Benefits of a Sustainable Community

After reading my peer’s blog posts about their sustainable use of either reusable water bottles or coffee cups, I found that we shared very similar experiences.  As for challenges, I noticed the other members in my group shared the same challenge of when they forgot their reusable water bottle or reusable coffee cup they were tempted to break their sustainable behavior.  However, we all held off as much as we could to not give into the pressures of simply buying a plastic water bottle or buying a paper coffee up.  Furthermore, the other student who was doing the same reusable water bottle challenge as I was, said the most common time he forgot his water bottle was when he was in a hurry, which was the same experience I had.  We all experienced very similar benefits of reusing a water bottle or coffee cup as well.  All around we found that we saved a lot of money, because wasting a dollar and change on a coffee or plastic water bottle each day does add up.  Not only are we saving money, but we all realized that we are having a large impact on the environment.  Plastic water bottles are definitely over consumed in the United States, and the amount that is recycled does not compare nearly as close to the amount that are thrown away.  We all realized that making a small change in our daily lives really wasn’t that difficult, and it is a change that we are all capable of making if we simply change one aspect of our daily routines.  

I realized that being in a community made me realize that changing behaviors to ones that are more sustainable isn’t a very difficult task.  All of the members in my community agreed that after making one simple change in their daily routine, it became a habit that is quite easy to achieve.  I believe if more communities were created on the basis of sustainable behaviors there is a possibility to have a larger impact on environmental problems.  After the sustainable behavior project, I’ve decided I want to promote my friends and family to participate in sustainable behaviors because I have proof that it does not take much effort to make a small change that results in a large environmental impact.