Sophia Swift

Today I am in a coffee shop studying and doing some work, instead of just giving me a to go cup they asked if I was staying and gave me a "for here" mug to use.  I love that coffee shops like this one use dishes for their customers that are in store instead of wasting single use products.  So I made sure to let them know this and they were happy someone noticed and said they try really hard to be environmentally friendly.  So awesome!!!!

I have been traveling a lot lately because of family and forgetting to check in, however the reminders I have set on my phone have been helping me remember to do my tasks.  It seems when I have had a long day, its difficult for me to set aside time to practice gratitude for the earth or meditate, because all I want to do is fall asleep, so to help with this I started doing reflections before or during my day.  As for single use plastics, they have been staying out of my life pretty easily. 

I spent most of today traveling to see family in Gulf Shores, I used single use cups and silverware today, rode in a plane, and spent most of my trip using screen time.  Although I did horrible with my eco challenges I learned something.  Traveling, especially on a plane, especially during a pandemic is really bad for the environment.  Single use disposable cups, straws, masks, etc are everywhere.  Everything is either disposed of or needs to be super cleaned.  

I slacked yesterday and got ice cream in a single use cup, but today I did better and made up for it, by going to the farmers market to get veggies and fall stuff like squash and pumpkins.   Tonight I will use the squash to make squash spaghetti noodles.  Right now I am in a café I live by, enjoying a Chai Tea Latte in a reusable cup right on the Mississippi River, socially distanced of course. 

I keep forgetting to turn off lights, get a couple steps away, and then I remember so I have to go back.  Irritating, but I know I am forming a habit that is good. I also keep trying to get onto  Instagram, but I am planning to set parental controls on all my social media tonight so once 10 mins is up for it then I just stay off of it. 

Today I used my reusable water bottle instead of getting a throw away one.  The reusable stuff for me I think I must have already had as a habit I did not really know about, because I guess I do not use that much single use stuff. So I am looking to add some new environmental challenges to do now so it is more of a challenge.  I did not end up replacing screen time with outside time today because I was behind on school work and did school work 8am-8pm, but after I type this I plan to bundle up and replace watching youtube with watching the stars, the perfect way to end a busy day. 

Today I focused on no single use disposables, I used my reusable coffee cup all day instead of going to buy coffee somewhere.  When I got takeout for dinner, I requested that they use the reusable containers which I will continue to use at home for a long time, instead of using Styrofoam one time, and I also told them that I did not need the plastic silverware.