Reflection

THE END HAS COME!
This brings an end to my 3 week, litter free lunch summative. The goals I set out for myself turned out to benefit me. I was hoping to decrease the consumption of garbage on a daily basis and I did have my ups and downs but for the most part I stuck to it. It not only changed the amount of garbage I dispose but it helped keep my lunches more fresh and made me eat healthier and think more about what I should eat rather than getting junk food all the time. With the difference this summative has shown me, I would say it has made a difference in my eyes and my peers. I think this will be something I will take into consideration a lot more and try to follow along with later on down the road. No one really tried to make changes in their lives but when my parents saw what I was doing or heard about it, they as well took it into consideration and tried to take roll in our dinner's as well. So not eating out or making food that caused a lot of waste to be disposed which kind of made me try harder and had a more positive impact on my tasks. My action was not very impractical or inefficient. Some days I will be honest my action did fall under the circumstances but I think if I really tried I could have done it for the 3 weeks without cheating but, I got too lazy. The action I set out was not as hard as an action as I could have chosen but I did know that it was going to be a pretty big challenge for myself. I think the task I chose had a positive impact on the environment because not only did me, myself take roll through the action of cutting down on the consumption of waste but my friends did as well. They started to realize what I was doing and we somewhat worked together to make it happen, not to mention two of my best friends are in this class and had quite relevant tasks as mine. It was fun doing it together rather then putting all the pressure on yourself to do it, I had my peer's help reminding me. Personally my task didn't have a GREAT impact on the environment but it had a big enough one to open me and my families eyes and hopefully others around realize how disgusting it is seeing over 3 bags of garbage put out on garbage days for a family of about 3-4. Not only did it decrease the amount of garbage but it also opened my eyes to start recycling more or try and buy already recycled material. Overall it was a pretty fun summative I must say, beats writing an essay or making a presentation. Not only was it fun and somewhat easy at times but it was doing us all a favor by helping the environment. I myself, will definitely keep up with this and possibly from reading others blogs and what they gave up, maybe I might try doing that for a bit to see what it was like from there perspective. I think I succeeded well enough, I mean I could have done better but I never said I wasn't going to cheat, maybe I could have pushed myself more but all in all I think it was good and I attained my goal for the most part with the lack of garbage I consume on a daily/weekly basis.

Post #9

This final week has been going great! I haven't cheated, my lunches have consisted of me either coming home for lunch or bringing a sandwich with snacks in Tupperware containers. I'm pretty proud of myself and it makes me feel good accomplishing it. I had my doubts about this week since last week wasn't the greatest and I cheated a few times, but this week I have smartened up and followed through with my action. This is probably because it is the last week and I just want to get it over with or maybe not, maybe this is actually opening my eyes to the waste consumption I produce on a daily basis. Overall this week seems to be coming to a positive end. No cheating = No garbage!

Post #8

FINAL WEEK FINAL WEEK FINAL WEEK!
So in case you haven't got the message it is the final week and although there are 7 days in a week I'm feeling good about this week already. We're 2 days in so far and I haven't cheated. I've been coming home for lunch and eating at home causing no waste at all. I'm pretty happy with how I've overcome my downfalls and am reminding myself frequently not to cave. I'm being faithful to my litter less lunches lately and I think the environment is appreciative of it! Let's keep it up, only a 5 more days to go!

Post #7

It is the end of week 2 and I haven't been doing all that bad! As compared to my last post I'm doing great. Now something I should be more aware of is when I have oranges or apples or bananas, instead of throwing them out I could easily throw them in the compost. That came to my mind yesterday when I had finished my banana and threw the peel out in the garbage and thought wait a minute this isn't garbage, it's compost but I'm not one to go diving in a gross, smelly garbage bin so I didn't retrieve it but I have it in mind for next time. Well, I'm doing better, I'm eating a lot healthier as well because the easiest to bring in Tupperware are fruits and it is fruit season and my mom has made a few trips already to Farm Boy so we stacked up on our yummy summer fruits so they have all been in Tupperware the last few days. Let's hope the rest of this weekend goes by well.

Post #6

It's a couple days into the second week and it's going brutal. I don't want to get up early in the morning to make my lunches, I don't want to go in the kitchen before bed to make my lunches so what do you think I do the next day at school for lunches? You guess it, go out. I'm actually not very proud of myself for this, I feel like I'm failing at a task that's serious. It's not ridiculously serious but I don't let setting out for something or setting boundaries for something and breaking them or failing at them which is currently what is happening. I need to stop being so lazy and actually do something about it rather than letting it happen and regretting it later. I will be honest when I say this, sometimes I do forget and that's a given but it's starting to get bad so I'm putting my foot down for hopefully the last time. NO MORE CHEATING!

Post #5

It is now the beginning of week 2 and I have made myself a nice litter free lunch. I'm pretty proud seeing as at the beginning and end of the first week I cheated, hopefully I keep it up this week and next. We'll have to see how this week goes, I'm kind of iffy about it seeing as it's the middle of the 3 weeks. The first week usually you keep reminding yourself, oh the summative, I gave up this so don't do it and then the last week you usually do the same but during the middle week, it can slip your mind easily but let's hope not. So far a good start to the week.

Post #4

So it's the end of week 1 of litter free lunches and this weekend went not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I can either lie here or tell the truth and I'd rather go with the truth. I cheated again.. that Starbucks just kills me, it's almost like an addiction and it's also eating up my bank account. I need to contain myself and get myself together and NOT cave. Hopefully week 2 will be better and I won't have to disappoint myself anymore. Like I said it's not as easy as it seems like it would be and I look at everyone else's blogs and what they're giving up for 3 weeks and I think to myself, really Amanda, it shouldn't be that hard! Imagine giving up what they are but it is quite the challenge with the memory and having to remind myself about it constantly.

Post #3

So I'm now a few days into the summative and I'm getting a lot better, I've not only been making disposable lunches but I have also been coming home for lunch and really the only garbage I am consuming is a napkin. I guess you could say I benefit from living so close to the school and being able to come home for lunch. Also some people may see me walking around with a bottle of water in my hand that is not in a reusable water bottle so I guess you could say that is cheating a little BUT the plastic bottles are the eco-friendly bottles, I'm not sure you guys have ever seen them but they are 100% recycled and pretty cool bottles, nothing special but like kind of have a tint to them and the eco green color all over them. I don't know I think they're pretty cool so I guess some would say it's cheating but I personally don't think so. But as I was saying before, I am getting better with my litterless lunches.

Post #2

So I have just started my summative, the whole not having disposable lunches and I’m going to be completely honest... I cheated. I couldn’t help myself, I craved Starbucks and so I obviously had to go buy something. I know I know, great start! My mom wasn’t too pleased but I’m really going to start trying as of NOW. I just started this and obviously it’s still fresh in my mind and it seems like such a simple task but really, it’s going to be difficult I can already tell! Let’s hope I have the companionship to actually stop myself and say NO, or hold myself back. I’ll fill you guys in tomorrow and let you know how I’m doing then.

The Statement of Intent

The "No Impact" summative we have to give up something that is can and will help the environment for 3 weeks, I decided that I will be giving up taking disposable lunches to school for three weeks and trying my best to eat with no disposable bags and try to supply in Tupperware or recycled bags/containers. I chose this action because it would be a pretty big challenge for me seeing as I'm always using baggies or going out for lunch causing me to littler and not recycle. I will also be saving gas and not polluting the air as much because I will not have to go out for lunch. I will be reducing the impact on the environment because I will be having litter less lunches and recycling and reusing a lot more. My action is very measurable but that’s not to say I won’t cheat or forget, seeing as I forget things quite frequently. It's not something impossible to do but it may be a little bit of a challenge, especially when the weather is nice and the urge to go out for lunch will be pretty big. Not only will it be decreasing litter that I dispose at school but it will also be decreasing the amount of garbage my family and I consume on a weekly basis. My mom has helped me come up with the idea for this summative and I think she will be a pretty good reminder to not bring litter with me or something that will be needed to throw out when I’m done with it, because every night she makes her lunches and she has them all in little Tupperware containers If I just take those extra few minutes at night or even in the morning to do so myself it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle and it will also keep fruit and my other food more fresh rather than possibly getting squished in baggies or enclosed with hardly any air. Not only will this be benefiting the amount of waste I consume on a weekly basis from lunches but it is also helping the environment. Each year the environment seems to be getting worse and worse with the amount of pollution people produce and it causes many problems for not only us as humans but the animals and the air we breathe and water we drink. On Monday mornings (garbage day), I usually help my dad take out the garbage in the morning and lately the amount of garbage we put out is about 1-2 bags between 3 of us and at least 2 recycling bins, I mean the bins aren’t as bad but the garbage is kind of a bit much. As I drive to school and see the amount of garbage my neighbors have out it really makes me think how people can consume that much waste in a week and sort of makes me want to change the amount we put out. When you really think about it, the selfish side to this summative, you're not only helping the environment but you are also saving money. Rather than buying new zip-lock baggies, you can reuse the Tupperware by just washing them, rather than going out to buy food you can just bring your own. All in all I think this summative will be worthwhile and it will be interesting to see how far I get, if I cheat and if I attain my goals. So here we go!