I learned a lot from participating in the Eco-Challenge. I chose to pick 6 goals and I only achieved all six once. On average I reached about half of my daily goals. I learned that it is very hard to achieve all my goals each day. Living a life where I am aware of the damage the decisions I make to the environment is beneficial. To make a change, I must be aware of the repercussions of my choices. The Eco-Challenge provided me with tools to understand what exactly I could do to make a difference. Along with the challenge and the daily reflections I feel like I did a descent job but there is always room for improvement. I wrote a total of 10 blogs during the duration of the challenge. I learned that the way that the average person decides to live there lives has consequences that we don't realize at the time we make the choice but it will affect the environment greatly if we do not change the ways we eat, shop, dispose of garbage, and many other things that contribute to a healthy/unhealthy planet.
Deciding to not use straws was a great idea. The more research that I did, the more I found out exactly how destructive straws are. Sea creatures and their environments are being destroyed due to plastic waste. The number of straws that we use in America daily is disturbing and there is a simple solution: don't use them or buy a reusable straw. The reusable straw can be disposed of and most of it can be recycled if and when it no longer functions. I can say that I am guilty of using utensils that I shouldn't be using and after learning all the different alternative methods to try, I would like to implement even more of them into my daily life.
I wish that environmental classes such as the one we are currently attending were available to myself as well as others when I was a child. The more you know at a younger age, the more you can make a difference. It is never too late though and I am glad that I am taking the Sociology class and participated in the challenge. I would like to participate again in the next challenge and learn how to invite others that are not in our class to be part of the challenge. The challenge is a good tool to help the participant become aware of the dangers of the products, lifestyles, and choices we make that harm Earth. This is the only planet that we have and unless there is a change and policy changes to where people get educated at an earlier age, laws are enforced, and renewable resources are implemented into our day to day lives rather than fossil fuels and products that have a short lifespan, we will have a major problem on our hands. I think that there is still time to somewhat reverse what we have already done but a huge change must happen soon or some of the effects may be irreversible. Overall, the Eco-Challenge was enlightening and I was glad to be a part of it. I hope that everyone that participated learned something and can begin to make a shift in the positive direction.
