Kaylee Anstine

One human activity that impacts the health of water systems is showering and taking long showers, by us as humans not being conscious of the amount of water we are using we are causing consequences to our water systems. So for this challenge the challenge was to take 5 minute showers, I have been showering more than normal because of covid, every time I come home from anywhere I make sure to shower and well I feel that we all can get out of hand when showering sometimes just standing in the water feels so good anyways after yesterday and today I really tried to break that habit and just get in and get out in under 5 minutes. Most of our human activities are the major threat cause to our water resources. One way that I found through research that we affect our water resources is by over using, and also doing the things that we do the water such as pumping the water into the ground like we do, polluting the water letting trash go into our oceans and lakes, all of this can be harmful. I cannot stress enough how much I have learned about the importance of our choices! 

Water for me provides me with feeling good, I start my days very early in the mornings seeing as I have to be at work at 4am, I do not drink any caffeine so water really gives me that wake up in the mornings. I generally will drink an entire water bottle on my way to work in the mornings so this week instead of taking a plastic water bottle I started using my hydro flask and filling that up before work and finishing it and refilling as soon as I get to work in the morning. Also because I do not drink soda, or coffee water is like my go to drink throughout the day so I really feel dependent on water I notice if I forgot my water in the mornings a few hours later I get headaches really bad so water really benefits me. 

One way that I feel I can still wear things that I like that do not support fast fashion is thrifting. I love to go thrift shopping I also love to thrift between myself and my family instead of us all going out and buying brand new clothes we see if there are any hand me downs that we can use to upcycle or wear before going out and buying more. As far as fast fashion goes, I never even knew what it was until now....fast fashion is obviously not good for our environment and I think it is something that should be talked about more and brought up more often. People cannot fix or change what they do not know. I actually really liked doing this challenge because I found new ways that we could still express ourselves but also do it in a way that does not require us to support fast fashion... I actually run a Facebook group called twice but nice thrift where I resale clothes that are still good for really low costs to my community instead of going out and buying new stuff. For Christmas myself and my little sister made our grandma earrings out of some little pins she has had for a long time and she loves them. 

So the most local landfill to me that I was able to find is in Rialto, Ca which is about 20 miles from my house. The landfill is called Mid-valley landfill and it is labeled as a garbage dump. Another one that I found is in Beaumont, Ca which is called Lamb Canyon Landfill. Both really pretty local to us, one thing I also learned about landfills through this challenge is that ideally landfills should be located in silts and clay soil that would restrict gas movements, and that if they are not and say they are built on gravel, or sand they can make a pretty big threat to groundwater quality. Pretty interesting, I never knew that there was a landfill in Rialto which is actually so close to campus. 

I decided to make this challenge a little fun, I had my boyfriend sit down with me and we wrote 10 things that meant the most to us and then decided on 4 core values out of the 10 things that mattered most to us and then we chose one as a couple that meant the most to us... One core value in our relationship that we decided on is communication. We chose communication as ours because we value each others feelings and thoughts, and without communication we'd be nothing. Four of my core values were really hard for me to narrow down but I did it! I am going to list them one to four.... Integrity, Love, Determination, and Kindness. 

Studies show that spending more time outdoors absolutely enhance your brainpower, I also feel that to be true. I live in the San Bernardino mountains and I feel that when I do keep up going on my daily walks I just feel happier and more grateful for the things that are around me. My boyfriend and I recently just went to Heart Rock Trail which is about 12 minutes from our house and we have never even hiked it because it is usually a very touristy area, however we did this time for something new and it was awesome! So beautiful and such a good place to get in touch with ourselves and nature. 

After some of the things that I have learned from my human ecology class I have become more interested in more sustainable ways of living, and energy is one of them. One reason I think that I feel interested in learning is because we need to start making more conscious decisions when it comes to the way we are using our resources one of them being energy. There are quite a few benefits to renewable energy, one of them that I found is that not only is it environmentally friendly it is also economically friendly. Sustainable energy can help create economic development and jobs even in the field of installation, and manufacturing. One simple way that we can take a step for renewable energy is asking our electricity companies about their renewable energy programs and see what they have to offer, I know that I will be doing that. 

I feel that restorative justice can help the well being of the planet and I feel that it helps the planet by the communities coming together, it would help them come together and create something that fixes what has been damaged. Also I feel that restorative justice helps bring closure for people for both offenders and victims, helping them both feel that justice has been served and not just in the court room. I feel that it helps eliminate people's anger and need for revenge which also benefits the planet in my opinion when people are happier they treat people better and the environment around them better.