I feel I'm pretty good about not using plastic bags. I always bring my own bags to shop, but I usually forget the produce bags. I make do by keeping my veggies and fruits loose, but sometimes when I'm in a hurry, I do grab the already bagged items. I made it a point to close the gap this month.

My largest contributors are my transportation and shelter. I have been driving my electric car more often this year to work to visit jobsites as well as for personal reasons to manage appointments and to pick up my daughter from practices when the bus is unavailable. I can't control much of this. My home is larger than average, so I need to mitigate its effect on the environment. We currently have solar thermal panels to heat our water and help with winter heating. I have reinvigorated our search for photovoltaic panels, and plan to purchase them this year. Eventually, we will be downsizing when our children complete college.

I learned about the difficulty in making a real impact on this problem with a single washer. There really needs to be collective action, so I contacted my water district to ask them to upgrade their equipment to handle this on a larger scale, instead.

There is some waste I cannot avoid. I try not to take plastic bags when I shop, so I buy the small recycled poop bags to handle my dog's waste. I have been trying to use them multiple times. Seems gross, but I haven't found a good alternative. I contacted my water district but they do not allow flushing dog waste because they do not have the ability to treat it.

Some things I can change. I endeavor to bring my own food container to restaurants for leftovers. I am buying natural dental floss in a glass container with refills. I plan to buy tablet toothpaste not packaged in plastic.

My water footprint was below the US average. Opportunity of growth is in hand washing dishes and not letting the water run as i wash.