My first challenge, keeping the lights off in my dorm as much as possible was a success. I had the shades of my window open during the day for natural light, which was actually nice because I usually never looked out of my window. My room has a great view of the Olentangy river. At night I would mostly go to the library to do homework, where the lights are on regardless. I actually found that I was even more productive at the library regardless. I would meet up with friends and study as a group, which is a better studying technique fro me. So not only was I trying to save energy, but I also was improving in my studies and I can continue this during my college career. That way I would not be wasting any excess energy by having the lights on in my dorm room if I had to stay up late to study. What I can do differently to help me with this challenge is encourage my suite mates and friends to do the same with their rooms in order to help save even more energy throughout campus. Something I have learned about myself is that it is extremely easy to not have the lights on when it is not necessary. Next week my challenge is to only use my reusable water bottle for drinking water during the week in order to not waste plastic by using disposable water bottles. It is such a shame how many disposable cups and water bottles are used, even when people own reusable water bottles or coffee mugs.

Topic: waste reduction

Four challenges (one per week):

1. Make sure the lights are turned off every time we are out of the room and as much as possible while in the room in order to reduce electricity waste
   1. It is very easy to be running late to class and forget to leave the lights on, especially when I don’t pay the electricity bill. Also, there are times, especially during the day, when the lights can be off and the window shades can be put up.
2. Make sure to only take as much food as I will actually eat at the dining hall.
   1. It is very easy to go to the dining hall extremely hungry and grab more food than you can actually eat, thus wasting a ton of food over time.
3. Take the stairs in order to reduce electricity waste
   1. There are numerous times when I get on the elevator and it is just me taking it, and I realize that it is an insane waste of energy to take an elevator if it’s just me. Plus, taking the stairs everyday will be a good workout.
4. Give up meat for the entire week
   1. This will reduce animal waste which is very common these days. Being a vegetarian for a week will make sure that I am being sustainable

Focus: Reducing Waste

Fifteen things someone could do as a challenge to decrease their impact on the environment by reducing their waste:

1. Buy food that you need and will eat within a reasonable amount of time. Over-shopping for food, especially produce will lead to waste
2. Buy objects that can be re-used
3. Sell or giveaway unwanted items such as clothing, instead of throwing it away
4. Keep cardboard boxes to re-use for other purposes
5. Purchase and use re-usable bags
6. Do not buy individually wrapped items (such as snack packs)
7. Shop at thrift stores instead of only buying new clothes
8. Buy items made of recycled content
9. RECYCLE
10. Use both sides of notebook paper
11. Only take as much food as you are going to eat at the dining halls
12. Keep your tires inflated, you will get better mpg and they will last longer
13. Use a re-usable coffee mug
14. Rent formal wear
15. Ride your bike if possible

Three campus or Columbus resources related to The Ohio State University that could be helpful for someone who is trying to reduce their waste:

1. The rentable bicycles around campus instead of taking a Car2Go or Uber would be a great way to get around without polluting the air.
2. Renting books from the library instead of buying them new would be a great way to reduce production and paper waste. There are multiple libraries on campus to check and see if they have the books that you might need for class. Also, asking upper classmen you might know could sell you their used textbooks. It would reduce waste and the price of the books.
3. Using the recycling bin that is placed in every dorm helps to, you know, RECYCLE. Goods that can be recycled but end up in landfills is extremely bad for the environment. Some materials used to make recyclable items could be bad for the environment and therefore if they are recycled more often they do not have to be made as often.

http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/reduce.html

http://www.rethinkrecycling.com/residents/reduce/top-10-ways-reduce-waste

http://www.reduce.org/

http://www.pima.gov/deq/waste/101ways.html

***These are all great websites to reference since they list tons of ways to reduce waste!

This semester I was going to try the parks category, and explore the Columbus parks. I have always loved the outdoors since I was a kid, and have kept loving being outside throughout the years. I visited Columbus Commons, which is near the Columbus Greyhound bus station. My roommate and I were taking a bus from Columbus to Cincinnati in order to visit some friends at the University of Cincinnati. Before going to the bus stop, we explored the nearby park. It was a great park that was not the largest, but it did not seem small at all. We later learned that it had been the roof of a parking garage that was then transformed into Columbus Commons. There was a stage where it looked as if events were held every so often, but the best feature that we found was the game that was available at the park. It is very hard to describe, so a picture of it was posted below. The game had several different modes, and each mode was actually a different game, had different rules, and made different sounds. It was actually so fun that we only left because we were going to run out of time to catch our bus. Overall, this experience was great, and I would gladly go back for events that were held there. Later, however, I changed my mind on what category I wanted to do for this project. I have always wanted to visit the German Village in Columbus ever since I heard about it. And then when I looked over the categories for this project again, I saw that it was an option, so I knew that I had to change from parks to German Village so I could force myself to make the trip. I chose this over parks because of my German heritage and my love of German food (wiener schnitzel and spaetzle are two of my favorite German foods). I am mostly interesting in trying the delicious food in the atmosphere that I am sure it will have, but I am also looking forward to the bookstore in which I have heard so much about. I cannot wait to explore German Village.