My work has gone green!

Last Friday when I went to work I discovered that we h

ad bought our own re-usable bags like all the groceries stores have.  I was super excited so, of course I had to buy one.  We sell them for $1, which is comparable to all the other stores in town.  

I have been to work 4 times since last Friday and they seem to be selling pretty well, people aren't just buying one, they are buying a couple, or 8 like one of my fellow employees did.  

I work at Treasury of Memories, a scrapbooking store and we do our 

best to recycle the paper scraps.  The employees are really good, 

but some customers are not, even when the recycling bin is just as close as the garbage can.  Some times I just do not understand them.  There are even signs about how we should recycle paper scraps.

But here is a cute picture of our cute bags!

This week my spending has been very good.  I had three exams this past week, so I was very preoccupied with them to go anywhere and spend money, which is a good thing.  

I also accomplished all three of my goals this week.  

I took the bus to work on both Monday and Wednesday, I bought some local produce from the Co-op and I also cooked dinner for myself every night this week using fresh ingredients. 

Taking the bus really saved on my gas mileage, I only drove 20 miles and that was from last weekend.  I didn't spend any money on not needed items and I spent about $20 on groceries. 

 

I did the assignment this week and looked at the 

toxicology level of my personal hair care products.  And one was much better then the other.  

I first did my face wash, that I use daily, it is from The Body Shop and it was only ranked 3 out of 10, which wasn't to bad.  It was considered moderately toxic, but a low moderate.  

I also looked at my shampoo, which is a Redken Color Care shampoo, I also use the conditioner, and I love the way they make my hair feel.  It was ranked 7 out of 10, which was a little more shocking.  

After discussing our products, we came up with the conclusion that even though the salons recommend them for you, they are not necessarily better for us, which really sucks.  I now am going to try and look for another shampoo and conditioner.  One that isn't so toxic.

Here is the link, if you want to check out your products too:

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1

Consumption is a hard thing.  Living your life one way for 21 years is hard, but is definitely a worthwhile cause to try and change.  

During my first week of back to winter quarter my consumption habits were very bad.  My friend had just come back from Ireland and we went out four nights that week.  Since then though, I have been much better.  We go out for beers every Tuesday, and other then that we cook and eat at home.  

Yesterday I watched history, as the 44th president, Barack Obama was inaugurated and gave his speech.  He talked about sustainability and how we need to use renewable resources and energy.  Listening to him was moving and motivating at the same time, I hope that with this administration we can see a difference, and we will use and help make like more sustainable.  

Last night to celebrate the Inauguration Day we walked to the Beav with some friends, then later walked to the Horseshoe before we walked home.  

Today, I took the bus to school and played racquet ball, before getting back on the bus to go to work.  The bus ride was about 30 minutes, but it gave me some good time to study.  Later I had to take the bus back to campus for a class and after class a friend and I walked home.  On the walk home, we stopped by the Co-op so we could buy some milk and I wanted yogurt.  I have been making smoothies every morning for breakfast, with some strawberries that I froze last summer, which I picked in Lynden last summer.    

I have decided though that I need to work on turning off and unplugging my appliances when I am done with them.  I leave my computer on all-day and night and even though my energy bill is on average about $15, I could maybe get it lower if I worked on and accomplished this goal.

The New Co-op

Today for lunch, I decided to walk across the street from my work to the new Co-op that just opened last Thursday.

I have to say it was rather exciting, because two of my goals this quarter was to eat more local food, and also to eat more organically made and from scratch, instead of buying the processed. I accomplished both of these things with going to the new Co-op.

They did a great job in designing the building, it had a great flow and everyone was very friendly. I plan on walking to get some groceries from the Forest Street location on Tuesday night, if I do not have too much homework.

Overall my consumption has been better, but I have to admit I have not been completely successful with my goal of taking the bus to work. I need to plan my day just right, so I wake up early enough to make it to work, and then right after work I have to rush back to the bus so I can take it up to campus. Working by the mall makes it much more difficult to take the bus, with a really full schedule. I am not giving up on the goal yet and will try again this week.

I have also not bought anything for myself, just the basics of groceries, but even then that was a week ago. I did have to break down and by gas this morning. $25 to fill up my tank, my light was on, so we know I was low. Hopefully this will last awhile, it usually does, the only time that my car gets driven is when I drive to work.

Today is my first post for my Sustainable Marketing class.  Our first assignment was to find out our Ecological Footprint.  My ecological footprint was 3.4 planets, meaning that if everyone lived the way that I do then we would need 3.4 planets.

This was a bit shocking for me, I try to live green, and know that I do not always succeed at that, so then our next thing was to choose 3 things we could do this quarter to reduce our footprint.  My three things are:

Eat more locally grown food.

Take the bus to work at least one day a week to work, instead of driving &

Buy more natural and organic foods so that I am not eating the processed and packaged foods.

So far this has been going okay.  I went to the grocery store and bought more natural and organic foods.  My groceries costed about $50.  I also had to pay my renters insurance and my Comcast bill.

Well that is all for now, another post to come.