The EMbarrassing Impact on Earth....

1). My 100 items list: In class, we were assigned to create a list of a maximum 100 items that we thought we needed to live off of. Well, where do I begin? I could tell you everything on my list, but I had 100 items and was a little embarrassed, especially when I realized I probably needed more to get by everyday. Because of my girly-girl antics and love of clothing/make up, most of my list was made up of those items, leaving me few amenities such as shampoo, hair brushes, razors and deodorant. Not such a clean or happy way to live, is it?

2). The actual number of items I own: After the initial list was made, I went home and counted the number of items I actually own. As if I wasn't already embarrassed by my initial list, my actual list sent me into a corner. To be honest I stopped truly counting once my number hit 450. Like my initial list, the actual one consisted of mostly clothing, including 27 dresses which I found mildly amusing. Hopefully the future will allow me to rid myself of some clothes, as long as I can keep in mind the next portion of the assignment and constantly consuming impacts the world.

3). Reflection on research of chosen item: After the "list" assignments, we placed ourselves into groups to research an item to see what it was composed of, where the components came from, and how they were all placed together. My group decided to choose a baseball which was composed of leather, cork, string, rubber, and a few other chemicals. When breaking apart these components, we found that each were made up of other parts such as oils and cotton plants which come from several countries all around the world (China, Taiwan, France to name a few). All of these components were then shipped together and made into a baseball in Korea. The amount of fuel being placed into the environment from the transportation of these items and the oils being drilled daily for each made me realize how much work is put into any item of choice. Is that new ball really worth all of the carbon emissions in the air? Hopefully one day the entire world can think like this in an attempt to cut back.

4). Ecological footprint reflection: There was a quiz assigned to us in class which asked us questions about our lifestyle and how much carbon and toxins we put into the atmosphere the way we live. When the quiz was over, it informed me that if everyone on Earth lived the way I did, we would need close to 7 Earths to care for my needs. SEVEN??? ARE YOU KIDDING!? That's disgusting, I was so shocked! I never would have thought traveling overseas once a year and just plain driving did such damage to the Earth! Thankfully the quiz gave us tips on how to improve our ways of life, like turning up the thermostat in Summer, which I happily did!