One of the Earth Camp experiences that had an impact on me was thrift store shopping. Last Friday, we rode city buses to thrift stores in Tucson and picked out T-shirts to print the Earth Camp logo on. I learned that buying used clothes is eco-friendly because it saves resources. When more people reuse clothes, fewer new clothes have to be made, and the energy and resources used to make and transport the clothes is reduced. In the future, I would like to shop more at thrift stores instead of buying new clothes. First, I’d like to go back to Goodwill, the store that my team went to on Friday. I also plan to look in other thrift stores like Buffalo Exchange and Speedway Outlet, so that I can find which store works best for me and best helps me achieve my goal.

Another experience that I really enjoyed was the bike day. Last Thursday, we rode bikes all over Tucson, stopping at several different eco-friendly locations. Before that day, I hadn’t done very much biking at all. I didn’t feel comfortable riding by myself, but Amy told me that she had a tandem bike available. I was still hesitant about biking, but I decided to try it. I really enjoyed that day, and I think I’d like to continue riding a bike after this.

I also enjoyed the saguaro harvest. Yesterday evening, we drove out to the Saguaro Harvest Site and worked in teams to collect the saguaro fruit. We used harvesting poles called kukuipads that were made out of saguaro ribs. After sunset, when we were finished collecting, we opened up the husks and used the fruit inside to make syrup. I know that most people will never have a chance to do this, and I’m glad that I was able to.

I loved the Mount Lemmon campout. We learned about astronomy from Penny and Mike, and got to sleep in dorms at the UA SkyCenter. I learned a lot from the tree-coring exercise as well. My favorite part was catching the crawfish on Monday night, but I enjoyed the whole trip.