1. Reflection on the 1st week
1. Describe (IN DETAIL) how your first week went with your behavior to reduce your environmental impact?
1. What did you do? How did you do it? How often did you do it?
   *If you didn’t do it yet talk about what you WILL do! (and how, how often)
2. Why is the conservation behavior good for the environment? (Justify your choice!) *Cog Skill: Justifying / Constructing an Explanation
3. Identify barriers: what has prevented you from undertaking this behavior to reduce your environmental impact in the past?
4. What needs to change to make this behavior to reduce your environmental impact achievable for the next 30 days?
5. Can you make that change yourself or do you need outside help?
6. Explore incentives: are there internal or external incentives that would help motivate you to make the change?

For the past few days I have tried to be vegetarian, I think that it has been going well for the most. Other than the carnal desire for meat and the few minutes of constant agony, I think that I am doing well. Not eating meat would be a lot easier if I wasn't constantly in the presence of meat. During lunch, there are always people that bring food from the taco truck up the street. I have also never really heard of a Mexican who doesn't eat meat, that just isn't in our nature. I believe that the first week will be the hardest but I think that after the first week it will be a lot easier. Currently my diet consists various fruits and some beans here and there. I want to find more options instead of leading myself to believe that I am just starving myself for the greater good.

This conservation behavior is good for the environment because eating meat has a huge ecological impact on the Earth. I believe that there is a common misconception when it comes to being vegetarian. They are often widely criticized for trying to make a positive change in their lives for the betterment of the planet. (1) This article shows some insight into what impacts most of the world’s diet has on the planet. It described the production of various livestock, it takes 15,000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of beef and 25 kilograms of grain.

Another source(2) state that the production and distribution of red meat like beef and lamb is responsible for 10 to 40 times more greenhouse gas emissions as common grains and vegetables. This means that not only are we using extensive resources for the production of meat but we are simultaneously killing the planet in the process.

Furthermore the Scientific American states that according the Environmental Working Group "estimates that growing livestock feed in the U.S. alone requires 167 million pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer each year across some 149 million acres of cropland." This process produces copious amounts of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. If that doesn't astonish you, I don't know what will.









References:
(1) Theconversation.com
(2) scientificamerican.com

Identity barriers