way to collect my thoughts and just be by myself. I will say that Lady Gaga's song, Born This Way is my current anthem. After this I returned to my dorm, ate a banana from TDR, which must be a sin but at least it was a "raw" food.

Nighttime:
We walked to dinner at the new pizza place next to Chef Geoff's. There I didn't order a single meat product either. I was shocked by myself. Although I saw steak, chicken, and fish on the menu, but I decided upon a spinach salad with a delicious margarita pizza. Then my friend Hannah and I decided to walk off and digest all the food that we had just consumed. During our walk I realized that my whole meal was probably packaged at some point. From the spinach salad to the ingredients of the pizza dough. It is almost impossible to eat out without eating something that does not originally come in packaging. This is upsetting, but the real question is, how do we transport large quantities of food without packaging at the risk of damaging the produce?

Overall, I believe that I can introduce meatless Tuesdays and Thursdays into my diet and still do it in a healthy way, being sure to get the nutrients I need. I might look into tofu before the end of this week - it seems like a viable option for a protein source aside from eggs and beans. In one day I used no mode of transportation other than my own body, which felt great. I got the best night sleep I have ever had and my body feels energized. Also, I filled my Camelbak at least three times from the tap water. This is a big improvement from the multiple water bottles I used to buy in a day. I am looking forward to the rest of the week!

What I Plan to Change

Hello to the world of blogging! My name is Meredith Leyden and this week I will be making changes in my life to lessen my Carbon Footprint. I am about to embark on a journey into the unknown and scary land of "living environmentally." While this may sound daunting, I have come to realize that only a small part of my life will change - hopefully for the better. Here is an outline of the six categories that factor into "living environmentally."

Transportation -

Currently, I take DC Public transportation at least once a week along with the AU shuttle bus multiple times a week to Tenleytown, and occasionally I succumb to the desire to take a taxi to Georgetown instead of the bus, which takes at least thirty-five minutes. While partaking in the experiment I plan to completely eliminate taxi services for the week and walk or run to Tenleytown instead of hopping on the AU shuttle bus. This elimination of taxis will benefit my wallet, while the elimination of the shuttle will benefit my body. I will try to use public transit as little as possible, keeping in mind that in some scenarios it may be my only choice.

Food –

I plan to eat only unpackaged, clean foods. This means I will only be eating fruits and vegetables, along with organic proteins. This will call for a trip to the Bethesda Farmers market on Sunday at the start of this journey and a shop at the on-campus farmers market Wednesday. This will not be much different than my current diet, but I will not be attending meals at TDR or the Tavern this week. I will do this because it is important to remember that food has an environmental impact as well. If produce is sold in packaging at the grocery store, that automatically will mean it is off limits. I will not be giving up meat because I have tried that once and realized that it was difficult for my hunger to be satisfied –only organic, grass fed meats will make the cut.

Consumerism –

I am an online shopping fanatic; currently obsessed with drugstore.com and urban outfitters online. During this week, I pledge to not buy any sort of product online as well as in Rite Aid or CVS. Something I buy all the time is gum. I buy at least a pack or two a week, contributing to my trash pile. During this week I will not print any of my readings for class unless it becomes impossible for me to take in the true meaning of the work on the screen. This should diminish my recycling by at least half. Also, I will use my camelback water bottle the whole week and not buy a Dasani every morning before class. This will greatly reduce my output of trash/recyclables. Currently, I go through at least one water bottle a day.

Technology –

I am constantly checking my Twitter and Facebook account whenever I am bored, but that is something that does not necessarily bring me happiness. There is so much more that I could be doing in my day through the use of technology; talking on the phone with my family and friends or skyping those I love. However, this type of technology can also be a distraction from my true needs. I currently do not watch TV, but I will try to limit my excess computer use to thirty minutes a day and take time to relax, reading a book for pleasure or taking a walk throughout Northwest DC.

Positive Impact/Political Action –

This week, one of my goals is to make others happy and be available to my friends. Lately, I have been overwhelmed by homework and my babysitting job (which I love but can be extremely exhausting and time consuming). I feel that I have neglected those I care about and understand that I need to make more of a conscious effort to show others I love and care about them. This week it got to the point that my mom had to call my roommate in order to reach me - she thought I had died because I hadn't spoken to her in four days. This needs to change.

Health and Happiness –

I have always wanted to keep a journal. This week I will attempt to start a daily “adult journal.” This way I can get my thoughts down on paper and feel a release. I also love walking, so I plan on taking at least a thirty minute walk every day to just be with myself, put my phone on vibrate and crank up the Ingrid Michaelson tunes.