Stolen Away on 33rd and 5th

I visited the “Living Green Expo� website and clicked the link to calculate the carbon footprint that I’m leaving on this Earth, and even though I did not actually calculate my carbon footprint, I could see that I definitely do not meet the 10% challenge. I didn’t think there were so many little things we could do to decrease the expenditure of carbon! I can admit that I’ve never really thought about making sure when I buy a washing machine it has an Energy Star label. I have never even heard of that before…but maybe that is just how out of tuned I am to what we’re doing to the environment. I think that is a lot of what is causing such harm to the environment-ignorance and the lack of knowledge that there are other ways that individuals can make small changes in their everyday lives that can reduce negative effects on the environment.
Looking at my personal life, I don’t engage in many activities that have a negative impact on the environment since college life leaves me with little or no options of what kind of washing machine I use for example. I try to always recycle, even though sometimes I am lazy and I won’t go out of my way to find a recycling bin. The U of M makes it pretty easy though having them everywhere! I rarely drive, but when I do, I drive pretty far distances across the twin cities. I definitely would not, however, be willing to give up driving far distances since that is the only way I can see my close friends and family members. It would be quite a workout to bike 30 miles to see my fiancée’s family or old friends from high school! A change that I could easily do that the 10% challenge suggested would be to replace incandescent light bulbs with high efficiency compact fluorescent lamps instead. I believe the latter last a whole heck of a lot longer than the former. As far as other daily changes go, such as buying appliances with Energy Star labels, I should keep these in mind for the future when I buy my own house. I wonder, however, if these specially designed appliances cost relatively more, equal, or less to the leading appliances that consumers purchase. The 10% challenge also suggested refraining from the use of air conditions and clothing dryers. I think a life without air conditions would be miserable, but possible I guess. Also, it would be pretty tough to live without a clothes dryer, especially in Minnesota with our harsh winters! (But then again, there is global warming, so maybe the winters won’t be so bad in the future…) Overall, I think I would be pretty open to making changes that benefit the environment. I might have to make some sacrifices, such as not buying an SUV (which I was really wanting) but I could possibly live with that! I think we all have become so comfortable living a life with so many luxuries that harm the environment. I really want to reduce negative effects on the environment, but sometimes it is really hard to get past how nice these luxuries are and to see how much of an impact we can make on the environment if we all give a little.