Personal Actions for the Future

           Along with the assignment for an immediate action plan during the semester, we were also supposed to come up with different things we could do throughout the years to combat climate change.  There are a few things that I looked into working on as time goes on.

Carpooling

         It may not seem like much but I try to carpool, and get other people to carpool, as often as possible.  I don’t drive so I usually have to find rides and end up figuring out a way for everyone to get to wherever we are going the easiest possibly way.  I think carpooling really helps with the reduction of greenhouse gases from cars, especially with the amount of driving that is done by everyone these days, whether it be for work or for fun.  I’ve been able to implement this at school too.

 

Beekeeping

          My dad has been beekeeping for a couple years now and I usually try and help him by going with him to pick up packages of bees, painting hives, and sometimes helping him check on the hives.  I’m not a huge fan of bees so helping him actually go in the hive makes me nervous and is not something I’m a huge fan of, but I’m hoping that once I’m out of school I’ll possibly be able to help him more with other processes like spinning and bottling the honey from the season.

Volunteering

          I’ve done some volunteering for different groups throughout the years and I think it would be nice to keep it up.  I’ll have to keep my eyes open for days that things like that are happening for cleanups around the town and surrounding towns.  Other things I could try and participate in could be Arbor Day or Earth Day.  Doing these activities I think will really help the communities to look better and clean up as well as make me feel like I’m doing a bigger part in the world.  I think that these will also give me a chance to be outside more and possibly make new friends and relationships with people.

Composting & Chickens

          Composting would be a way to greatly reduce the amount of waste that I would be potentially sending to the landfills.  I don’t think that it would be smelly, and if it was I’m sure I could figure out a place to put it where it wouldn’t smell.  Plus it would be a great source of fertilizer for the people I know who plant.  Chickens would also be a way to reduce my carbon footprint because I wouldn't be buying eggs that would otherwise have traveled possibly across country in large vans.  They would be fresh, free range chickens without any hormones in them, and they aren't very hard animals to take care of.  I have an aunt and uncle who do composting as well as have chickens and they never seem to have a problem other than the occasional hawk attack on their birds.  

Solar Panels

          My old house had a couple solar panels on the garage and supposedly helped to keep some prices down on our bills.  I think the solar panels would be a great thing to have and would definitely help in the long run.  The only real issues that I think would come with this would be the cost, or initial investment, of them and actually having a place where I could put them in.