I try to live my life without feeling the guilt that I am doing something bad to the planet such as using plastic bottles or other single use plastics. I also feel that being vegetarian (and very soon vegan) contributes greatly to helping the planet. Although these things do help the earth, there are things that I cannot live without that aren’t so good. I think that one thing I could not live without would be my car. Although I don’t have my car down here, whenever I am home I have to drive in order to get to places so that of course requires gas. Over the summer I have to drive a lot for work or if I’m traveling. Another thing that I cannot live without would be my laptop. I am always on it and although I love the idea of not using technology, at this moment there is absolutely no way that I cannot have my laptop with me since I need it for school, communication, research, entertainment, and many other things. To be parted from it would be very difficult to adjust to and I hate to admit that.
One thing that I believe I could live without would be air conditioning. Although air conditioning is wonderful to have and I love cranking my AC down super low, I do think that I could get along without it. Most places in Europe don’t have air conditioning so really it is just a luxury we have become accustomed to here. The first time I went to Europe and was young and spoiled with AC, I was very uncomfortable to not have some air flow while I slept and had to leave the window or porch door open despite being in two very loud and very populated cities during the 2014 World Cup. As you can imagine, being woken up happened frequently. The second time I went to Europe was last summer. I had gotten somewhat used to the idea of no AC and taught myself that it’s okay to be without it and totally possible. Another thing that I could live without would be electricity. I know earlier I said I needed my laptop which kind of contradicts this but besides that I do think I could live without it. If I had a bunch of candles and a wood stove, I’d be set and content for the most part.
Most things I buy are because I want them (mostly). I do think that I can reduce my spending/consumption on things such as going out to eat/get takeout and clothing since those are the things I spend most of my money on. I don’t need tons of clothing nor do I need to eat out every day. I think under normal circumstances I could reduce. The thing that separates me from it is want. Less consumption would mean going out to eat only on special occasions, only buying new clothes when I need them, and walking everywhere I go if I can. I would be a lot more conscious about my everyday choices since I eat out a lot of shop way too much.
In the future I would love to be able to live in a small cabin somewhere in the woods with no electricity (but possibly solar powered) and no running water. This dream is pretty extreme but I have been wanting to do it for a while. A reason I love to camp is because it feels more natural and real rather than living in an artificial world where I can turn on a light with a switch or get clean drinking water from turning a knob. I feel like it would be better to work for these things and in doing so I would be a lot more grateful that I had light or clean water. It would also be helping the planet as well. I would also like to have my own garden though I would not depend on this garden for my only source of food. I’d like to live near a small town where I can get basic supplies and food that I could reach by riding on a bike. This would be an awesome way to live for me and would be very beneficial to the planet.
