It has been quite a year for us with air travel, as we are facing increasing health issues in our families. Alas, we do not live close enough to drive within a day (which has its own carbon footprint), so are grateful for the opportunity to fly.

Yet, we are worried about our carbon footprints. So, we do multiple actions to try to compensate, by purchasing carbon off-sets, planting trees, and maintaining our compost bins and permaculture gardens. It isn't enough, but it makes me feel a little better.

One way I have been wanting to incorporate reduce/reuse into my everyday cycle is by purchasing some reusable shopping bags. Although a lot of stores have already stopped using plastic, I think we could go a step further ourselves and get a few reusable bags instead of using paper bags/carboard boxes provided from the store. This way we are not building up a bunch paper as well as plastic.

My chemistry class requires 2 weekly lab packets, usually about 10 pages. I used this as a perfect opportunity to switch to double sided-printing and save paper. However, I noticed a lot of my classmates still print one-sided, maybe I can take a minute at the start of class or send out a mass email explaining how much paper we can save and additional benefits if we ALL switch to double-sided. Another idea could be seeing if I could incorporate a near the student printers on campus that encourages double-sided printing if the student can! I have never personally used a printer on campus so I do not know if this is already a thing, but if it isn't that could be helpful.

Personally, my walk outside made me appreciate all the small and exciting things that we were naturally gifted. Like the gift of fresh clean air, little critters that make you stop, point, and giggle, the colorful leaves that make you pause in awe, or small successes like stepping on a really crunchy leaf. It made me realize how beautiful our environment can be if taken care of properly, which further inspired me to make an effort to help keep my town clean.

I did think I was addicted to sugar before this challenge. I feel like I am able to control the amount of sugar I indulge in now. The most challenging part of reducing redefined sugar was the food and I overcame it by treating the food like how I treat sugar drinks, just typically avoiding them as often as I can

Exercising daily has made me think more about the possibilities of what I can do in my career and has made me more confident in participating in the sports I love to play. I love bench press because I improved my 1 rep max of 225 pounds to 6 reps in less then 30 days.

Planting trees is an amazing way of starting your connection with nature. Sometimes you don't have the time to tend to a garden, so planting a tree is an amazing alternative for many. It's quick, simple, and rewarding!