Final Reflections

Now that the experiment has been over for a couple of days ( and I have recovered from my lack of meat), I'm ready to look back at my experience and explore what what I gained from it.

Transportation: For most of the week, I stuck to my limitation, but whenever there was a time crunch I always broke the rules. This led me to reseal that in a fast-paced environment  transportation limitations may not always be feasible ( no matter how much you want to reduce your carbon footprint) because of time constraints.  However, this week also revealed that I can make some slight, permanent adjustments to my transportation methods. Whenever I had free time, I had no problem (and liked) walking to Tenley or nearby areas such as friendship or Bethesda; therefore, I will continue to do so. Just maintaining little things like this will reduce my carbon footprint, while having the added benefit of making me just a tiny bit healthier.

Food: By now, if you've been reading this, you know about half-way through I began to eat meat again. I did this not only because I was hungry (starving really), but also because I discovered eating fish, my substitute, was worse for the environment than eating meat. I was torn, but ultimately decided that since I was eating unhealthier because I gave up meat( TDR has a really bad selection) and I was contributing to the extinction of fish(and my wallet really), I returned to my meat eating ways. Ultimately, this part experiment didn't make me a vegetarian, but it made me more conscious of what I'm putting in my body. The food offered at this university is disgusting and unhealthy, and although I might not be ready to stop eating meat, that does not mean I want to put pesticide ridden food into my body. Therefore, this experiment inspired me to cook my own food(or most of it). Next year, I will get the minimum meal-plan so I can be in control of the food decisions I make (to eat organic or not). This will allow me to eat healthier(decent tasting food!!!) and closer to home, hopefully reducing my impact on the internment.

Consumerism: I am sooooo happy with this part of the experiment. I did not buy one thing for the entire week ( and still haven't). For me, this was the easiest part of the experiment because whenever I saw something and was tempted to buy it, I just reminded my self that I really didn't need it(take that I consumerism). For a while, I just got caught up in this consumerist culture, but I really don't NEED most of the items I buy. I'm glad that it was easy for me to return to my old shopping custom (as in never) and honestly, I want to keep this streak up. That doesn't mean that I won't buy items once in a while, but I don't want to ever go back to buying an item a week, no matter how inexpensive or pretty. The cost outweighs the benefit, at least to me, and buying these items only superficial pleases me, I would rather spend my time and money on endeavors that will make me content in the long run.


Technology: Giving up technology while difficult, made me realize that I had become dependent on it. Maybe not to the extent that others are ( don't live and breathe Facebook), but I did freak out if I didn't have my phone on me. Although I want to reduce my dependency, I can't imagine anyway to do so in my everyday life, especially since I use it to stay in touch with my family. However, I can see myself putting away my phone whenever I'm talking to someone or eating with a group, because in those situations its only a distraction and hindrance to companionship. I feel like technology should be used to enhance your life/interactions, it should not be the means for all your social interactions.



Positive Impact/Political Action: This is the only part of my experiment, where the results could not be seen in a week; however, I did successfully make plan to do volunteer work and get involved. This Saturday, I will be participating in relay for life, so at the very least by the end of this week I will have done some community service. In addition, I went to a club event, so I feel like I took steps toward becoming active in the AU community. It had been a while since I interacted with people outside of my immediate group of friends and it felt nice to get out and get active, so I can definitely see myself continuing to be involved in that club. While I can admit that mostly I just care about myself, the world doesn't revolve around me, their are other people on this planet, and if taking a couple hours out of my day can benefit at least one person, then In my opinion its worth it.


Health & Happiness: About midway through the experiment I had a mini-epiphany, which was that life should be a balance between health and happiness, because If you focus too much on one side then you compromise the other. I found this particularly challenging because of my utter lack of self-control, once I begin doing something that brings me joy/happiness (I become like Smeagol and the ring) I am hard-pressed to stop. However, on Thursday , dead-tired and stressed, I said enough was enough (after pulling an all-nighter, because I read books all week instead of sleeping and doing my homework) and set a timer to limit my reading. Since then things have been good, I am getting at least six hours of sleep, maintaining my workload, exercising, and reading. Since I started, this part of the experiment, especially the exercising, I have felt better and because of the benefits I will continue to do so, hopefully making this part of the experiment a permanent fixture in my life.

I really enjoyed this experiment. It pushed me past my limits, reminded me of the differences between a need and a necessity, gave me SLEEP, and........made me hungry. In spite of my hunger, I am grateful that I did this and completed it to the best of my ability because it showed me that, yes i can make changes, and that no matter how small they are, they can have a big impact on both my life and on the environment.

5 days and counting.........

So its five days into the experiment...........and I'm still hungry; however, other aspects of this experiment are going well, revealing to me what I can feasible change about my lifestyle for the betterment of society. 

Transportation: I will admit that in this regard I have failed epically. For the first couple of days I followed my rules diligently, I even walked all the way to Bethesda because the trip wasn't related to school. However, as time passed and time constraints arose I just didn't care anymore. To be fair, I messed up once because I simply forgot; however, the third time I simply couldn't be bothered (my legs hurt and I was hungry). This past few days have made me realize that transportation is a hard area to change. First of all, people (myself included) are used to certain luxuries, and its really hard to change. Then there is the matter of time.  As college student, who supposedly has copious amounts of time, most days I don't have the time to waste walking everywhere. I can only imagine the stress walking would put on an individual who works 40-80 hour weeks, with kids, and other responsibilities. Frankly, I could see myself walking places during the weekend, but during the week its impossible. For the rest of week, I will endeavor to walk to all my pleasure destination, because with all the other things I have to get done, I don't have time to waste walking.

Food: ..........Still hungry. For the last five days I have given up meat, but honestly I don't think I will continue. I'm not quitter but I just can't find the motivation to continue. I come from a family where meat is a staple, its in every meal and in large amounts. Previously, I never thought anything was wrong with this lifestyle choice, but I now know of the cruelties done to animals and it made me wonder about my food choices. However, this week has removed any qualms I had with eating meat. I will eat it all day every day if it means feeling full, because hunger outweighs my conscious in any battle. While this my seem selfish, I don't see it as that because I tried other alternatives. For two days, I ate fish. As in I used MY hard-earned money to go to the store and buy EXPENSIVE fish. Coincidentally, in my environmental sustainability class we also covered the pros and cons of eating meat, fish, or just lower on the food chain. Eating fish is worse for the environment than eating meat, especially since there will be no more fish in the open ocean in 15-50 years if we don't eliminate commercial fishing altogether. So I can't eat meat and I feel the burn on both my conscious and wallet from eating fish/seafood. So.......tomorrow I have a date with omelet man( bacon, sausage, and ham included).

Consumerism: Luckily, most of my shopping plans for this week were cancelled, so I didn't have to face much temptation. However, I began to wonder if shopping online (without actually purchasing anything) would count of "shopping" or just be eliminating my shopping cravings. So I'm going to stop that (after the big blowout sale). I think changing this part of my lifestyle has been the easiest because I didn't grow up in the continental US and wasn't overwhelmed by its consumerist culture. Unlike some of my friends, who have actually voiced this, I don't get a feeling of elation from shopping or get sudden urges to shop; therefore, stopping all these tendencies was just a matter of reminding myself that I don't need them.

Technology: I haven't yet touched Facebook or Skype, but I must admit I feel a little cut off from the rest of society. While I might to be "into" Facebook, most of my friends and family are, so whenever I wanted to know how they were doing, I logged on and snooped. However, now I can't and, since I'm noisy, I am suffering some withdrawal symptoms (nothing too drastic though). Also, I really miss seeing and talking to my close friends and family face-to-face, a problem I mentioned earlier. While most have the problem of being to attached to their technology to the detriment of social interaction, I have the opposite problem. I use technology to stay in touch. Why settle for a phone call when I can see my mother? Why ask about a distant relative when I can Facebook stalk them, instead of having to talk to eight people to get information?

Positive Impact/Political Action:  Over the last few days, I really began looking for ways to get involved. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything immediate to do, so instead I signed up for things in the future. I will now be hosting a potential student in my room and I signed up for relay for life. While most would not consider hosting a high schooler a service, I do. They will be in my room, taking up my space, and asking me questions, all of which will try my patience; therefore, its a service, but I do believe I will have fun trying to find positive things to say about AU. What I am really excited about is Relay for Life. I have participated in this event twice already and know how much it benefits cancer  patients and survivors. Also, its a way to get communities closer. Its been a really, really long time since I did something for anyone other than myself and its long overdue.

Health & Happiness: This aspect of the experiment has given my the most joy and benefit. Since I was urged on by the experiment, I did some form of exercising everyday:) I will be the first to admit that despite the pain, I am immensely satisfied for no other reason than conquering my laziness. After exercising I had more energy, could think clearer.......but I got hungry. On the other hand, but my goal to sleep didn't work out that well. For the first two blissful days I ignored my every growing to-do-list and slept, it.....was.....beautiful. Unfortunately, reality slapped me in the face and I had to return to my insomniac ways to keep up with my course load. But for two days.....Utopia. On top of my exercise, I also tried to read every day and unfortunately I did every day......for several hours, which led to my later sleep deprivation. This experiment has revealed two aspects ( that I already knew, but refused to acknowledge): I have no self-control and I am a procrastinator. If I read for thirty minutes instead of two hours, I could have slept; therefore, I need to work on my time management skills. There must be a balance between health and happiness because two much of either will compromise the other.

Conclusion: Every day I continue, I am overcoming new challenges ( and pushing myself to the brink of collapse). There is one area of this experiment I have not yet mentioned, my friends. When they first found out about this experiment no one believed that I could give up meat (since I complain about the lack of it everyday). Besides that,  they have been supportive. They walk to Tenley Town with me(even to Bethesda!), exercise with men to give support, and eat away from me when they have meat. If anything, this experiment has proven that I have great friends that would support me if I chose to permanently alter any aspect of my lifestyle. And while that may not be important to other people, it is to me.

Day 1: Hungry, Tired, and Satified

Besides the fact that I salivated over the smell of meat, today I had no problem sticking to my goals. Whether this is because its only the first day or not remains to be seen, so here is the breakdown for today:

Transportation: Today I didn't leave campus, So I haven't had to change my daily routine in this aspect yet. However, I am extremely grateful that the whether is great because I will be walking to friendship tomorrow. In light of my future walking, I began to wonder exactly how much do I add to my carbon footprint simply by taking the shuttle? Is the convenience worth the cost, especially since its only a ten minute walk from campus?

Food: Like I stated previously, I am starving. I do believe in part, it's due to the fact that I psyched myself out from the beginning; however, TDR is in part to blame because, due to time constraints and the lack of other option, I ended up eating french fries for lunch followed by ramen for dinner. Then " conveniently" my floor decides to give away wings in the lounge, right as I get back from exercising. Honestly, I would have caved right there, if I didn't live on the first floor and was terrified someone would catch my with barbeque all over my face. At this moment and time, I am not thinking about the impact of meat, I'm thinking about how soon this will all be over. Because as of right now, in this epic battle of selfishness vs. morals, my selfishness is winning out over my conscience. I'm just hungry and want to eat meat,  I don't care what animal suffers so I can get it.

Consumerism:  Since it is just the first day and I did not leave campus, I did not have to face the temptation of shopping. However, I will be going on my usual friendship journey with a friend tomorrow and in light of this am becoming scared.  What if I find a really good deal or a cute shirt? I have lost faith in my ability to just say not to frivolities. Previously, I shopped once a year right before school began, but now I go shopping every week. That does not mean I purchase something every week, but isn't it just as bad to waste all that time on an unproductive and useless endeavor. Truthfully, I have everything I need, I just keep shopping for more. This makes me question exactly what kind of person I am turning into and if it's the environment (stateside culture) that's influencing my actions.

Technology: Previously, both my phone and computer were broken, so I was living without these seemingly "essential" objects. Luckily or unluckily, I just got a new phone and my computer magically decided to start working again so its now a battle of will power. I have never been a fan of Facebook so its not that much of a  temptation ( although my cousin's baby was just born and I REALLY want to know how it looks); however, I am addicted to Skype and reading sites. I had to resist the temptation to video-chat on Skype or check if my favorite stories got updated. The fact that I actually had to make an effort to resist shocked me. I never really believed I was as "linked in" as my peers, but in certain ways, I am. Even though a phone call would suffice, I want to see the people I'm talking to; in fact, the conversations I had today were rather awkward, leading me to conclude that my preference for face-to-face interaction has become a necessity. Also, I could check out a book from the library, rather than read books and stories on my computer or nook, but I don't want to simply because the effort is "too" much in my mind. I believe technology has made my lazy, and despite my pains not to, I'm becoming as dependent on it as the people I once made fun of. Hopefully, I can use this week as a means to ween myself out of this dependency or at least evaluate how much time I spend on it.

Positive Impact/Political Action:  On Monday I checked out AU today for possible events to attend on campus and I signed up for the mailing list at the center for community engagements, so I think I'm making steps toward my goal. I also, signed up to host a potential student in my room (that's community service right?) Hopefully, by then end of this week my efforts will have reached fruition. In the meantime, I am actually excited about getting discovering the different ways to get involved on campus.

Health & Happiness:  In my opinion, happiness is not a constant state instead, it is rather a short feeling of euphoria. Instead, I aim to be content. That being said, life should not be without its little bits of happiness, those instances bring great joy and satisfaction. Today, in an effort to prolong the my "happiness" I hung out in my lounge instead of doing homework, and read a little bit ( from a book that I got from the library but honestly the entire process took entirely too long.) In my efforts to be healthy, which for me are contrary to happiness, I will go to bed at least by two and I exercised for an hour. For me, achieving my little bouts of happiness is easy, its managing my health that's hard. Since today was just the first day, I can say I was easy and I really enjoyed exercising, I even worked out an additional 30 minutes. However, in the long-run, even for this short week, its harder because sometime I have to choose between happiness & health or my grade point average.

Like I said earlier, today was relatively easy. However, as more temptations arise and the pressures of the week pile up, I wonder if I can continue to be strong or if I will break?

Seven Day Envirolent

Indulgence has always been my forte. So for seven days, I will be starving, walking everywhere, and suffering; all in my quest to come to some sort of astronomical self-realization. I do this not solely because its a requirement of our class (even though I probably wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't required) but also because I have noticed that I have become a drastically different person. Since coming to the continental United States, I have picked up some "American" ( I use this term liberally and can defend this comment) habits. I shop constantly, swiping my card without thinking, have become extremely attached to my electronic devices, and am growing increasingly apathetic to social plights. Despite these changes, which I perceive to be negative, I was not going to do anything to change them; however, this experiment has given me the chance to see if I can go back to being my old self and cast away my new-found consumerist tendencies. For my experiment, I will be implementing the following changes:

Transportation: As a college freshman with no car, I mostly utilize the public transportation system. While I know my current transportation method already benefits the environment, I also wanted to challenge myself to go further; therefore, I will attempt to walk to my all my destinations. However, because of previous engagements, I will give myself one handicap, which is that the destinations have to be within three metro stops of the Teneleytown metro station. By setting this goal, I hope to lessen my impact on the environmental while also discovering if I can meet all my needs within the immediate area.

Food: In my family, there has always been one food staple, meat. It was present in every meal, three times a day, and in great abundance. However, recent discoveries have me questioning whether the consumption of my favorite food, outweighs the long-term environmental cost and whether I should give up meat and its byproducts forever. Unfortunately, due to the rather capricious nature of TDR, the food choices I would like to make are severely limited; therefore, rather than becoming a vegan for the week, I will instead give up meet for the entire week of the experiment. In doing so, I hope to test whether this option is feasible for myself in the long run by testing my willpower, against my instinctive nature for self-gratification.

Consumerism: Coming from a place severely lacking in brand names and superstores, I am used to purchasing what I need rather than what I want simply due to lack of options. However, since moving to the states, I will admit that I have become accustomed to shopping rather frequently, mostly for frivolous and unnecessary items. Therefore, for the entirely of the week, I will endeavor to not shop at all. While this decision might seem drastic, I find it to be, like many of the other changes I will make, a test of will power and a reminder that indulgence is not the key to happiness.

Technology: For the past two weeks, both my phone and computer have been broken

This “problem” while maybe not the end of the world, was a huge inconvenience and a major eye-opener, revealing how dependent I had become on technology. Since both of these personal items are still not repaired, I will continue to go without these two aspects of technology and their benefits for example Facebook and twitter, to further discover the impact their loss will have on my lifestyle.

Positive Impact/Political Action: While in high school, I was active in numerous clubs and community service organization; however, since coming to college, I have not done a single act of service. This unfortunate reality is the direct result of a growing sense of apathy and laziness on my part and has been something I have been attempting to rectify this semester. Therefore, to further encourage myself to give back to the community, for the week, I will participate in 2-3 hours of community service and attend a club meeting to begin getting involved on campus. Hopefully, these actions will encourage my continued activity both on campus and in the community and remind me of the joys of service.

Health & Happiness: I have always enjoyed doing three things: sleeping, reading, and walking; however, college has stopped my participation in all three of these activities. Whether do to my course load or procrastination, I never seem to have time to do anything for myself, and this change has not made me a very happy camper. Therefore, for the next week, regardless of time constraints; I will read for 15 minutes, sleep at least six hours a day, and walk for 30 minutes. By doing these activities, I hope to de-stress from the day’s activities and hopefully make my mind and body healthier.