Lifestyle Project Week 1

The three topics I chose to focus on for my project were electricity, food, and water. 

On my first day of the lifestyles project I did not drive nor did I purchase anything. Although I could have purchased food, I just went to the commons for food and ate what I had available. However, for my hot water consumption, I probably could have done better. My shower was 8 minutes, I used the sink for 3 minutes and I had to do my laundry, which took 20 minutes. With the shower and sink, I used 49 gallons of hot water water and my laundry took 200 gallons of hot water. Since I had to wash my laundry, I used a lot more energy and electricity than I do on a normal day which influenced my results. However, during the day when I was doing homework in my room, I opened up the windows and turned off the lights so I was using natural light instead of using electricity for the lights. For my food intake, I had a pop-tart, cheese pizza, reeses, lollipop, kit-kat, popcorn, chicken soup, cereal with milk, banana, ice cream with a cone, water, and red bull. I think that I probably ate more processed food than I should have and I tried to not eat meat but there were very limited options in the commons so I didn't have many other options. My main challenges for today were trying not to eat meat and using a lot of electricity because of my laundry.

On the second day, I also did not drive or buy anything. I had pretty much the same water usage with my shower and running of the sink. I realized today, though, that I use a lot more electricity than I wish I did. I always have my computer on, just as my fridge and clock are constantly plugged in and running. This is hard to avoid because it is necessary to keep these things plugged in so they will stay charged or keep my food in good health. I, again, had a hard time with the food consumption. For breakfast, I was not thinking and I ate some sausage before I could realize that I wasn't supposed to eat meat and then for lunch I accidently ate chicken again. It is really hard for me to be constantly conscious of what I eat because I have never really had to do that before. So once again, my biggest challenge was trying not to eat meat and trying to not eat so many processed foods. This next week I am going to work really hard on not eating meat and eating more fruits and veggies!