Coming into college, I knew a few things about how reduce your carbon footprint, how to recycle, and other ways to be more environmentally friendly, but I was still fairly naïve and did not take much action. I recycled when it was convenient, although looking back I frequently recycled the wrong things, and made a small effort to unplug things when they are not in use. Now, at the end of my first year, when a friend was cleaning out their fridge and throwing away old food, I found myself cleaning out an old glass jar of their jelly so that I could recycle it instead of letting them put it in the garbage. I have also found myself taking the stairs to the tenth floor of Morill, and know more about how to properly remove honey suckle than I ever thought I would. What caused me to make these changes? Environment and Natural Resources Scholars did. Of course, I cared about the environment before I joined ENR Scholars, but the program showed me dozens of different ways that I could actually make a significant impact in my daily life and gave me the push I needed to actually make a change. Not only did I start taking steps to limit my carbon footprint, like taking the stairs, but I also decided to make an effort to actively improve the environment around me by removing invasive species and planting trees throughout the year.

One thing that really pushed me to try harder in my daily life to be more environmentally friendly was the Earth Month Challenge assignment. My more difficult challenges, which were to take cold showers and use the steps, would have never seemed like a realistic possibility before Earth Month, but during the last few weeks of the assignment, I was forced to at least give them a try, and after doing these challenges a few times, I realized that they were not that bad. Additionally, while I thought the challenges of the first few weeks, like turning off appliances, were more than achievable, before April I almost never thought about them enough to do them on a regular basis. The fact that I was keeping track of what I was doing and that I was receiving a grade pushed me to remember to turn the lights and TV off every time no one was using them and to try some new ways to be eco-friendly, which showed me that I can do more than I think and made the assignment into an overall enjoyable experience. In addition to this, by logging my activities online and adding up the carbon and money savings of each challenge I did, I was able to actually see what difference I can make. When people talk about the environment, they often tell you how many tons of carbon or Kilowatt-hours of energy you can save, but to see a dollar amount put on each activity, and to see how significant the sum of them all could be, really made the numbers mean something to me. Seeing, through this, that the change I can make really does make a difference is a large part of what made me want to keep doing the challenges I began for this assignment, and it also opened my mind to trying even more new things.

Finally, after seeing how easy some of the most difficult-seeming challenges were, there are a few others I would like to try. One of the challenges that I would like to try most is to become a vegetarian for one, or multiple days a week. Almost all of my favorite foods include meat, so I have never really thought of myself as the type of person to become vegetarian, but I have also seen the enormous difference that doing this for even one day a week can make, so I think it would be worth it to try. Tin addition to this, I would like to try to spend a week or more with the rue that I am not allowed to drink anything out of plastic bottle. Whether or not I get a drink from the gas station when I stop for gas makes no significant difference to me, however the bottle that it would come in does have a significant impact on the environment. If I can remind myself to stop buying plastic bottles like this for even a little while, the habit will likely stick and I will likely stop buying them forever.

Overall, my experience with ENR this year has been a very positive one. Not only has the program made me more motivated to do my part, but it has also showed me new ways that I can do that. After spending a year learning about different aspects of plant and animal biology, spending time camping, and putting in the work to actually help a hurt ecosystem, I have gained a much greater appreciation for the world that we live in. Environment and Natural Resources Scholars has changed my outlook for the better and made e a much more conscious person.