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Miller 2

Entry 1: April 23rd, 2017

Water use habits: Today, my daily use of water resources was much more than

expected. Making me realize that my water use habits could be more sustainable, especially since

Im an environmental science major. To begin, I already know that I take shorter showers than

most people, although it is still a hefty amount of water use. I took a 7-minute shower, which

means during those 7 minutes I used up about 17.5 gallons of water. Which is enough water to

keep 26 people hydrated throughout the day. Next, when adding up the amount of water I flush

down the toilet, it comes up to be the most amount of water. Which is a staggering 55 gallons.

These habits could easily be improved, and that is what I will try to do for the next two weeks.

Food consumption habits: I would say that my food consumption habits could be

improved, directly relating to waste that is. Since most inexpensive foods are package these days,

in being a college student those packaged foods are a money saver. But they are usually

unhealthy, when compared to more organic and nutritious foods locally grown. This is where I

need to improve, I noticed throughout the day that I threw away a lot of plastic wrappings, and

cardboard. Also, since I eat out a lot, there was a lot of napkin use. During this day, I averaged

the cost amount of the amount of food I ate and it added up to around $36 dollars. I usually eat

around the same thing almost every day, which consists of frog in the holes and jimmy johns.
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Transportation habits: My habits involving transportation is of most Americans, for the

most part we drive not because we need to, but because we get to place much easier. For

example, I really dont need to drive to school every day. I could walk and it would only take

around 25 mins. But it is nice to be able to drive. I could maybe try to be more conservative with

gas usage while I drive, or every once and awhile walk to school.

Waste habits: It seems my waste habits are a lot more pitiful than once thought. The

amount of trash I discard by the end of the day really added up. I believed I go through around

one bag full of trash everyone two day, although that is including my roommate and we do

recycle here. My goal, will be to stop eating out so much and to buy more foods that are not

packaged. During this project, I limited the trash usage to only myself, instead of the

combination of my roommates trash and mine. Since I already do recycle, I did see it necessary

to add the recyclable to the waste data.

Categories Type Consumption

Food Bagel shop one bagel sandwich

mac and cheese one serving

fries a small pack
garlic bread (restaurant) one slice
spaghetti (restaurant) one plate
Made avocado truffles two dark chocolate bars
one avocado
some coconut flakes
some coco powder
beer one Stella Artois
grapes 8
Water cup of water one cup
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coffee 8 ounces
coffee 6 ounces
showered 7 mins
water (restaurant) two cups
personal water container total 3 liters
flushed toilet 11 times
dishes two minutes of sink water
washed hands one min
Transportation Drove to bagel shop and back .5 miles
Drove to campus and back 3 miles
Drove to campus and back again 3 miles
Drove to Gambinos 1 mile
Drove to pick someone up 1.5 miles
Drove to apartment 1.5 miles
Dropped someone off at campus 1.5 miles
Drove back to apartment 1.5 miles
Waste napkins six napkins
cardboard food box one
Styrofoam food box one
food waste coco powder, coconut flakes
fries

plastic wrap one foot

straw paper wrap one
alunimuim foil half a foot
straw one
April 23th
Shower 2.5 gallons per min 7 mins 17.5
Facet 2.0 gallons per min 6 12
Dishwasher 6 gallons per load 1 6
drinking (water container) 12 ounces per refill 1 1
toilet flush 5 gallons 11 55
91.5
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Entry 2: May 1th -2th

Water: During the process of reducing my water use, I managed to reduce the

amount of water usage by half. Firstly, I reduced toilet water use by not flushing as often,

although I wouldnt recommend this, I did this by not flushing while only urinated and the

amount of time I flushed throughout the day dropped dramatically. Going from 55 gallons, to 15

gallons. I drank about the same amount of water, because I felt like I compensated for other

things, and direct consumption of water shouldnt really be considered a waste where as in other

areas of reducing water use is way more important. I also reduced my shower time to 2.5

minutes, compared to 7 mins. Which took about 11 gallons off my previous week.

Food: Regarding my baseline food consumption, I decided to not reduce my

consumption of foods. As I barley eat enough food anyway. Instead, I decide to focus more on

the reduction of my water use and trash waste habits. Although, I eat around $20-$30 dollars

worth of food a day, and this is so expensive because I eat at jimmy johns and other local

restaurants around Moscow. I decided to not buy any restaurant food for my final week.

Transportation habits: To reduce the amount of gas I use in my vehicle, I

decided to turn on the eco mode button in my car through out these next two days. This mode

directly affects the horse power of the engine, so the cars acceleration was much slower. In being

the speed demon I am, it helped me reduced my carbon footprint by not going fast after stopping

and supported steadier sustainable driving.

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Waste habits: For this part, I tried my best to reduce the number of items I put

in the trashcan throughout the day. I realized I used up a lot of napkins, so I decided to use a rag

more frequently and had it on my person during the day. I have this special recipe that I made for

myself involving bread and eggs. I cut a hole in the bread, wide enough to fit the egg. I usually

throw away the part I cut out, but instead I just put butter on it and ate it. Lastly. I realized I used

up a lot of toilet paper and decided to reduce that as well. I think it is interesting how many

people probably dont notice the amount of materials they consume daily. And in doing this

project, I have become more self-aware of the number of items I throw away at the end of the

day.

Categories type Consumption Reduction

reduced food waste by eating
Food Breakfast at restaurant (buffet) One plates worth all food on plate
used a coffee mug, added less
Coffee 8 ounces milk and no sugar
Fries 15 fries asked for a small size
only waste was the wrapping
Jimmy johns x2 and receipt
oatmeal + Milk no waste
ice cream no waste
Frog in the holes 3 bread slices
3 eggs
cheese
one avocado
reduce toilet waste by not
flushing while urinating,
Water Flushed toilet x5 wouldnt recommend
Drank water x3 about 12 ounces each
Showered x2 5 mins reduced shower time
didnt do that think everyone does
brushed teeth x2 where they wet their toothbrush
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washed dishes x1
drove in eco mode
(went slower, but
Transportation drove to breakfast (carpooled) 2 miles reduced gas)
drove back to breakfast (car
pooled) 2 miles drove in eco mode
drove to school 1.5 miles drove in eco mode
drove back from school 1.5 miles drove in eco mode
to fraternity 1.5 miles
to WinCo 1.5 miles
to fraternity 1.5 miles
to home 1.5 miles
Waste jimmy johns sandwich wrap x2
French fries box one
Tissues just one
toilet paper about 7 ft worth reduced toilet paper waste
paper bowl one used for the ice cream
plastic spoon one used for ice cream
Instead of wasting napkins,
napkins I decided to-
carry around a rag to use instead
of napkins
egg shells x3
normally I would throw the bread
circle slices away but
1/4 of bread slice x3 I ate them instead

gallons of water (May first)

Shower 2.5 gallons per min 5 mins
Facet 2.0 gallons per min 4
Dishwasher 6 gallons per load 1
drinking 12 ounces per refill 4 1 liter
toilet flush 5 gallons 4

May 2nd
Shower 2.5 gallons per min 4 mins
Facet 2.0 gallons per min 3 mins
Dishwasher 6 gallons per load 0
drinking 12 ounces per refill 4 2 liters
toilet flush 5 gallons 3
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Entry 3: May 7th-8th

For this assignment, I decided to engage in consumption life of an average South

African. To begin my experience, I first did research into the South African life and then set the

plan for the next two days.

Food: South Africans have a completely different diet than I do. For the two days of this

diet, I ate a range of different types of foods, which consisted of: Beans, whole grain bread,

peanuts, walnuts, potatoes, rice, cornmeal, pineapple, avocados, mangoes and beef. This diet was

difficult to adjust to at first, as I am a college student and Im used to getting take out every once

and awhile. For the first day, I ate each of the listed foods individually. As I realized how bland

the food was, I decided to mix them all together on the next day and store them in a container. In

doing so, I cooked them together like a stew, it wasnt that bad and I would recommend making

stew more often. When comparing this diet to my last few diets, since the duration was only 48

hours, it wasnt that horrible. I did wish I could be eating foods that were richer in flavor, but the

foods I was eating for this diet were at least way healthier than my previous diet.

Water: South Africans utilize a lot less water than me. For mu first week, I used around

91 gallons of water. Which is an insane amount, and I never even thought about how much water

I consume each day till then. This created a difficult problem for me, as a average south

American uses on average 6-13 gallons of water each day. Which is already equivalent to the

amount of water I use from my faucet. To adjust to this, I simply decided to use the highest

amount, which is 13 gallons. For this, I did not accommodate toilet flushes, although I still

reduced the amount of times I flushed the toilet, no questions asked. During these two days, I did
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not use my dishwasher, and instead set aside 2 gallons of water and used this as I cleaned the

dishes by hand with a rag. Which works, but takes a lot more time. I then limited my faucet time

to 3 mins a day, which is 6 gallons of water. I did this by using a stop watch, and measure my

faucet time throughout the day.

(aqua stat)

Transportation: This category required me to sacrifice my car use and limit it to a

couple times a day. I only used my car a couple times, and drove a total of 6 miles. Which was to

my final, in school and to the store to acquire more beans because I ate a lot of beans.

Waste: As I have been going about these last three weeks, I realized that reducing waste

is extremely difficult and requires the most sacrifices of all the above categories. By this, I mean

I had to limit what I bought buy at every store because I didnt not let myself buy foods that were

package, for the most part. For example, when I went to Rosauers to purchase food for the diet, I

went to the butcher in back instead of buying processed packaged meats. I received the meat,

although it was handed to me in a wax paper bag. Which would suck if It didnt come with it

because I would have to walk around grasping a bloody piece of meat. When comparing to my

past few, weeks, I used a lot of napkins, to compensate for the waste of the napkins. I simply
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designated a couple rags each day to use instead, this made me realize that napkins should just be

banned and everyone should just walk around with a personal napkin. It would save a lot of

trees. I significantly reduced my waste, although it was not a 100% reduction, I still had serval

other small wrapping from other food resources, other than that, I reduced my waste down to that

of a south African.

Categories
Food Beans 10 ounces

Whole grain bread (w/butter) 3 slices

Peanuts 3 ounces
Walnuts 2 ounces

Potato one
Rice 8 ounces
Cornmeal
Pineapple half
avocado one
mango one
beef one 10-ounce steak
Water Flushed toilet 4 times
Showered 3 mins
drank water x3 12 ounces
facet 3 mins
Transportation Drove to school 1.5 miles
drove back from school 1.5 miles
Drove to rosauers .5 miles
drove back .5 miles
Waste meet package x1
Rosauers plastic bag for produce x3
peanut plastic wrapping x1
walnut plastic wrapping x1
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Consumption Water vs Gas vs Food

100

90

80

70

60
Consumption

50

40

30

20

10

0
First Day Second Day South African Reduction (First
(24Hours) (48hours) lifestyle (48 hours) 24-SFL)
water (gallons) 91.5 78.23 24 67.5
gas (Miles) 13.5 14 4 9.5
waste (x2 units per item) 34 28 6 28
Food cost ($) 36 32 26 10
Axis Title

water (gallons) gas (Miles) waste (x2 units per item) Food cost ($)
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Table 1: South African Consumption percentage (Stats SA)

Table 2: American Consumption percentage (U.S. Global investigators)

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"African Diet." Diet.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2017.

<https://www.diet.com/g/african-diet>.

"How Does Water Use in the United States Compare to That in Africa?" African Wildlife
Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2017.
<https://www.awf.org/blog/how-does-water-use-united-states-compare-africa>.

Stats SA, Statistics of south africa N.p., n.d. Web.

<http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=944>.

"South Africa." AQUASTAT - FAO's Information System on Water and Agriculture. N.p., n.d.
Web. 10 May 2017.
<http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/Profile_segments/ZAF-
WU_eng.stm>.

"U.S. Global Investors U.S. Global Investors." - U.S. Global Investors. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May
2017.
<http://www.usfunds.com/investor-library/frank-talk/how-they-spend-it-in-china/>.