Week One

Week one is over. And our new green tendencies have been very easy to adjust to. Just to review, the tasks we set for ourselves at the beginning of the week were as follows:

• cut phantom power by turning off electronics
• shorten shower time to conserve water
• go vegetarian 

Unfortunately, the phantom power challenge hasn't really come to fruition. Morgan and I have realized that for the most part we don't even use very much power outside of the TV and computer. That kind of limits the amount of phantom power we can reduce, seeing as the computer seems to be a near 24/7 necessity. Although, for the next week we are going to try to power down as much as possible. Like when we are at school or asleep...

As for shortening shower time, we have succeeded. Although Morgan has never been one for long showers, it is a luxury that I've always indulged in. I was sad to see my long showers go, but we have both comfortably limited our water conservation. 

Lastly, our vegetarian lifestyle is suiting us well so far. We feel perfectly healthy and happy. We've been careful to keep a balanced diet- with plenty of protein and iron; even braving 'tofu dogs' on one occasion. (Unfortunately the tofu version isn't quite as tasty as its meaty counterpart. But much healthier, at only 45 calories a piece!) For the most part vegetarianism has been an easy switch. Surprisingly, the only time I've missed meat at all was at the grocery store today when I realized it would be a month before I'd get to taste the succulent deliciousness that is a fish stick. 

And speaking of grocery stores- that leads me to next weeks challenge... Today at the store we bought several bags worth of food, and didn't think to bring a single reusable bag (of which we have several). So, in the future we vow to always keep at least one reusable shopping bag in the car just in case. Besides, most grocery stores will offer you a small discount for forgoing the less green 'paper or plastic' option. See you next week.

- Amber