As June is ending, I am very excited about what I am going to be doing in July. I think I am really going to enjoy being as environmentally friendly as possible. One of the major things I will be doing is trying to reduce my fuel consumption and driving less. I will go back to using only reusable shopping bags. I have even found some small mesh bags for produce. There are many other things I plan on trying out, but I can talk about those as I encounter them.

One major aspect of this month is that I am going to be a vegan. As many know, this means I will not be eating meat or any type of dairy product (and honey too!).

I have been thinking a lot lately about why vegans and environmental activists get branded with bad reputations. I started talking to my friend about this because some people are a little skeptical when I tell them I am going to be a vegan next month. Several months ago I read the book "Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World." In this, the authors indicate that it takes approximately "260 gallons of fossil fuel to provide beef to a family of 4 for a year, in the process releasing 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere." Not only are fossil fuels involved in this process, but there is an incredible amount of water and chemicals involved in the process. And, we haven't even considered the methane gas given off by cattle - the second largest greenhouse gas. These are just a few reasons I am going to be a vegan. I know it will be tough to do, but I think I am up for the challenge.

One final though. You might want to go online and calculate your carbon footprint. There are several good websites on which you can do this. The EPA even has one. One website I used was Terrapass.com. On this site, you can calculate your footprint and buy carbon offsets. I have done several of these calculations before, and I will be putting them on here in the coming days. I was surprised, however, at how affordable it was to offset my footprint for the whole year. Check them out!

Today, I would like to talk about a couple of different things that don't really connect, so I will just separate them out.

Driving/Gas Usage - I work in NLR on Camp Robinson and I have a summer class at UCA. I have to work at least four days a week, so I use a lot of gas. So far this month I have filled up my 12 gallon tank about four times. I drive a 2007 Chevy Cobalt, so I get reasonable gas mileage. Usually I drive the speed limit, 70 mph, or a little over. I used the fuel economy option on my car's computer to see what the mileage is for that - about 32- 35 mpg. Today I was running a little low on fuel, so I decided to take the advice I so often hear and slow down. At about 65 mph, my fuel efficiency went up to about 38 mpg. And though I can't remember the exact number, when I drove 55 - 60 mph, the miles per gallon really increased. Even looking at the fuel gage I could tell the difference in the 30 mile trip. The needle barely moved today! The only down side to all of this was watching all the cars (and big trucks) pass me on the left. That being said, I was comforted by the fact that I was saving on gas. This is something that will take some getting used to, because I generally like to drive the speed limit or slightly over.

Reusable shopping bags - I do not mean to criticize people who shop at the stores I am going to talk about, but I just noticed a few things worth mentioning. On Saturday I went to Whole Foods in Little Rock to look for something, and nearly every single person I saw walking in and out of the store had reusable shopping bags. The store was very nice to see! The same day I went to Fresh Market in Little Rock with some friends and I don't think I saw anyone using a reusable shopping bag. The same is true for other stores I go to. It is rare that I see someone using a reusable bag at Kroger, Target, or any other store. There are certainly plenty of options for bags out there, because it seems like every store has it's own bag. I found it hard to start using bags just because I couldn't ever remember to bring my bags into the store. But, once I was able to remember a few times, I was able to keep up with bringing them with me. One nice benefit to have a reusable bag at Kroger is receiving a $0.03 credit on your purchase. I haven't had the chance of doing this yet, but I have heard you get $0.03 for each bag you use. Now, this is not a lot of money, but it seems like Kroger is trying to encourage people to use canvas or other types of reusable bags.

You might have heard a little bit about this on the news, but North Little Rock is trying to help Central Arkansas Transit purchase new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses that are more fuel efficient and "cleaner". The city is also trying to use new federal stimulus money to convert other city buses to use CNG. This is very encouraging and is one very significant "green" step North Little Rock is making.

Link to original story on Argentanews.com

One of the main things I have noticed this week is how much I have been driving. Also, the way I have been driving has not been the most fuel efficient. There are not many people in my neighborhood who ride bikes for transportation. That being said, I am looking forward to using my bike to run errands and going to work. Why not ride a bike? On a bike I will not cause carbon dioxide to pollute the air and I will get exercise too. Maybe someone will see me riding around the neighborhood and be encouraged to park their car and ride a bike. I have also noticed an increase in the amount of trash I have been putting out in the past few weeks. With all of the cardboard, plastic, glass, and compostables going into the trash, I have been taking out the trash several times a week.

I continually feel guilty for not being green. I truly believe that it would be very difficult for someone to stop being green. Since Father's Day is soon, I have been shopping for gifts that are earth-friendly. I want people to see the many different ways of being green, and hopefully I will help someone start leading a green life. Really, this whole project and summer experiment would be a success to me if just one person took steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

Breakdown on Source of North Little Rock's Electricity (approximate values):

9% - Hydroelectric Plant on Arkansas River

6% - Waste Management's Methane Generator

85% - purchased power from negotiated contracts. This is a blend of coal, hydroelectric, and natural gas.

(Source: Terry Kessinger or North Little Rock Electric)

North Little Rock has an advantage over other cities of being able to have a hydroelectric plant on a river. Even this small percentage of power reduces the city's overall carbon dioxide emissions levels.

Grand Opening of Argenta Farmers Market

Argenta Farmers Market

Argenta Art Market

This has been a difficult week for me.  For the most part, I have not been recycling or simply trying to reduce the amount of waste I create.  I have been driving a lot this week.  Some of the errands I have had to run could have been done using my bike, but I drove instead.  Also, I drove to UCA for my class even thought it would be just as easy to ride my bike and not create any carbon emissions. Not only have I been driving a lot, but I have not been practicing different driving techniques to conserve fuel.  For example, it is best to slowly accelerate after stopping.  Normally, I do not run my air conditioner in my car, but I have been this week.  It was a lot colder than I am used to it normally being.  

Today I spent the morning at a triathlon event and instead of saving my trash to put in my recycling bin at home, I just found the nearest trash can.  Sure, this was handy, but I felt like I had to resolve a huge internal conflict each time I had to through away a piece of trash.  

Some other things about this week, I ran my dishwasher with the "hot dry" setting instead of letting the dishes air dry.  This certainly used extra energy. I have also not been trying to get by with the least amount of electricity possible.  I try to use natural light as much as possible, but I have been using incandescent lighting mostly.  One of the tings that I didn't think about changing was my diet.  Before this month I tried to eat healthy, locally produced foods to support local farmers and also lead a healthy life. So far this week, however, I have been eating some more processed and frozen meals.  One really good example is a frozen pasta dish I had for lunch one day.  First lets talk about the packaging.  There was the outer cardboard box, a cellophane wrapper around the plastic dish.  Within the plastic dish, there was a plastic steamer basket.  On top of all that, there was a plastic cover that created a vacuum seal for the food.  Doesn't that seem like too much packaging for a silly frozen meal?  This isn't all that bothered me.  Half of the ingredients list was chemical compounds that I couldn't even pronounce, and the food just didn't taste very good at all.  It really made me want to buy locally grown naturally foods.

And this brings me to an important event in North Little Rock - the Argenta Farmers Market, a Certified Arkansas Farmers Market. The market is on the corner of 6th and Main Streets in Argenta. It is open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 7am to Noon.  I drove downtown for the grand opening this weekend and there was a a great crowd.  I noticed that most of the farmers were from not farther than 100 miles from NLR.  The food looked fantastic and so did the crafts too.  Close to the Farmers Market there was an Argenta Art Market that had several vendors selling very nifty jewelry and crafts.  Please shop at the market and support local farmers!  

I hope to post some more information this week!  

Today was more difficult than I originally thought.  I first realized that I was going to have trouble with this when I walked out of the grocery store and I had my reusable grocery bag slung over my shoulder.  Without even considering paper or plastic, I had my shopping bag filled with my purchases.  It was comforting to know that I automatically use these reusable bags, but  I realized how difficult it would be for me to not use them.  I also did a few more things today to get the month started.  I reset the trip odometer in my car so I can keep track of how many miles I drive this month.  Throughout the day, I did not try to turn lights off when leaving a room I would soon be going back to.  Normally, I do this religiously.  There are many more things that I did (or didn't do) that go against my habits. For example, when brushing my teeth or rinsing dishes, I always turn the faucet off so I conserve water.  Well, not now!

When I was eating dinner with some friends, I told them how guilty I felt for not being green.  My roommate tried to ease my guilt by noting how much I will be helping the Earth next month. While this eased my "suffering" at the time, it doesn't now.  That being said, here are the things of which I plan to keep track: miles driven, trash, and electricity usage (if possible).  I can't keep track of water usage because my apartment complex pays for the water and usage is likely not broken up by apartments.  I am going to check with the managers to see if there is any possible way to get this information. There is obviously more involved than these few things, and I plan on eventually talking about everything in future posts.  

Soon I hope to get some pictures posted of NLR to make my blog a little more lively.  Also, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to post them here.  I will try to have answers in future posts.  

Fact of the Day: In 2001, Arkansas ranked 70th in the world's top CO2 emitters.  Arkansas emitted 81,700,000 tons of CO2.  In this data, each US state was treated as it's own country. China was first with 3451.6 million tons of CO2, and Texas was sixth with 759.8 million tons of CO2. (Source:Moore, L. Edward. Getting Greener: Progressive Environmental Ideas for the American South. Charleston, SC: Better South Press, 2007.)