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Blog #23: Reaching out to Vans- 12/27/18

I was super excited to get a pair of vans for Christmas this year but I was really disappointed when I opened the box and saw... plastic. Normally there will be a sheet of tissue paper in a box of new shoes so I don't see why there would be any need for plastic in this situation. First I emailed customer service and told them why plastic is a problem and that they should use tissue paper in the show boxes instead of the plastic. Then I filled out a formal request on their website for them to make the change. I will not hear back for 4-6 weeks whether or not they will accept this proposal but I am very excited to be able to use my voice to make a change and be an active citizen.

Update (1/15/19): They declined my request for the use of paper instead of plastic

This is what they said, "Each request is evaluated to determine if it aligns with our Brand mission, strategy and budget. We wish we could support them all, but the requests we receive far outnumber our resources. Unfortunately, at this time, we must decline your request. Vans wishes you the best of luck in the future."

Blog #22: Heading into Primary- 12/21/18

Steps for my primary research:

1. Reach out to other zero-wasters
2. Reach out to the contacts I found that can help me understand the trash process in my community
3. Create poster showing how to reduce your waste
4. Spread the word by putting the poster around town and create a town wide email
5. Get a group of people at my school to collect all of their waste in mason jars while I will attempt to live completely zero-waste
6. Create a survey for this group on how it went for them

Blog #21: Writing Workshop Reflection- 12/21/18

Being able to talk through the kinks of my Part 1 with a group of people, I feel pretty confident in my writing. I feel like I have a pretty strong introduction although I still need to fix it so that introducing my essential question will flow better. I really liked having the full day to work on the paper. The night before the workshop I had a burst of ideas for my intro to the review of lit, so coming in to the workshop with that already done I could spend the day organizing my sources. I feel like I am in a really good place, I am not overwhelmed with work and I think I will be able to accomplish this next task.

Blog #20: Next Steps- 12/12/18

I finished my rough draft for my part one of the Research Paper. I believe now we will begin writing the next sections of the Review of Literature. I should also reach out to a few of the contacts I found through my research. I will reach out to Auri Jackson to see if she has any advise on how she survives living environmentally sustainable and how she lived zero-waste. I also need to reach out to the contacts I found at the incineration plant in Haverhill to find out more about the plant near me.

Blog #19: Organizing My Research- 12/7/18

Now that I have 50 completed Annotations, I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted. For awhile the deadline had been looming over me and stressing me out and I am proud to have completed such a large step. Now that every single source has been cut out and placed in a specific group I feel very organized. I had no idea how much I had actually learned until I had to group each article, video and blog post with similar ideas. I am very excited for where my research will take me next!

Blog #18: Sustainable Menstruation- 11/26/18

I recently read a blog post that talked about having a zero waste period. I have never even considered the amount of tampons I waste every month. Not only do the average tampons from my local CVS add up in waste from the plastic wrapper and plastic applicator but they can have toxic additives. A great alternative is a menstrual cup which is super easy and completely waste free. There are also reusable, washable pads that are also waste free. Blood kinda grosses me out so these alternatives may not be for me but I would be willing to start using organic cotton tampons with cardboard applicators. Although, organic cotton tampons would still end up in the landfill because they do not decompose very well.

Blog #17: Andover's Trash- 11/23/18

I recently found that Andover's trash is all being sent to a waste-to-energy plant in Haverhill. This information really surprised me because I had always assumed we were sending all of our trash to a landfill. I now have lots of questions about the effects of burning trash in my area: How are things sorted? What pollutants are being released into the air, if any? Is this plant affecting the air quality in my town? How much energy is being created in the process? Since this plant is just a town over I will have to find someone I can contact to schedule a time I can get a tour and ask them some questions.

Blog #16: Grocery Trip- 11/21/18

I went grocery shopping with my mom yesterday and I was able to see with my own eyes some things I have been reading about. First we went to the cvs next door because as winter comes I need to stock up on lotion. As I was standing in the aisle for lotion I felt trapped into buying a plastic container. I tried to get the largest container so that I would end up wasting less. To be completely zero waste I might need to make my own products but I am not sure if I will be up for that task. In the grocery store, all I can see is plastic. I had read articles and blog posts exclaiming the amounts of plastic in grocery stores but to see for myself how much is wrapped in plastic it truly made me want to make a difference. This trip to the grocery store has made me very nervous to be zero waste because of how hard it will be. I am usually a pretty lazy person when it comes to changing my daily habits. I will pick the easy route by buying store bought products and pre-packaged meals. It is becoming clear to me that to be truly zero-waste I will have to change a lot about my lifestyle which is not going to be easy.

Blog #15: What Problem Will I Address in my Tangible- 11/16/18

As I will be living zero-waste for two weeks, I am considering keeping all of the trash I may end up creating and putting it into a mason jar. Doing this will be a good way for others to visualize what I have put all my hard work into. I want to address the problem of how much trash an average person wastes. If people see that I can make so little trash then they will rethink what they waste. If it is possible, then I will see if any other people around the school would like to try to put all of their trash in a mason jar for a month. I would be happy to provide people with mason jars if it meant that they would be reducing their plastic footprint.

Blog #14: My Connection- 11/16/18

Whenever I forget a water bottle for school, I usually will buy a plastic water bottle. I feel extremely guilty about wasting a plastic water bottle. I feel that me, one person, can make a difference by simply using a reusable water bottle. It is our duty as human beings to be conscious about what is being wasted. We created the problem of plastic so we must be able to stop it. I see trash littering our world wherever I go, from the beach to the city streets. I try to be an active citizen whenever I can and I will pick up any trash I see. We cannot be lazy and continue to add to the problem by continuing to waste plastic.

Blog #13: Long Weekend Trip- 11/13/18

This weekend my dad and I took a flight to LA to use up my dad's flyer miles before they expired. We got up early the first day to hike the tallest mountain in LA. It was possibly the hardest hike I have ever done, we started at an altitude of 6,000 ft and ended at an elevation of 10,000 ft. This is about 5 times the elevation gain I normally hike. Hiking up was brutal but getting to the top was extremely rewarding. The next couple days we visited Joshua Tree National Park where there were really cool rock formations in the middle of the desert. After being surrounded by nature we headed back into the city. I am always amazed at the amounts of trash littering city streets. I am constantly reminded of how much plastic is polluting our world. Our first two hotels had breakfast on styrofoam plates. Styrofoam! I have gotten so used to never seeing styrofoam in my community, it hurt a little to see it. The last hotel thankfully had compostable plates and utensils. It seems that we have a long way to go to being more environmentally aware as a country.

Blog #12: The Story- 11/7/18

18 billion pounds of plastic trash winds up in our oceans each year. That is enough trash to cover every foot of coastline around the world with five full trash bags of plastic…each year. I started my research looking into where our trash is actually going. Our current system is extremely unsustainable. Only 9% of the world’s plastic is recycled. The rest is sent to landfills and a small percentage is burned and sometimes turned into energy. Sweden burns all of their trash and imports trash from bordering countries. They have plans to send zero trash to landfills. Incineration plants can often release pollutants in the air although Sweden has such strict regulations that they even have plants in middle of the cities without any health risks. Trash is getting into oceans at such an exponential rate that efforts to clean the oceans barely makes a dent. The problem is not what we should do with our trash but how can we make less of it. I was seeing all these companies that were creating plastic alternatives and it was inspiring but made me think about what could I do to make a difference. I plan on being zero-waste for two weeks. To make this possible I will need to create a shopping list of items I will need so that I don’t use any plastic single-use items. I will also need to make a set of guidelines and rules of what I can throw away. For example: Can I compost? Should I recycle if most of the things sent to the recycling end up in landfills? My goal is to send zero trash to landfills and to do that I may need to further investigate where the trash from my home and my school truly goes.

Blog #11: College Applications- 10/30/18

I have now applied to four schools and I added two schools to my list to apply for regular decision. I have one more school to apply to for early action. I finished my last supplement but I am waiting for my editor to take a look at it. Word is that the common app is going to crash close to the Nov. 1st deadline from everyone submitting applications at the same time. I am worried that my supplement won't be edited in time to submit it before the common app crashes. Worst comes to worst I will submit what I have and hope for the best. I am excited to start hearing back from schools. I know I won't get into all the schools I apply to but I think it will be exciting to see where colleges think I will fit in so I can decide the same thing for myself.

Blog #10: Inspiration- 10/25/18

I recently watched a BuzzFeed video about Auri Jackson living zero waste for a month. She has made me feel more confident in being able to live zero waste myself. I was feeling unsure how I would be able to do it but Auri had great advice on how to say no to plastic. I plan on reaching out to her and asking her a few questions on how she was able to be completely zero waste. Some of my questions are: How did you purchase, plan and cook your meals? How were you able to keep lots of protein in your diet? What were your greatest struggles throughout the process?

Blog #9: Looking for Green Colleges- 10/23/18

When I am sitting and listening to the presentations for colleges I am bored out of my mind from hearing the exact same thing over and over again. Every college I have visited exclaims of having great research opportunities, lots of clubs and a lively student life. While all these things are great and things I want in a college, I would like to be sold on why I should want to pay a fortune to go to their school. One thing that jumps out at me at the visits is when colleges speak about their programs to create a greener community. I would like to go to a school that has sustainability initiatives so that I can be proud about how my school is making a difference.

Blog #8: Today's Waste- 10/18/18

I am really proud of my school and my town. Today at lunch I put all of my waste into the compost. Thanks to my school I didn't have to send a single thing to the landfill since we have compostable trays. Recently my town has banned plastic bags which is a huge step. I hope that with this ban people will begin to be more aware about how much plastic they waste. I am slowly becoming more aware about how I can actually avoid plastic completely through my research.

Blog #7: 2nd IRT Reflection- 10/17/18

We presented our second IRT presentation and I think it went very well. Our topic was why the microwave was the most important invention from the 1940s. We initially struggled to come up with original points to prove our thesis. At one point in our presentation I forgot what I was supposed to say so I took a second to recollect my thoughts and continued the presentation. I feel like I did a good job creating a simple yet impactful slideshow. For the next time I present I hope to speak more confidently. My plan of action to speak more confidently will be to rehearse saying my lines to people.

Blog Post #6: Making an Impact- 10/11/18

Refuse single-use plastic. It is as simple as that. Plastic never goes away. Plastic is always and will always be plastic. It is estimated that by 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by weight. You can pledge to follow the 4 R's: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle by simply being more aware of the plastic in your lives by clicking here. My first step to reducing my plastic footprint will be to say "no straw, please" at restaurants. My next step will be to reach out to a few of my local restaurants and ask them to change their protocol to only serve straws upon request.

Blog Post #5: Composts at School- 10/10/18

I have noticed that the compost bins are almost always overflowing. By last lunch it is impossible to stuff anything else in them. This is great because that means that we are using those bins to their fullest potential. The downside is that there is much more waste that is ending up in the trash bins when they could be composted. One solution to this problem could be to use bins the size of the trash bins for compost bins. Eventually, if the school continues to cut plastic from the cafeteria, the trash bins could be replaced with smaller bins. If the compost bins could be larger than the trash bins, it is likely to encourage people to sort their trash and put as much as they can in the compost.

Blog Post #4: Starting Research- 10/4/18

I began my research looking into the effects of landfills and incinerators. I was very curious at first to learn how these processes work. After reading a couple articles I quickly learned that I wasn't finding any information that was new or exciting. Everything I read seemed to tell me that both ways of dealing with trash are only effective with strict regulations and both have negative impacts on the environment. I decided that I wanted to shift my focus to how people can create less trash since plastic plays such a big role in our lives. I am hopeful that I will find information that will spark new ideas that can lead to ways to live a more sustainable life.

Blog Post #3: Post Presentation Reflection- 9/24/18

How did it go? What do you want to give yourself credit for doing well? Where do you feel you need to improve/ change? Plan of action to do so?

Presenting went well for me. I am not usually comfortable presenting without reading off of note cards. I am proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and avoiding using note cards. I am glad that I trusted myself enough that I knew the information. During this presentation, I was aware that I would sometimes say things like um and so yeah. I feel that I need to work harder at talking more clearly and not use words like um. I can practice my presentation to my friends and family and practice annunciating my words to change this.

Blog Post #2: Borrowed Ideas - 9/6/18

Mark Twain famously noted that all ideas are second-hand. Henry Miller (Modernist) believed that most of what we create is composed of hand-me-down ideas. And , interestingly, these observations came before the exponential growth of the internet. Reflect on some ideas you are considering borrowing from that may become the foundation of your Capstone.

Human beings are always being inspired by different things everyday and that sparks new ideas. The new ideas are not technically original since they are "second-hand" or "hand-me-down" ideas as put by Mark Twain and Henry Miller. I am inspired everyday of things such as: Pinterest boards of room decorating, Instagram posts of where people have traveled over breaks, my classmates fashion choices and Facebook videos of new innovations. For my Capstone project I am inspired by the Seabin that is a floating trash bin that filters trash out of the ocean. I am also inspired by companies that have created alternative ways to the plastic rings for packs of soda or beer where they use compostable materials or a sturdy glue that easily snaps off. I hope that I can come up with an idea similar that reduces plastic waste in such a drastic way.

Blog Post #1: Values - 9/5/18

Think about your most important values in life and write your own personal set of guiding principles. How do these guide you in your life?

• Be kind to one another.
• Treat everyone with respect.
• Sleep!
• Be yourself and don't let anyone make you feel otherwise.
• Challenge yourself to put your best foot forward and best work in.

It kills me when I hear people making fun of someone behind their back. No one deserves to be treated poorly. This reminds me everyday to be kind to my peers because you never know what they are dealing with. Everyone is deserving of kindness and respect. I have found that if I don't get enough sleep the night before, I will be very irritable and won't be as productive at school as I can be so it is very important to me to get a good night's rest. I have learned that it is not worth worrying about what people think of you and it is very important to stay true to yourself. Challenging yourself can be very rewarding and sometimes I learn that I am capable of more than I originally thought I was. No one is perfect of course but we all try to be and that's the best we can do: my perfect is as close to being kind, respectful, rested, myself, and motivated to be successful as I can be.