Preach Sustainable, Peers!

I enjoyed doing my PSP. Three weeks ago, when I was deciding on my PSP, I didn’t want to choose anything too difficult or extreme for the fear that I would not be able to stick to it. However, now that I look back on my experience, I probably could have picked something more challenging. All it takes is some adjusting and getting used to.

If I continued my PSP, which I most likely will, I will reduce the disposal of plastic waste by a lot. If I use the same plastic bags for bulk food for however long they last, which is probably around a couple of months, I would reduce my plastic bag waste by a lot. I will probably go grocery shopping once every two weeks. If I didn’t do my PSP, then each time, I would use about 3 plastic bags. So that would add up to 6 plastic bags a month, and 72 plastic bags for the year. But if I stick to my PSP, I will most likely use the same plastic bags for about 3 months. So in a year, I would only use 12 plastic bags. Even 12 bags still seems like a lot to me. But compared to 72, that’s pretty good.

As individuals, it’s important that we take responsibilities in reducing plastic waste, especially as more and more plastics are being employed in human lives. Along with reducing waste, the importance of biodegradable plastic is emphasized. This review goes into depth about the developing technological advancement in making biodegradable plastic. According to this review, additives such as starch and pro-oxidants are included in synthetic  materials to make plastic more biodegradable (Zheng 2005). According to an article by Paetau, plastics that are starch-based are 100% biodegradable in soil and are water-soluble (Pateau). Pateau and his colleagues are looking into utilizing soybeans to make biodegradable plastics.

I also want to continue to shop at the local co-op and support the local farmers. I feel better when I know where the food is from, and who is making them. I never knew before that when I bought limes from Safeway, that was made in Spain, I was contributing to air pollution, resource depletion and much more. I had no idea I could contribute to global warming just by buying limes from Safeway. This website lists many reasons why it’s important to buy local. It makes me feel good that when I read this, it makes sense to me and I agree with it!

Here’s a video about how to throw an Eco-friendly party. Show your friends that being sustainable can be fun, and get them started too! How to Throw an Eco-Friendly Party

Overall, this was a good experience. Being aware and informed about social, economical and environmental sustainability has really opened up my eyes. Making minor changes in the house to be more sustainable isn’t dreadful anymore. I’m finding joy and excitement in being more sustainable, and I’m hoping it lasts. Now, whenever I see my friends and roommates throw away stuff that can be recycled, it stresses me out. In an article I found, the researcher Rune Gulev of the University of Applied Science in Kiel, Germany, was able to identify which personality traits are more closely associated with sustainable behaviors. According to Gulev, those who lived in areas where having high social cohesion or tolerance an respect was important, were more likely to practice sustainable behaviors (Mulvey).  Gulev states, “Taken historically, the results provide clear indication that some attitudes and values in people do facilitate sustainable bahavior that these attitudes and values can be fostered to create greater sustainable behavior practices. It is hoped that the results initiate a debate and further motivation for research into sustainable practices.” With that said, my goal is to teach my friends and family about the issue and motivate them to practice more sustainable behaviors.

Works Cited:

Sustainable Connections. 2010. Balle member. http://sustainableconnections.org/thinklocal/why/

Zheng, Ying. A Review of Plastic Waste Biodegration. 2005, 25 (4). 243-250. http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07388550500346359

 

Paetau, Inke. Biodegradable Plastic Made from Soybean Products. 1994, 33(7). http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie00031a023

Mulvey, Jeanette. (2012, June 14). Sustainable Behavior Study Shows Why People Go Green. GREEN. Retrieved August 17, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/14/sustainable-behavior-study_n_1597630.html

Week three of the Co Op

Things are going good with my PSP, we are continuing as a family to buy most of our stuff from the Co Op.  This last week we had a little bit of a bump in the road as far as just living our normal lives.  My wife gave birth to our second daughter Paige Elizabeth on the 9th

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As far as the PSP went, we were all forced to eat hospital food from their cafeteria.  The food tasted fine; however, I am willing to bet that it is not organic or from local farms.  This is ok though, I know that it is not all that realistic to eat solely food from the Co Op when things like this happen.  Also during the week , just to get rid of some of the meat that we had in the freezer, we made some burgers that were probably a part of a high yield super farm in which the cows were fed corn.

This Co Op is owned by the community, and that is what drives me to continue to shop there.  The profits do not go into the pockets of the employees, and at the end of the year if there is a surplus, it goes back to the owners.  This hasn’t happened in over 5 years, but the idea is nice I guess.  Another driving factor is the fact that I know where my food is coming from with this place and it forces me to eat more of a variety instead of convenience foods like corn dogs, or a frozen pizza or something.  This co op is full of more than just healthy food, they have many community outreach programs and donate money to local organizations.  For more info, check out the vid below:

Economically, the co op costs me a little more, but I really don’t care because ultimately it could keep me alive longer because it keeps me healthier than if I were to keep eating disgusting food.  A personal thing that I like is that it is teaching my daughter at a young age to eat good clean food and not be susceptible to norm of eating what is easily available.  To me, having to pay a little more is not an issue.

One way I guess that my PSP benefits me economically is that the Co Op is close to my house and I spend much less in gas to drive there and do my shopping than I would going to Win Co or Costco.  And the thing with going to Costco is I never intend on spending much before I go, and when  I am checking out I usually have a bill of around 250-300 dollars.  So maybe, shopping at the Co Op could be saving me some money because I usually only buy what I need at the Co Op instead of what I want.  Below is a post from everydaytipsandthoughts about why one individual decided to cancel their costco membership and I really am tempted to cancel mine as well:

Costco

I think that shopping local is great and the whole community could potentially benefit economically by shopping local.  Supply and demand could become an issue with local farms given the fact that there are far more consumers around than there are farms.  But, I think that most people are stuck in their ways and happy with the norm.  Maybe that is how some of these local farms and the Co Op stays in business.  If they got too busy, they would be forced to defeat their own purpose and begin to mass produce items.  I am not a farmer, this is just my current observation.

Anyway, I think that I will totally continue to be a member at the Co Op and recommend that everyone comes by.  I can recommend that and not worry about supply and demand becoming an issue because I know that only a small number of people will actually do the right thing sadly.  Thanks for reading, and isn’t she sweet?!?

Organic or NOrganic?

At the local co-op, if you bring your own shopping bag, they give you a bean at the cash register. On the wall of the store, there are different slots, each with different organization names on it. With that bean, you can choose which slot to put it in. The bean represents the 5 cents you saved the store by not using their plastic bags. In return, the co-op is willing to donate the 5 cents to that organization of your choice. I thought this idea was pretty cool, because not only are you being environmentally sustainable, but you are helping the co-op pass on the favor forward. The bean strategy is a good incentive for you to keep bringing your bag too!

There was another student whose promise was to eat only locally grown produce and meat. Like she said, not everything at the co-op or the farmer’s market is expensive. Although she said she is spending more money on groceries, she is spending them wisely. I noticed that when I’m at the co-op, I’m more aware of my budget, so I don’t buy whatever I see. But when I’m at Winco’s, I’ll be strolling down the snack isle and buy anything that catch my eyes. This results in producing more waste, and on top of that, munching on something that I don’t need to be.

Another student mentioned how they went to the co-op to buy local food and found the local 6 brochure. I thought it was pretty cool that some local co-ops are working together to promote locally grown produce.

I think many of us are having a similar experience shopping at the co-op. I don’t see a con with any of the approaches, and I think it’s great that everyone seems to be enjoying shopping at the co-op. I also thought it was great how shopping at the co-op and eating organically has led to other benefits. The first student mentioned how he doesn’t have cravings for fast food ever since he switched to eating organic food. And I totally agree with this. This weekend, my friends and I went to Mcdonalds, but I didn’t want anything from there. Instead, I was craving a delicious soup and salad from the co-op.

I’m an exercise sports science major, and I am always interested in improving mine and others’ health. I got curious to see if organic food is actually better for the human health than conventional food. According to an article on Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, there has not been a controlled study that has compared the effects of organic and conventional products on human health. This is because such studies pose considerable problems of feasibility, cost and ethics, and time. In the past, there has been a few studies here and there that compared organic and conventional, but there has yet to be a definite answer (Williams 2002). This made me wonder why some people are so set on buying only organic food. A study by Magnusson and his colleagues designed a questionnaire concerned with attitudes and behavior towards environmentally friendly behavior (EFB). The questionnaires were given to swedish citizens, ages 18-65 years old, and they found that “egoistic motives are better predictors of the purchase of organic food than are altruistic motives” (Magnusson 2003). They found that organic foods was most strongly related to perceived benefit for human health.

Organic vs. Conventional banana

After reading these articles, it was disappointing to know that organic food is not necessarily better for the human health than the conventional. Instead of focusing on organic or conventional, we should focus on buying locally produced food. It’s important that we support local farmers and help out the community. By doing so, not only are we helping the community, but we are still getting the organic food we think is good for us, because most of produce grown locally are organic.

Works Cited

Christine M. Williams (2002). Nutritional quality of organic food: shades of grey or shades of green. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society,61, pp 19­24 doi:10.1079/PNS2001126

Maria K Magnusson, Anne Arvola, Ulla-Kaisa Koivisto Hursti, Lars Åberg, Per-Olow Sjödén, Choice of organic foods is related to perceived consequences for human health and to environmentally friendly behaviour, Appetite, Volume 40, Issue 2, February 2003, Pages 109-117, ISSN 0195-6663, 10.1016/S0195-6663(03)00002-3.

Co-op is your only stop!

There were a couple of times when I didn’t bring my plastic bags to buy bulk food. When I go grocery shopping for myself, I remember to bring my plastic bags. However, whenever I’m at a friend’s house and we spontaneously decide to go get candy or ingredients for baking, I get too lazy to grab my plastic bags from home.

Guilty as charged, two weekends in a row, I have failed to attend the farmer’s market. I was upset at myself for missing farmer’s market!

However, on the brighter note, I went to the co-op in South-town for the first time this week! I loved the everything about the store, and I wanted to spend hours in there. Learning about sustainability, what is happening to the earth, and the impacts that every action has on the earth, it opened up my eyes and made me want to help out. I noticed that I have been producing less waste. Our garbage can hasn’t filled up as fast as it used to. Economically, although I’m not shopping any more frequently, I have been spending more money because I’ve been buying organic food from the co-op and Market of Choice, instead of Winco’s.

Economically, I don’t know if there is much benefit for me. I feel like I’m just spending more money on groceries. However, if everyone started bringing their own plastic bags and went to the Co-op or the farmers’ markets, there would a HUGE impact on supply and demand, product lifecycles, and government budgets. In terms of product lifecycles, the plastic bags would last way longer, so there wouldn’t be as much need for production of new plastic bags. This is great because the less plastic bags we have to make, the less we have to throw away! If everyone went to the Co-op, this would greatly help the family farms in business. Demand of their produce would go up, but I’m not sure if supply can keep up because the farmer’s have limited land, workers, and resources. Another perk to having everyone shop at farmers’ markets is that it boosts the community’s economy.  According to Hughes and his colleagues, “They(Farmers’ markets) tend to draw people downtown that otherwise would not be there. Many of these people, as well as vendors, will then shop in the surrounding stores because they are convenient. The result is favorable attitudes about the downtown among consumers and vendors.”

Could this really happen if the consumers demanded organic drinks?

In terms of government budget, the government spending on health care would go down. Generally, food prices at the co-ops or farmers’ markets are more expensive than that of regular grocery stores. Therefore, the amount of meat, for example, a person can buy becomes significantly reduced. With reduced amount of certain types of food, one’s diet will become healthier. “Lowered meat consumption would yield significant public health benefits, particularly a reduction in heart disease, several cancers, and other chronic diseases. These diseases largely contribute to the epidemic of obesity” (Horrigan). Currently in the United States, we spend $174 billion for diabetes, and that’s more than the health care spending on smoking (Center of Disease Control and Prevention).

Obesity can lead to cardiovascular disease, which is currently the number one cause of death in the United States.

If the obesity rates declined due to people going to the Co-ops more, then the government spending on diabetes medical care would decline as well.

 

Works Cited

Hughes, M. E. & Mattson, R. H. (1995). Farmers markets in Kansas: A profile of vendors and market organization. Report of Progress 658. Manhattan: Kansas State University, Agricultural Experiment Station.

How sustainable agriculture can address the environmental and human health harms of industrial agriculture. Leo Horrigan, Robert S Lawrence, Polly Walker. Environ Health Perspective. 2002 May; 110(5): 445-456.

Center of Disease Control and Prevention. 2012. Overweight and Obesity. Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult/causes/index.html

 

Eating Local + Immigrant Work Conditions

This is not my video; however, this is my main concern with my PSP of eating good healthy local food.  I love to eat meat, but after watching Food Inc., I was a little sickened by how disgusting most meat is.  So,  I went to the Co-Op last week and bought my membership.  The membership costs 70 dollars and you can get your money back if you choose to.  The name of the Co-Op is First Alternative Natural Foods Co-op located at 1007 SE 3rd or 2855 NW Grant, Corvallis, OR.  www.firstalt.coop.  I really recommend that everyone in Corvallis goes there because not only would you be taking care of yourself, but you would be contributing to the good of the community.  YES, the prices are a little more expensive; however, I would argue that in the long run that it is worth it.

This is a picture of the Co-Op as well as their restaurant next door:

  

I included the restaurant for a few reasons.  The first reason is that it is awesome!  Some of the other reasons are that they serve all good fresh food from the Co-op and the atmosphere is just really nice.  Sometimes they have a band play and they cook their a lot of the food in a giant outdoor stove that is really cool.  It is a little pricey; however, I argue that their pizza is the best in town made with all fresh healthy organic ingredients and everything on the menu sounds really good.  I have eaten there twice and enjoyed it both times very much.

I have to say that this week has not been hard for me at all.  My wife and kid seem not to mind eating from the Co-op, and either do I.  They have everything that we need there and the only negative about the whole situation is that it is more expensive.  I don’t want to sound pompous, but I get paid decent and I really don’t care about having to pay a little more for good healthy food.  I like to drink a lot of coconut water, and the Co-op is one of the only places in town that always has it, so for me, that alone is enough of a reason to go there.  Also, every second tuesday of the month, it is owner appreciation day where everything in the Co-op is 10% off, so if anyone were to buy an owner number (the 70 bucks I mentioned) they could make up for that in one solid grocery shop.  We went there 2 days after we bought the membership and bought a bunch of stuff and have been able to have some nice meals at home as well.  We bought these avocados that are like 3 times the size of any other avocado i’ve ever seen, I should have taken a picture.  They were some of the best tasting i’ve ever eaten too by the way.

Another plus of the Corvallis Co-op is that they have a special recycling center where you can even get rid of STYROFOAM!  So in addition to your curb side service, the Co-op will take  you stuff.  If you have any questions or concerns with that, contact recycling@firstalt.coop.

How does your PSP action affect human rights, labor issues, quality of life, communities, inter- and intra-generational equity, diversity, and/or governance here and around the world? You can speak generally and/or focus on specific case studies (regions/issues) connected to your PSP.

Well for starters, check out this link http://sustainablecorvallis.org/action-teams/water/project-water-demonstration-site/, it could be argued that this is more of an environmental sustainability thing; however, the whole concept of being conservative with our water is something that a lot of people in the community neglect to talk about or take action on.  So, with that being said, the Co-op is setting the example with this project with their main goal in mind to demonstrate that a fully developed and operational business can reduce by 50% its use of 3 municipal water systems and maintain productivity.  This could potentially lead to a higher quality of life and bring the community together in identifying this serious problem of being so wasteful with our water.  Also, by reading this and being potentially active in the project, it could be assumed that more people would go to the co-op thus contributing positively to personal health, local farms, and just the whole Corvallis community.

As far as human rights and labor issues,  I know that on the super farms where high yield crops are being produced, a lot of illegal immigrants are working under strenuous conditions and not getting paid what they deserve for their hard work.  By supporting local farms and the Co-Op, you would not be supporting big corporate strangle holds.  That is not to say that some illegal immigrants are not working on local farms because I know for a fact that they do indeed work there as well; however, it is not nearly the same as compared to high yield farms.  http://www.personal.psu.edu/jmc6011/blogs/245/2012/07/searching-for-an-issue-to.html, this kind of brings the idea of illegal workers on farms into perspective.  It is a touchy subject where it would be impossible for everyone to agree either for or against illegal farm hands.  In my opinion, they are not simply just going to disappear and I would rather they worked locally on healthy farms where the conditions were not so bad than for some huge corporate farm where no one gives a crap about their welfare.  Again, a touchy subject but a lot of Americans are unwilling to do this kind of work.

This next week, I plan on doing the same stuff and I really really recommend that everyone goes to the Co-op and get an owner number.  And drink some Coconut water, its really good for you!

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Come out swinging!

My PSP was to cut down the amount of fast food that I was consuming and instead buying local and organic food to make dinner. I’ve begun the week out swinging and not giving in to the temptations of buying any fast food while I’ve been at school. One of the biggest things that helped me with this is switching my eating schedule around a bit so that I’m not hungry throughout the middle part of the day and I’ll have enough time to go home and eat meals that I’ve cooked instead.

It hasn’t been as hard as I thought it was going to be since with the switch in eating scheduling I’m usually at home when I’m getting hungry. This lets me easily head to the kitchen and warm up a meal I cooked the previous day instead of having to leave and go get something to eat from a fast food place.

The biggest thing has been trying to make enough food that’ll last me throughout the next two days since I’m only eating meals at home now. This has almost doubled the amount of food that I have to cook, but this has been more of an experiment than a difficulty of the process.

For the second part of the PSP, buying more local and organic food, I haven’t started doing too much of that yet. The reason for this is because the food that I had stored before deciding to do this PSP while take me another few days, at least, to run out of. I didn’t want to start shopping and buying new food while I still have things that were able to be made from my current stockpile of groceries. However, I’ve been actively looking at any deals that have been going up on the Corvallis Co-Op website and will be heading to the Farmer’s Market this weekend and see what I can find there.

Although I haven’t done much shopping, the little bit that I have done hasn’t been too big of a change from my previous shopping habits. As I said before, the biggest change would just be the location that I’m shopping for my food rather than a big change in diet. I’ll have to see if there is any bigger change when I go this next week since I’ll have more to buy.

My PSP will address a few different social issues that surround different aspects of acquiring food and the farming/agricultural system. With the reduction in fast food, the places that I normally visit will have one less customer as part of their normal income. Although a single person can’t make a huge different in this specific aspect of business, if more people change over to a more locally grown and organic food supply while trying to eat at home rather than at fast food locations it can make a bigger difference.

As stated in Food Inc., the fast food industry was one of the big reasons for the change over into a more mass production/yield of food rather than a sustainable and healthier choice that might be a bit more expensive. If we can get more people involved in removing fast food from their diet, the amount of customers to these businesses will begin to decline and they will have to change their business model to adapt to the peoples change in demand.

Also, with beginning to buy more local food, the amount of Carbon released into the atmosphere due to transportation of the food has decreased tremendously. Looking back at some of the statistics from last weeks post, the average distance livestock/agriculture travels is about 1,500 miles to get to where you buy your food. Being able to reduce this number to only a few 10’s miles rather than 1000’s will add up significantly over time. Once again, a single person can’t make a huge dent, but with a larger movement going toward local food, we can see a larger reduction in the carbon emissions due to a reduction in transportation distance of our food supply.

Another big aspect my PSP addresses the increase in quality of life due to a reduction of fast food. According to Alex O’Meara of Livestrong.com, “In a study of monkeys lasting six years, scientists found that monkeys who primarily ate fast food gained 7.2 percent of their body weight. Those who ate much less fast food gained only 1.8 percent of their weight.” One of the biggest factors of this is that a single fast food meal contain about 1,000 calories, or about half the daily intake of calories for most Americans. Alex also states, “By reducing or cutting fast food out of your diet you reduce your chances of becoming obese, lowering your likelihood of diabetes and heart disease and increasing your life expectancy.” Overall, there are many benefits of eliminating as much fast food from your diet as possible, and a good start to doing that is buying local and organic food that you can make dinner with at home!

Locavore! Om nom nom.

“Since the late 180s, agricultural imports have been on the increase”[1]. Even with all the mass production of the farmers here in America, we still see a large influx of many of our goods coming from other parts of the world. This means that many of the things we eat are traveling thousands of miles before they get to the production plants or the markets here in America. Even the food that has been produced here in America has to travel hundreds to thousands of miles through the use of airplanes, trucks, trains, etc. As stated by Farenga, “a large quantity of the food that they eat has traveled over 1,500 miles”[1]. This amount of transportation adds a significant amount of pollution to the environment. Due to these factors, I think there needs to be a change!

One of my biggest challenges has always been my food selection. Being a college student it’s not always easy to have the time to cook lunch or dinner while traveling back and forth to school all day long. What usually ends up happening is that I’ll stop by somewhere on Campus or Monroe to pick up some food for at least one of my meals per day. Not only does this quickly add on the amount of money you spend for food, since most fast food will usually be >$5, but it’s also not a very health choice. Also, after watching Food Inc., they talked abut fast food companies being one of the largest reasons for the switch over to mass production in livestock and crops. The mass production practices that there farms are engaging in was also an eye opener and something I think that needs to be changed.

My PSP is going to try to change these habits by going at it in two different ways. First, I’m going to start making sure to plan my meals ahead of time the previous day. While doing this I’m going to make sure that I’m making dinner the day before and making sure there is enough for me to take the next day to school. Allowing me to not have to buy fast food that is on or near campus but instead have better, healthier food that I made the previous day. This is going to be a challenge since I’m not home very often due to being busy with school and during the weekends I’m usually up in Portland since I’m getting ready to move up there after the summer is over.

Second, I’m going to being to go to the local Farmers Markets and the Co-op to make sure that the food that I’m buying will be locally grown. One of my biggest worries about buying locally grown was the slight increase in price of the products. However, after examining how much I’ve been spending on eating fast food I shouldn’t have a reason to complain about the small extra cost of locally grown food. Also, since my plan also includes reducing or completely eliminating my consumption of fast food, I’m going to be taking the money I’m saving and using it to buy healthier, locally grown food.

These two ideas work very well together with my lifestyle and adequately address the issue of mass production of food and its transportation. I already cook dinner on a fairly regular basis but never considered taking some of the portions for my meal the next day instead of buying food while I was out. It’ll require me to put a little more planning into my meals but it ‘should’ be an easy transition to reduce my fast food consumption. Also, the change to locally grown won’t be a huge change since I’m already going on a regular basis to other markets to buy food. It will require a bit of extra money, which should almost be negated by the reduction of fast food, and it will require me to go to a different store to purchase my food. These aren’t huge tasks to overcome in my everyday life since they are two things I do throughout the week; however, it will make a larger impact on the overall picture of my health and my support of the local farmers of Oregon.

 

[1] Farenga, Stephen, and Daniel Ness. “Going locavore: teaching students about the benefits of food produced locally.” Science Scope Jan. 2010: 52. Academic OneFile. Web. 27 July 2012.

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My first BLOG, My Personal Sustainability Promise!!!!!!!!! Eating good healthy and natural food from the CO-OP and Farmers Market instead of the nastiness that is sold everywhere else!!!

Initially I was just planning on increasing my physical activity to become a better member for society as a whole; however, after seeing Food Inc., I have decided that I am going to get a membership at the Co-Op in Corvallis and purchase my groceries from there and the Farmers Market(s) of my choosing. This matters to our global environment because it is important to be the change that we want to see!!! The corporations are puppeteering us all with their control over the food industry and i am not going to support that. The treatment of the animals and the overall disgustingness and corruption is mind boggling and for the next few weeks for this class, I am going to see how I hold up in buying all of my groceries from clean and righteous sources. My PSP addresses the issue in that I will no longer be supporting the corporations and it will be a small bit better for the environment one meal at a time. My PSP is a better way to address this problem than something else is because I am in a sense boycotting the corporate strangle hold; I am not going to support them and at the same time I will be supporting local farms and good healthy eating habits with legitimate natural organic foods. I am going to make sure that all meat I buy comes from a humane and clean source. The fruits and vegetables will be in season only and grown without the aid of disgusting chemicals, and quite honestly, the money I spend will be well worth it for me. It is like a personal victory. Tomorrow, I am going to go to the Co-Op and purchase a membership and do a solid grocery shop. I will not be eating any fast food or eating out for the next few weeks. I hope I will be able to keep this up even after this PSP is over for the course, we will just have to see how it plays out. This change will not make my life harder, it will make it better and also set a good example for my friends and family to follow. If only everyone knew how messed up the food industry is. I will benefit in more ways than one with this PSP to include personal health and just a feeling of pride in doing something good for the community in addition to myself. My wife and kids will also benefit from this significantly. I feel great about making this change, it is something that I have neglected for my whole life and I think that I will enjoy this change.