The “No Impact” Summative Statement of Intent

Colin Beavan is a man who “got tired of listening to himself complain about the world without actually ever doing something about it.” In 2006 he and his wife and two year old daughter attempted to live in the middle of New York City with creating as little environmental impact as possible. The point of this experiment for Colin and his family was to show the world that with perseverance they can improve the quality of life and not be harmful to the planet. Colin Beavan's experiment is definitely something that would be very hard to attain, but in watching his documentary about improving the planet, I see that we ourselves can make a few adjustments in our lives as well. For the “No Impact” summative, I decided that for the next three weeks, I will be hand washing all my clothes, and air drying all of my family's clothes. I decided that this course of action will be very beneficial because I find that my washer and dryer consume the most energy in my household. Usually my family does two to three washes a week depending on how dirty my clothes are after the sport that I play (rugby/basketball). When my washing machine is being used, the setting is always on “warm”. I have never stopped to think “why not cold”, but when thinking about my summative, this question popped into my head instantly. When using my dryer, it is the same idea which can definitely make an impact on my environment. By reducing the number of times that I click start on both my dryer and the washing machine, I can reduce the amount of energy that I use in my house hold weekly. Personally, I believe that this action will be attainable, but it will have it's good and bad times. I think that absent mindly my parents might put my clothes into the washing machine, but before hand, I will have to sit down and talk to them about the decisions that I am making to avoid that problem. Giving up my dryer will not make as much stress on my life as the washing machine because as the weather is getting better, the thought of hanging my clothes out side can be an easier option. When or if it rains though, I will have to find the room around my house to properly hang my clothes so that I can have the dry. As of right now, I will not set any rules for myself for the reason that this intent is pretty straight forward. If accidentally, my parents put my clothes in the washing machine, I cannot reverse this, but I can offer to hand wash my siblings clothes as another option. I will not be too excited for that one, but it will be something that I would have to suck up my pride and do for the summative. What I find is going to be the most difficult is that I now have to actually find the time to wash my clothes weekly. I am usually pretty busy with work, school, and rugby that I am afraid I will not have the energy to personally hand wash my clothes. Although this may be difficult for me, I know that I must do this so that  I not only get a good mark, but so that I can have a little taste of the hardship that Colin Beavan's family had to go through to prove a point to the world and themselves.