After one week of doing the project, I think that I have done a meaning job for me and for my community by just changing my habits a little. It turns out easier than what I thought.
Progress
I wrote a small note, and sticked it on the mirror in my bathroom. So when I brushed my teeth, I saw the note, and remembered to switch the water off while brushing. This small tip really helped me out in reducing water usage, and even my roommate did that too. My friends came to my apartment, and they saw what I have been doing, and they said they might try to do it, because it is such an easy thing to do, and we can save money from utilities usage, and of course water resources. In this coming week, I decide to add one more thing in my reducing category. I’ll set time for my shower. I usually take shower for 15minutes, now I’ll reduce it to 10 minutes, and this action will save about 10-11 gallons of water each time, so I’ll save almost 80 gallons/week.
I finished collecting and designing my notebooks for my reusing category. I collected my passed papers, stapled them altogether, and designed the front page to make it look nice.
My two handmade notebooks
I’ll keep doing that in this week by having a box right next to my table, so whenever I have papers that I’m not going to use anymore, I’ll keep them in that box instead of throwing them to the trash. And when it gets enough to make a notebook, I’ll take my time to do it.
For my recycling category, I was really successful in doing that. I put a big bag right next to the trash, so when I drank all of the water in a bottle and about to throw it in the trash, I saw my recycling bottle bag, I threw it in the bag instead. I think there were about 30 or 35 bottles in the bag right now. I’ll continue doing that until my recycling bottle bag gets full, then I’ll go to my Fred Meyer or Winco to recycle them. I can’t wait to see how much money I get from recycling those bottles.
Recycling bottles and cans
Social aspect
This project is really a fun and motivated thing to do. I realize that I’m not only doing these things for this class, but also for myself, and the community. And I even realize that habit should be what we consider the right thing to do, not what we like to do because our habits can affect others. We waste lot of water, but so many people live far away from this country don’t have water to drink. There are so many reasons that motivating me for keep working on what I have been doing. I can change my habits to which I call “ good habits”, save money, and also natural resources.
In Oregon, we are called for recycling. And I’m sure we all realize that recycling is a right and good thing to do that beneficial for the society and ourselves, so this brings the best to both worlds. I found an article “Recycling Should Be Influenced By Government Policies”. This is a short article, but it talks about the US government policies being used to influence recycling. Click here to read.
I keep thinking about the poor people that don’t have access to water, and I feel guilty if I’m still wasting it. I throw the plastic bottles in the trash, and then I think about the harmful that plastic can cause, so I stop. People who don’t have access to much of the natural resources or too poor to afford it, they don’t ask for the amount of water or the money that we have saved from doing this recycling thing, but I believe they ask for our responsibilities. You and me should take thing slowly, and think about the effects of our actions to the environment before doing it. If it hurts our community or other communities, please, don’t do it!
Here is another really good article from 2005, which discussed about “Waste management and recycling in Asia”. Countries in Asia noticed their solid wastes, and they already put on actions to manage and control it, and so do we.
Works cited
Jacobson, Louis , and Khator Renu. “Recycling Should Be Influenced By Government Policies.” n. page. Web. 3 Aug. 2012. <http://russ.glaue.org/projects/recycling.html>.
The Instilule for Global Environmental Strategies, . “Waste Management and Recycling in Asia.” 5.2 (2005): 477-498. Web. 3 Aug. 2012. <http://www.reventurepark.com/uploads/1_CWR_ART_11.pdf>.
Sustainability for the Common Good 