Is My Lifestyle More Sustainable?

Over the last month and a half, I’ve been trying to make my lifestyle more sustainable by taking certain actions to be more conservative. When I first started to make these actions part of my daily routines, I would often times catch myself leaving the water on or throwing an aluminum can in the trashcan and not the recycling bin. Once I caught myself doing this several times I soon stopped and it all became a habit. Now I catch myself encouraging others to be more sustainable and telling them how easy it can be.

One thing I chose to do was to keep my car tires properly inflated and balanced to help out with fuel consumption. Another thing I did was to recycle my used motor oil. This past weekend I changed the oil in my car and also rotated the tires and regulated the air pressure in them to 44psi. I poured the used oil into a five-gallon bucket where it can easily be transported to the recycling center. Once I collected enough oil to fill the five-gallon container, I took it to the recycling center. This I enjoyed doing because I like to work on my own vehicle.

Another thing I chose to do was to turn off the water while I brush my teeth. Where I live, I don’t receive a separate water bill so I can’t tell exactly how many gallons of water per month I’ve saved. I am assuming that I’ve saved about ten gallons of water a day by doing this.

I have been trying to buy produce at farmers’ markets but there are none local that I know of. I do know that the Bi-Lo in Central sells Rawl Brand produce, which is grown and packaged

in my hometown of Gilbert, SC. I have been purchasing Rawl Brand produce because I know that the packing and shipping of this produce is very energy and cost efficient.

I have been continuing my aluminum can recycling at home and have begun to recycle more at school. The cans I save at home, I take to the local fire department where they are sold to a recycling center. The money is donated to a children’s' hospital in Charleston where they care for burned children. I have been helping collect cans with my fraternity at school. These cans are set aside where a local community member picks them up and takes them to the recycling center for us.

The last thing I did was created feeding plots for wildlife at home. I live in a rural community with a lot of farmland, which is home to much wildlife. I have put out shelled, dry corn periodically over open fields for deer and squirrels to eat. I enjoy putting more corn out because I can see the deer tracks on the ground and some of them are large. Another thing I did was pile up loose debris off of the forest floor. These pilings made good habitats for smaller animals such as rabbits. I am a big outdoorsman and I feel that the animals appreciate the food and the habitats because it will soon be winter and that is the most difficult time for wildlife in our area.

As I said earlier, I’ve only been doing some of these for about a month and a half, but it has made me more appreciative of my surroundings. I feel like there is still more I can do here at school because this is where I spend most of my time. With the large number of student organizations on campus, just imagine the benefits if each group did a little something to help out. My friends and family have been encouraging when I told them that I was trying harder to be more conservative towards the Earth. Also, people are usually surprised when I tell them two or three things they can do that require little effort to make their lives more sustainable.

James Gunter

Horticulture 208

11-9-00