Danielle S. (Skidmore) Project Green Challenge @daniellepgc-blog - Tumblr Blog

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Here are just a few of the things I've become more conscious of or changed throughout my experience during Project Green Challenge.

I’ve stopped buying conventional clothing – only thrifted clothing, or clothing made through sustainable, ethical practices

I’ve switched out all of my body and face care products for organic alternatives

I’ve stopped drinking conventional teas and only drink fair trade organic teas

I’ve stopped using the drying machines and instead hang dry my clothes

I’ve started eating meat fewer times a week

I’ve started using only reusable cups and mugs

I’ve stopped buying packaged foods

I’ve started trying to “clean my plate” at meals instead of wasting food

I’ve become a more avid recycler

I’ve started trying to use less water for showering and washing my face

I’ve started trying to think more about the sources of everything that I own and/or purchase and how the positive, neutral, or negative impact those have on our environment and global community

I’ve become more conscious of the environmentally exploitative, inhumane practices of conventional meat factory farming

I’ve become more aware of pesticides on produce

I’ve become aware of the environmentally detrimental means by which conventional clothing is produced

I’ve become aware of the dangers, towards the environment and consumers, of conventional face and body products

I’ve become more aware of the severity of water pollution

I’ve become aware of the concept of REFUSE, reduce, reuse, recycle and now understand that no waste is better than recycling when possible

I’ve become conscious about the Fair Trade food movement, which I am now very passionate about

I’ve become passionate about consciousness-raising around environmental issues and the intersectionality of environmental and social issues around the world

I’ve become conscious of Organic certified food and clothing brands, what that certification means and why I should support it

I’ve become conscious of FLOSN when analyzing the environmental and health impacts of my food purchases

I’ve become aware of how awesome hemp is and even sent letters to my representatives asking them to support hemp legislation

I’ve become more aware of what genetically modified organisms are and why we should fight for our right to know whether or not they’re in our foods

I’ve become aware of my carbon footprint, greenhouse gases, and various ways to reduce that footprint

This month has changed my life, I am so grateful.

#pgc2014 #projectgreenchallenge #teensturninggreen #sustainability #environment #ecofriendly

PGC Day 23: Dining

#pgc2014 #teensturninggreen #projectgreenchallenge #sustainability #skidmore

A Week of Meditation and Wellness

For the past week I have been meditating on a daily basis. To be honest, meditation and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship; I always have such a hard time getting myself to sit down and be still; but I've never ended a meditation feeling like my time was wasted.

Spending 10 minutes each day in meditation (usually either followed or preceded by a quick sun salutation) has become a really wonderful part of my routine. As I said before, though I would sometimes struggle to actually take the time out of studying or Netflix-watching to actually meditate, once meditation was done I always felt a sense of calm.

I generally practice Buddhist meditation, which teaches physical and mental stillness. I try to focus on my breath, eyes closed, and be with the inhale and exhale. As thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations come I try to look at them with a gentle, nonjudgmental spirit and then let them go. Buddhist meditation teaches us that thoughts, feelings, and experiences are all temporary, no matter how intensely positive or negative they may feel. Learning to let go and be present are the keys of leading a peaceful existence and connecting to one's highest self.

Some days this week meditation brought me a sense of peace and serenity. For instance, on Sunday I felt such a quiet during meditation. I was really able to still my mind and be with my breath, allowing thoughts to come and go without judgment. I felt so peaceful and renewed afterwards.

However, there were also days like today where my mind just wouldn't be still. In fact, the physical stillness forced me to confront some not-so-positive thoughts and emotions. This is an equally valid aspect of meditation. Meditation will not always be serene or fun, sometimes you have to sit with some challenging aspects of your life and self, and that is okay. Learning to deal with those feelings, to understand yourself better, and gaining an understanding that all thoughts, feelings, and experiences are ephemeral are so so important.

Physically, my meditation practice this week helped attune me to different areas of stress and tension in my body. After meditation I would then do some stretches in areas where I felt aches and pains. I also noticed that I was really thirsty after my first few meditations and have started drinking more water as a result. Listening to one's body is so important!

Overall, I hope to continue my meditation practice every day if I can. If not, I hope to mediate at least once or twice a week as a check in with myself. I found that journaling after meditation is also a really great tool for reflection and connection to self.

Thank you PGC for a really thoughtful challenge. Wellness is so important. and leading a healthy life starts with the health of the inner being. I look forward to taking better care of myself in the future through meditation and reflection.

Here is a site with some guided meditations I listen to on occassion. Gabrielle Bernstein is a spiritual leader, yogi, meditator, and all-around badass. Her insights on living a peaceful, powerful existence are beautiful and transformative if you allow them to be.

http://gabbyb.tv/tag/free-guided-meditations

#PGC2014 #teensturninggreen #wellness #meditation

Waste Free Livin' & Learnin'

So for the past 2 weeks I have been working to minimize waste in my life through these 3 changes -

1. No more paper or plastic cups

2. Cleaning my plate at the end of meals (aka. eating everything on my plate) and only taking as much food from the dining hall as I can realistically eat

3. No packaged food

2 weeks ago, I felt like I was undertaking a huge task by making these changes and that they were going to make a lot of things harder for me. For instance, I was worried that my on-the-go college lifestyle would make it impossible for me to get on without packaged food and to-go cups of coffee. However, I ended up having a surprisingly easy time making these changes to my lifestyle.

In fact, the change that I was most concerned about, eliminating packaged food, has honestly been so so easy. I simply, don't. I've been eating more consciously at mealtime in order to try to get appropriate portion sizes to eat the whole plate, so I'm a lot less hungry between meals. Also, I've started paying more attention to the produce available at the dining hall and taking bananas or oranges in my bag with me for snacks between meals. It's so much healthier for me to be eating fruit than a bag of chips and honestly is just as easy. It took making that change for me to realize how accessible it is. I hope to continue to live without packaged food snacks as much as possible. I know that food packaging will be very hard to avoid when I am buying groceries for cooking on my own, but I will cross that bridge when I get there. For now, eating healthy, waste-free snacks between meals has been making me feel great nutritionally and I'm happy to be reducing my waste.

Eliminating paper and plastic cups has required slightly more effort and awareness. I've become significantly more thoughtful about bringing my thermos in my backpack for hot drinks on the go and, after these two weeks, its become a pretty seamless part of my routine. Initially, though, I did slip up and buy tea in paper cups without even thinking about it, because I had been so used to doing so. This only happened twice, which isn't bad, I am just going to be more thoughtful in the future.

Eating all the food on my plate hasn't been too difficult, though it definitely took a few days to get into the habit of only putting enough food on my plate as I actually had the hunger to consume. I quickly realized that its my instinct to take far more food than I'm actually hungry for, thus wasting that food at the end of the meal. However, I've become better at giving myself filling portions and creating less food waste.

Overall, these changes were surprisingly easy and I would recommend them to anyone looking to make an eco-conscious lifestyle change! Removing packaged foods from my life has made me feel healthier and greatly decreased my waste production. Using reusable cups and eating all of the food on my plate have required slightly more thought, but honestly became easy parts of my daily routine within just a few days. Plus, mason jars are so cute! Haha

#PGC2014 #teensturninggreen #sustainability #waste #wastefree #masonjar #zerowaste #environment

PGC Day 19

Day 19

As I started the header for today's green challenge submission, "PGC Day 19 Green", I got a little emotional. Day 19 of 30. I'm over halfway done with one of the most incredible and inspiring experiences I've ever had. I have learned so much about sustainable living, about myself, about our environment and the impact that I can have on it, and I have gained enormous amounts of confidence. I am so grateful for this experience thus far. Competing in PGC has been a surprisingly transformative and rewarding time for me. I have loved this October and having such a strong sense of purpose throughout this month has allowed me to confidently navigate what may have otherwise been a pretty rough period of transition in my life. Instead I feel like I've only grown and gained strength of self and passion. I feel so passionately about the work I've been doing, which is a truly amazing feeling. Thank you.

#pgc2014 #sustainability #teensturninggreen

PGC Day 14 - Fair Trade

#pgc2014

Waste Free Lifestyle Update

So far, so good! I haven't bought packaged food since I committed to decreasing my waste a few days ago. Generally I've been doing well on eliminating food waste by putting reasonable portions of food on my plate and have been eating my plate clean at most meals. I also have been doing well on not using plastic or paper cups/containers but yesterday I went apple picking and without even thinking bought some hot cider in a paper cup and cider donuts in a paper bag. I wasn't upset by the mistake, mistakes happen, but I was shocked by how thoughtlessly I accepted the non-reusable goods. It can be hard to avoid waste and when I'm not being thoughtful it's definitely easy to create a lot of waste. I'm excited to keep this up, though!

Also, Chance The Rapper came to my school yesterday and he was sitting outside drinking coffee and left the cup on the ground and I went over and recycled it- so BOOM. I recycled for Chance The Rapper! Awyeahhh!