Shaklee

Our family's going GREEN!! Slowly by slowly, we are making changes to our lifestyle to be more friendly to the environment. It all started with our home in Blue Ridge which is built in a way that makes it very energy efficient. It is made of Timber Frame construction and SIPs (insulated panels) and we are told can be "heated with a matchstick and cooled with an icecube" :-) Sounds appealing, no? We'll see if this is true. And now, we are subscribers (and promoters) of Shaklee -- a company that makes everything you'll ever need from house cleaning products, to hygiene, etc.. that are all harmless to children and infants and the environment. Solutions are made very concentrated, so you cut down hugely on packaging, since one bottle can last you ten years!! And you'll be saving a lot of money - about $3400/year on such products you'll be buying anyways. Our next huge lifestyle change will be in our diet. Buying foods that are in season and local (i.e. Farmer's Markets near by) cut down in packaging and transportation -- which alone adds a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to maintain. Air travel is another biggie - travel abroad less (local travels can and are fun too). Etc.. etc... FUN TIMES GOING GREEN!

My Ecological Footprint

Oh how depressing :-( Apparently it would take nearly 11 Earths if the entire human population were to live the way I do. Everything from what I eat, how much I drive each year, what type of energy we use at home and how "energy friendly" our appliances are, was taken into account in this calculation. Calculate your Eco Footprint :-D

In order for me to be more ecologically friendly, I would need to drive a car with better mileage, use public transportation more often than driving, or if I do drive, take a few people with me or carpool with others. I would need to be a vegetarian or vegan or at the very least use less meat and dairy in my diet. I would need to buy more of my food items from local sources like Farmer's Markets and in-season items, since most of what I currently eat are packaged and transported nationally if not internationally. Ugh! Or better yet, just have a huge vegetable garden patch in my backyard like I used to!

And to think I have a tiny car and I seldom eat out and I rarely use A/C and the dishwasher and oven. I am sure I use far less energy than the average American, but obviously this is just not enough.

I think I can implement buying locally grown, in-season fruits and vegetables, and work on the others as I am able.

Environmentalist, PhD

[L-R: Max, Amani and Emil]

Congratulations, Amani!!!

Today, Amani successfully passed his doctoral prelims! Well done!



Amani is a PhD candidate at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke. Amani's many scientific interests include, but are not limited to, wetlands and mosquitos. His research studies have taken him to places such as Tanzania, and the Carolina coastal regions.

Good luck on the rest of your PhD work, Amani.