#noimpact2016

Overall this no impact project wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. I believe that I did a fairly good job with it as towards the end I really started to reduce my car use and not drive unless it was necessary and started carpooling which was good for it. And unplugging electronics when I'm not using them is more of a habit now and I think it is something that I will continue to do. I did have a hard time with buying local foods as we do live in Canada and there is a thing called winter which doesn't really allow foods to grow. After this project I am starting to care more about our environment and help make it a cleaner place and am really starting to watch my carbon footprint.

Well, this is it. The No Impact project 2016 has finally come to an end. 3 weeks later and we are done.

Although I have been successful at keeping to my commitments, these past three weeks have been extremely challenging, as well as an eye opener. I feel good about my actions, and I am hoping everyone else is too.

Fortunately for me, the lifestyle my family and I live, I have never had to think about the actions I do. My parents are kind enough to let me drive their car when I need to go somewhere, whether it is hockey, to get to school/work, to visit family or even for social reasons. These past three weeks, I really had to take a step back and think to myself if I really needed to drive, or if there were alternate options. As challenging as it was to refuse the car, especially for school, which meant I could sleep an extra two hours; I got up early to take the train. Not only has the No Impact project helped me reduce my carbon emissions, it helped me realized how privileged of a life I have. Being able to drive, when I want.

My other commitment was to not purchase clothing or anything unnecessary. Although I broke this rule once, I really improved compared to where I was before we started this project. Again, referring back to before, if I needed something (such as a water bottle, t-shirt, pencils, etc.), I was fortunate enough to be able to go and buy it. Not being able to do these things really made it difficult, especially when I needed something. However, this project thought me that there are other ways around it, and you don’t need to buy something right when you think I need it.

Lastly, my commitment for buying local food. Although this commitment wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be, it still gave me a run for my money. Because I’m not home a lot in Toronto right now, I didn’t get many opportunities to go grocery shopping. However, when I did I realized how big of an adjustment it was. Shopping trips went from 30 minutes to almost 2 hours, having to go through labels and such. However, because my family lives close to St. Lawrence Market, my mom and I went down a few times to buy some local food products. This too however was difficult as not much produce is being grown because of the weather.

Overall, 3 weeks after starting the No Impact project, I feel good about my actions and myself to reduce my carbon emissions and I’m hoping to continue with my commitments. I am proud to say I stayed true to my commitments and only broke them 2 times which I offset by reducing in other actions that effect my carbon emissions.

Stay green,

Kiana🌴

Today’s commitments went really well. In the morning I have a celebration in honour of my first ever hockey coach who now battles ALS. This was held and my local rink so instead of driving or taking the bus I rode my bike. Probably not the safest idea as the roads were icy, but I made it. On top of that, I carpooled to my game tonight so I defiantly did well on reducing my carbon emissions today. So far I still haven’t bought any new clothing or gone grocery shopping for the past few days.

These last two days are going to be tough, but I’m determined to finish off on a good note!

It’s not even 8 o'clock yet and today has probably been one of the most challenging days in the No Impact project. I set my alarm for 5:15am so I would be out the door for 5:55 to catch the 6:05 bus to the subway station. When I woke up, my dad offered me his car for the day so I could go back to sleep, and that way I could drive myself to hockey and come home afterwords. As tempting as it was, I had to turn down his offer to make up for breaking one of my commitments on Monday. So now, I sit on the GO train after being on a bus for 30 minutes and a subway for 30 minutes. Finally, I’m headed to Burlington Go where I will catch my last bus to get to school. Now I will have to take the bus too hockey, carpool home with my friend and catch a train to get me back to Toronto before 8:30 tomorrow morning.

As for buying local food products, I went grocery shopping last night and with every food product I needed to buy, I always tried to make sure it was local. Not everything I bought was local, but my parents gave me a list and so I had to get everything on it.

Stay Green, Kiana🌴

After breaking one of my commitments yesterday I am really regretting it. Today my sister told me I could drive her car because she wasn’t working but I sadly had to turn the offer down to make up for my mistake yesterday. Although it kind of works out for the better because now I can go home to Toronto tonight (via go train and bus). As well, my reusable water bottle broke this morning when my niece dropped it and the plastic cracked, so tonight when I get home I will walk up the street to the store and purchase a new one. Although not using plastic water bottles is not one of my commitments, but not buying anything is, this somewhat breaks a commitment. So as I mentioned in my previous post I will continue to not drive for the remainder of the week and I have found 3 friends to carpool with to Kingston on Friday for my hockey game. I feel like carpooling with 3 people makes up for buying a new reusable bottle.