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!