Earth Camp Commitment

My Earth Camp commitment is to use less energy. I’m going to use the TV and computer less, buy less new products because it takes lots of energy to make them, and eat less fast food because not only is it bad for you but restaurant trains use a lot of energy to keep their lights and machines on all day and night.

The experience that motivated me to make my commitment was when we read an excerpt from No Impact Man. It talked about how the family permanently threw out their TV because it was messing up their family life, wasting energy, and wasting time. I thought back to my home, and my family is the same way. Family bonding at my house is sitting around and watching a movie. I started thinking “Is this really enjoyable or am I just doing this because it’s there?” The more I thought about it I realized that instead of sitting inside watching TV or goofing off on Facebook, my family and I could be doing something together that wouldn’t hurt the planet.

What I’m going to do to accomplish my Earth Camp commitment is explain to my family why I think wasting energy is not helping our family life, and create a plan. Wewill start by taking one hour off of being inside and going outside to hangout every week until we’re outside together every day.

I can’t say the whole world will be better because of me, but my world will be better because I will be changing my life and making my family stronger and happier. Who knows, maybe these ideas will be passed on from family to family and we’ll all be doing things to better the planet.

I will remind myself to do this by putting up pictures and different outside things like flowers and cool plants near my TV and computer. That way when we’re all sitting around the TV we can be inspired to head outside.

Questions & Answers

What did you think camp would be like and did it turn out that way or differently?

I thought camp was going to be awesome. I thought that I’d have the most fun on the river because we’d really just be out in the wild with no technological distractions. In the end it did turn up that way exactly! I loved being on the river when I didn’t have my phone or computer and I could just be with nature and have no distractions.

What was your favorite activity and why?

My favorite activity was a mix of hiking, climbing, camping under the stars, Canyon De Chelly, rafting, and learning about the animals. It’s too hard to think of just one thing because everything was fun.  We learned about everything we observed which made everything so much more interesting.

What did we do at camp that impressed you the most and why?

The thing that impressed me most was the amount of activities we did. Every day there were two or three really fun activities at cool places with great things to do all the time.  We were very busy, but it didn't feel like work because we were learning and enjoying ourselves at the same time.

Who inspired you the most during camp?

I think the person who inspired me the most was Amy because she does so many things to help the planet without being asked and she is so helpful and always positive.

Tell me about a time at camp when you saw someone else demonstrate great leadership qualities. What did they do?

I saw leadership qualities when people helped without being asked, they spoke up when things were going wrong, and by giving a good attitude even when things weren’t going their way.

Now that you have experienced Earth camp, how do you view water in Tucson and how will that affect your future actions and choices?

I now know where the water is coming from and know much there is (very little!). I now understand that we are relying too much on water we don’t have. If we all just changed one thing, then there would be excess water that could actually flow through the Colorado River Basin like it’s supposed to. I don’t know much about where Wisconsin water comes from, but I’m definitely going to research it and try to see what I can do to make people in Wisconsin understand that being responsible with our water use is very important.