~Environment Viewpoint~

I think my family was a minor factor in shaping the way I look at the environment. The only way I can really see how they contributed was my parents would have me turn off everything after I used it so the PG&E bill isn't too high. lol. Actually, I forgot to mention my dad is a big fan of energystar products & we just recently had solar panels installed on our roof. However, my outlook has probably been more influenced by outside sources. In 6th grade I can remember going to Woodleaf(an outdoor living school) for a week as an educational field trip. They do a good job about teaching kids to reduce, reuse, & recycle & also just plainly other ways they can help out the environment it's habitants. Then my senior year I went back to Woodleaf & was a camp counselor for the kids for a week. I would say that trip affected me more because I was older & really understood the importance of waste. They had this contest going on all week where at meal times each cabin would collect their waste & dump & whichever cabin had the least amount of "goober" as they called it would win a prize. This gave iniative to the kids to try not to waste so much & I helped encourage them as well. It's a really good program. Also, I read this book called Skinny Bitch last fall & it converted me to become a vegan for a short while, unfortunately that didn't last long because I love meat too much & you don't realize how many things have milk or eggs in them, it's basically everything. But I know veganism is good for the environment. :) I think I have a pretty good viewpoint, we always have room for improvement though, that's what I always say.