Reflection

As soon as I am finished typing up this last post, the "No Impact Summative" will be officially over. But will it affect the way I feel about saving our environment? Definitely not.
This summative has shown me that even the smallest change in your lifestyle can make a difference. I chose to give up television and air conditioning for three weeks. Now this does seem like something that would only make a small difference but I think the point of this assignment is to show us that by starting out choosing something as small as not watching television, it can grow into something much bigger. It can influence others into following your lead and it can show yourself that you can do more to save our environment.
Over the past three weeks, I have had to explain this assignment and my situation to many people. At first, they all laughed, and I'm sure they would never give up something as addicting as television and air conditioning. But as I explained to them the environmental impact of something as simple as air conditioning, they began to understand. My family above all was very supportive of the idea.
When the summative was first assigned, I went to my family to try and figure out, together, an appropriate activity or factor of our lives, to give up. They were hesitant about giving up driving a car, or not using a dryer, which is understandable in our lifestyle. But they were supportive of the idea of helping the environment. I know that from now on my family and I will do whatever we can, no matter how small it is, to reduce our impact.
This summative has shown me that reducing your impact is a lot easier then it looks. I started out giving up television and air conditioning and ended with not only giving up television and air conditioning but also giving up driving whenever possible, giving up the dryer, buying organic food and buying locally, and not buying bottle water (however, that last one I had been doing for a while). I am confident that I will continue to do all of these things and continue to influence others to follow my lead.
Above all, I think that collectively as a class we had raised environmental awareness. Not one person I told, told me that I was crazy. They all know what kind of a world we live in, and if we don't watch how we live, and how we affect the environment, that nothing good can come of it.
I remember while I was researching how the television and air conditioning affect the environment, I was thinking how awful all of the statistics were. A couple hundred pounts of carbon dioxide there, a couple hundred here. I realized that this really was a great assignment, not only for the purpose of the course, but for the rest of our lives.
Being environmentally friendly should be a part of everyone's lives, everyday. And I hope that someday, people will be able to look back in history and say, "Wow, I can't believe our environment was ever that bad".

timetogogreen.