When I started this assignment, I was curious about the outcome. I actually tracked my life from Monday through Friday and picked the 2 most interesting days. I always like to think that my lifestyle has low imprint compared to my friends, but I never tracked it with a journal. What if my carbon footprint is not as low as I think it is?
After rereading my journal, I think the result is not that bad. I realised I don’t eat out as much as I thought I did. It’s probably because I love to cook. I like the whole experience and satisfied feeling when my dish comes out exactly the way I want it. I got this habit from my parents. I learned how to cook when I was 10 years old and since then my mom and I have been cooking dinner together regularly. We didn’t order food or go out for dinner a lot because that isn’t part of our culture. You only go out for dinner when you have something to celebrate such as a birthday. It never bothered me because I had my mom’s cooking!
Currently, I live on my own in my apartment because my roommate is taking a trip around the world. I’m not used to being alone, so I struggled with cooking for myself in the beginning. But, as I gradually started to meet my neighbours, I ended up cooking for my neighbours during the week.
However, I noticed how much plastic is used to pack food in the US. For example, I’ve seen shops that individually wrapped paprikas, avocados and broccoli in plastic. The few items that I buy at Target get distributed over three plastic bags. Last week, I bought a bag of soft strawberry gummies at an Asian shop, but when I opened the bag, I found out that the candies were individually wrapped in plastic wrappers. When I see those things, it reminds me of the class trip to the Waterkeeper Alliance in September where I learned that 8 tons of plastic ends up in the ocean every day. This made me realise why there is so much plastic in the ocean: a lot of it is just unnecessary like this. I already try to use my own grocery bag as much as possible, but after I read my journal again, I decided I would be better to get fruits and vegetables at markets where everything is not wrapped in plastic from now on.
I also use a lot of fresh ingredients for my home-made body creams, conditioners, shampoos, hair and face masks, and facial moisturizers. I use pure shea butter, fresh fruits and vegetables, African black soap and essential oils a lot. Starting with making my own hair masks a few years ago, it developed into this. As of now, I’m experimenting with making my own soap bars. When I started, I did it just for fun, but after following professor Kennedy’s sustainability classes, I can see that this is actually a very sustainable way of living. I don’t have to buy anymore bottles of soap and shampoo (however, I buy a tube of cream Bath & Body Works). It’s also healthier because there are no chemicals and artificial perfumes involved. I started making these products for my neighbours and started educating them why this is better. That also relates to the Sustainability Development Goals we have been talking about in class the past few weeks. These are 17 goals related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice created by the UN that need improvement. There are four levels where one can improve: personal, social, community and governmental. I think I’m educating my neighbours on climate change and sustainability on a social level. I could tell that some, especially the older neighbours, had no idea that their habits can have a huge impact on the environment and get very excited when they tell what old habits they changed over the week.
I think I should continue to work on reducing the plastic I use by using my own bags, buying organic foods, and make my own food as much as possible. I will also keep on educating the people around me. It’s not that they don’t want to change but they simple down know enough about sustainability and why it’s important.
The journal:
14 November 2018
· 7am: Woke up.
· 7:30am: Brushed my teeth and washed my face with African black soap after 30 minutes of snoozing.
· 7:45am: My apartment (located in Brooklyn) was very cold because the heating was turned off. I can’t control it myself (the maintenance person of the apartment complex controls the heating for the whole building), so I got dressed very quickly.
· 8:10am: Facetimed with my parents who are in The Netherlands while doing my hair and makeup
· 8:50am: Quickly packed my bag and hurried to the subway station because I lost track of time (as usual). I always walk to the train station. It’s a 10-minute walk but I usually do it in 5-6 minutes.
· 9:01am: Took the 5 train. It was very crowded because a few trains were cancelled. At Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center, I switched to the B train.
· 9:35am: Arrival at Bryant Park at 42ndStreet and walked to the 5thAvenue LIM building.
· 9:45am: Fashion business class starts. I did a presentation on texture and fabric trends, but I don’t remember anything else about that class (oops)
· 11:10am: End of class. I made my way to the next class and talked to some friends and professors on the way.
· 11:30am: Start of the Sustainability and the Future of Fashionclass!! Tim Combs, CEO of Bionic, was a guest speaker today. He told us some interesting facts about this company. I took many notes as I will be writing a blogpost about his visit.
· 12:55pm: End of class. I walked to the Maxwell Hall to help Ms. Erinn Kehoe, study abroad coordinator, at the Study Abroad Fair. My lunch was an apple I brought from home.
· 3:00pm: After the end of the fair, I went to Bath & Body Works to buy body cream. I like this store because the products all smell nice and we don’t have it in The Netherlands. I don’t often buy there because it’s quite expensive.
· 3:07pm: Facetimed with my friends who are also in The Netherlands while walking towards Times Square. I wanted to show them what the city looks like as they have never been here.
· 3:43pm: Took the 3 train home. My phone died so it seemed like it took longer than usual because I couldn’t listen to music.
· 4:20pm: Arrived at my apartment. The heating was on this time, but I had to open the windows because it was extremely hot inside. I had asked the maintenance person to turn down the heat a couple of times before because I think it’s a waste of energy, but he never does it.
· 5:20pm: I suddenly remembered I didn’t have a proper lunch, so I had an early dinner. I had Surinamese bami (noodles) that I cooked a few days ago.
· 5:40pm-11:00pm: Did some homework and handed in some papers online, called with my grandma who’s also in The Netherlands, cleaned the apartment, and took a hot shower. I calculated my water in-take: 2.25L which means I reached my goal of 2L per day. I took my makeup off with biodegradable wet towelettes, African black soap and water, and moisturized my face with a self-made facial lotion.
· 11:27pm-2:04am: Watch a few episodes of my favourite show on Netflix and went to bed afterwards.
15 November 2018
· 10:40am: Woke up because my sister called me. I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I went back to bed because it was cold in the apartment again. I had left the windows open because it was so hot when I came home yesterday, but the heating had been turned off while I was asleep, so the apartment was as cold as outside.
· 10:55am-1:43pm: Facetimed with several family members. I got out of my room to have lunch. I had cereals with almond milk and hot tea. I don’t have a kettle, so I boil water in a pan.
· 2:15pm: Baked a Dutch style cheese cake. This cake doesn’t need to go in the oven, so I was done pretty fast. Also made Dutch style pancakes and brought them to my 84-year-old neighbour. I promised her several times I would visit her, but I never had the time to do so. She was very happy to see me even though we don’t know each other that well, because she doesn’t get many visitors. I helped with some chores before I left.
· 3:30pm-4:15pm: Did a quick touch up on my hair and made a hair conditioner, shampoo and a hair mask out of fresh ingredients.
· 4:30pm: Took the 4 train to Fulton Street train station to have dinner with friends at Shake Shack at 5:00pm. This was my first time eating at this restaurant. While the food was delicious, what immediately caught my attention were the one-use plastic items.
· 5:53pm: Took the 5 train to Grand Central and walked to Maxwell Hall. It was pure chaos because it had been snowing all day, trains were delayed or cancelled, roads were closed etc. I arrived in one piece at LIM College.
· 6:37pm: Journalistic writing class starts. The professor was late again (she’s almost always late) so she treated us with Snickers bars. I tried Snickers with peanut butter inside for the first time (we also don’t have this in The Netherlands).
· 8:02pm: Class ended 7 minutes late. I hurried to the train station because I thought it would be busy. I met a class mate on the way, so we walked together through the ice rain.
· 8:14pm: The 5 train to Brooklyn was surprisingly empty and there were no delays.
· 9:03pm: Arrived at home after fighting my way true the ice, snow and rain. I also helped my 73-year-old neighbour who I met on the train to her apartment because she kept slipping.
· 9:10pm: Took out the trash. I separate my trash in plastic/foam, paper and “everything else”.
· 9:30pm: Took a hot shower and washed and moisturized my face.
· 9:50pm-11:30pm: Watched some more episodes of my favourite show on Netflix. I counted my water in-take again: 1.75L so I quickly finished my water bottle. I went to bed afterwards.
· 3:10am: I got up to open the windows again because it was unbearably hot. It took a long time before I fell asleep.
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