In the last two weeks I have learned quite a bit! I enjoyed taking the tour of goodwill, I'd never been there before this so it was a good learning experience. I had no idea how big of a facility it actually was! I feel as though many people benefit from goodwill and can reuse many of the things others deem not useful anymore. I also thought our junking projects were a fun creative way to try and reduce waste by reusing things we already have. My project consisted of an old pickle jar, left over garland from last year that we weren't using, some leftover lights, and a fabric pouch that was used to keep all my girl scout patches in. I just used them to make a simple Christmas decoration. You can't see the lights as well in this picture and the garland kept moving to cover them up but it looked better to begin with. Finally I found the learning activities to be very informative and fun! I liked how Jamie and Lauren included physical activities that allowed us to actually get up and do the activities hands on. I learned how much CO2 my vehicle emits, about waste-to-energy, and more about renewable energy.
Overall in this course I have learned so much I don't even know where to begin! I found doing our read n' seed books was very beneficial for me. I read a book about the water crisis, I didn't know much about this topic prior to reading it so it was very informative and helped me to change aspects of my lifestyle to try to help out. Although I am only one person I believe that if I do these small things others around me might be encouraged to do them as well.
I also really liked all the documentaries we watched. I was aware of some of the issues we covered but not the extent of each. Tapped really got me thinking about wanting to do something to make a difference. I started noticing people who bought bottled water, noticed myself drinking less bottled beverages because I wasn't really big on drinking bottled water to begin with. I also noticed at work there are boxes to recycle paper but none for plastic bottles. I then started to encourage people to put them in a bag and I would bring them back to the plastic's bin at the back of the store when it gets full. Some people still throw away their plastic bottles but there are also some who leave them in the bag for me.
I really liked our books as well. My book helped me realize that living a green lifestyle is not that difficult! I enjoyed reading about everyone else's books, too, because it felt like we were reading 5 books at a time. "Tapped" also had a huge affect on me. I can honestly say I don't think I will buy another plastic water bottle again.
ReplyDeleteI started drinking less bottled water after watching Tapped too! It's amazing what those documentaries open our eyes to. I am glad you started to encourage people to put their own plastic bottles in a bag so that you would recycle them. This class really did make a huge impact on all of us!
ReplyDeleteThe documentaries were great. To see what is actually going on out there is very important, I would never have known otherwise. You mentioned recycling alot and not buying plastic water bottles...We all can agree that little changes can truly make a difference...now I think we can and should go out there and focus on the good things happening and acknowledge those who are also working towards bettering the environment.
ReplyDeleteI believe that too... though we are but just one person, we can really make a difference. Even by going to the grocery store and buying ONE organic item, we are still helping those companies promoting organic products. I think it's awesome that you've tried to get people at your work to recycle the plastic bottles they use. It's pretty difficult to expect everyone to NOT buy bottles, so by at least making sure they don't end up in the garbages, you are helping
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