Lifestyle Project Instructions "The Lifestyle Project" is a way for you to learn about environmental alternatives by modifying your own lifestyle. It is a three-week exercise for you to reduce your impact on the environment by changing the way in which you live from day to day. The project has fairly rigid parameters, allowing you to achieve a gradual but definitive change in your everyday habits. Each week of class you will be asked to reduce your impact by changing one or more of the following: water use, energy use and waste production. For each category the rules are clearly defined, such as turning down the air conditioner three degrees or eliminating the use of the car. Each week the project becomes more rigorous, because you will have to meet the requirements for the preceding week as well as the current week. For example week one you are asked to reduce your use of water by 25%. During the second week you are asked to reduce your energy consumption and water consumption by 25%. Finally in the third week you are to reduce your waste production by 50%, and a reduction of water and energy consumption by 50%. The rules: 1.The idea of this project is to make changes in your lifestyle that will have a beneficial effect on the environment. The changes aren’t difficult, but they are significant. Mostly they will require planning and thinking about your actions. 2.You will slowly increase the degree or frequency of the changes, week by week, for a total period of three weeks. You can pick which days will count as your “project days.†You can spread out your project days any way it works best for you. For example, the days you opt out of driving your car do not have to be the same days when you produce no waste. 3.You will keep a journal with entries for each day that you complete your project requirements. Weekly lifestyle changes: Don’t pick something that you already normally do, as the idea of this project is to make changes. Some changes won’t be possible in your particular living situation, so obviously you can’t pick those. It is very important that you schedule the days that you are planning to make the lifestyle changes around things like work and guests. Planning the days you don't drive your car for days when you dont need to travel far from home will make it possible for you to be successful. If you have planned properly but fail to complete the goal for the day that is ok. Document in your journal why you failed and what you might be able to do in the future to correct the failure. WEEK 1. WATER - Trim the fat off your excess water consumption by reducing your water needs by at least 50%. To do this, you can do the following things: take a shower at half the usual duration; turn the water down in the shower so it's not full blast; take a cooler shower; don't leave the water running while washing, shaving, brushing your teeth, or washing dishes; and run the washing machine and dishwasher only when totally full. If you do all of these things it is possible to cut your consumption by 50% or more. The first week, you'll do this on two days, and you will add one more day each week, until you have four days for the last week. WEEK 2. ENERGY - Trim the fat off your excess energy consumption by reducing your electricity needs by 25% in week 2 and 50% in week 3. Electricity : To do this, you can do the following things: turn the lights off when you're not around; turn on only one light instead of two; replace incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs; read next to a window; leave the TV and the stereo off; don’t leave your computer and all its accessories on when you are not using them (use the hibernate mode); cook meals that don't require lots of burners at once or long cooking times; use the microwave instead of the stove or oven; skip the blow dryer and electric razor; don't use any unnecessary appliances; run the washing machine and dishwasher only when totally full; and hang laundry to dry instead of using the dryer. If you do all of these things it is possible to cut your consumption by 50% or more. Climate control : Expand your comfort zone by turning your heat/AC down/up 2 degrees Fahrenheit from its normal setting. Continue lowering/raising the setting by 2 degrees every week until you have reduced it by 4 degrees at the end of three weeks. Transportation : Experience the thrill of the outdoors by riding your bike, walking or taking the bus in your daily travels. Hitching a ride with your friends or roommates does reduce the amount of driving, but is also just too easy, so avoid that option unless there are no other alternatives. You will start with three car-free days in week 2 and four days of bike riding (or whatever) during the week three. WEEK 3. WASTE - Spend each project day producing no waste at all. Therefore in order to reduce your waste 50% you will need to have 3 waste free days in the third week of class. The idea of reducing your input to landfills follows a certain hierarchy. The best thing is to reduce the amount of garbage you make by simply using less, buying less, and wasting less. The second option is to reuse whatever you can to avoid buying new things that will eventually end up as garbage. Recycling is the last option, to be used only when the first two options fail. So on your waste-free days you must live by these rules, and not contribute anything to the landfill on those days. Even if something is theoretically recyclable, if you aren’t able to recycle a particular type of waste in your area, it counts as garbage. It is considered cheating to just hang on to something until you’re given waste-free days pass, and then throw it out. Toilet paper does not count as garbage; it goes to the wastewater treatment plant or your septic system, not the landfill. Feminine hygiene products do not count as garbage for this assignment. Cigarette butts are exempt from this category as well, because quitting smoking is beyond the scope of this project. However, all butts must be put in the garbage can, not on the ground or out your car window. Lifestyle Project Video Journals You will present your conservation in a Lifestyle Project recording that will be posted on youtube in a video journal. If you are in need of a camera for the video project contact me and I will see what I can do. Video journals will be posted to youtube and then posted on a discussion board on bblearn. In this way all students in the class will be able to view each others videos and learn for each others experiences. The due dates are as follows: Week 1 journals - at 11:59pm Week 2 journals - at 11:59pm Week 3 journals - 5-4-16 at 11:59pm Create A Calendar For Each Week Carefully decide the days that will work best with your lifestyle. This may be simple for the first week of the assignment however by the third week careful planning is necessary. Video Journal Instructions Your video journal should include what you did each day that you worked on the project. Create a written script for your video. Each video should be no longer than 3 minutes. Include the following: -How you reduced your waste and how you calculated your waste reduction. Example: I showered for 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes. The shower has a flow rating of 1 gallon per minute therefore I saved 5 gallons everyday. That is a 50% reduction. -What things worked -What did not -What surprised you -How this affected your roommates -How you will change next week based on what you learned this week. You will find that there is a story to tell as you go along! In order to create a refined video use a video editor. If your computer does not have a video editor use the following link to download a 30 day trial of camtasia. The grade for your journal will be based on: 1) The effort you make to complete the project requirements 2) Your honesty and sincerity in sticking with the project 3) Your creativity in achieving all of the project’s requirements 4) Your reflection on the personal challenges that you face 5) The completeness of your journal. Lifestyle Research Paper (in lieu of doing the lifestyle project) If you are not interested in the Lifestyle Project or if it seems incompatible with your life, then you can do the Lifestyle Research Paper instead. This paper should be at least 5 pages long and must have at least 3 scientific references cited. The majority of the paper must be written in your own words, and if you use any direct quotes, then they need to be cited as such, with quotation marks and the name of the source. Pick any three of the Lifestyle Project categories and describe how these changes could be brought about on a scale larger than one individual. Could a conservation effort like this work on a community, state, or national level? Give suggestions for how this would work and specific ideas for how it could be implemented. Your paper can contain some of your own ideas, but should be primarily composed of referenced research from other sources. The paper is due on 5/4/16.