Energy Fastation

With living in a dorm there is no way to avoid using energy and lots of it. By simply living in the dorm I use enormous amounts of energy heating the building and the water. That is why for this fast I am going to be paying more attention to just the power that I am individually consuming.

Waking up in the morning I turn on my computer and printer which both run on electricity. Then going down to the IMA I take my IPOD which runs on lithuim batteries because there is no way I can workout without it. Then even using the workout machines take more energy to power.

Coming back to my room I flip on the light switch another electric device, then go to take a shower. The water in the shower is heated most likely by a fossil fuel because electric water heaters are not an efficient way to heat the water in a building as large as McCarty.

If I out backpacking in the forest with nothing more then what was on my back I could avoid using any sort of external energy source, but with my hightech life on campus I end up using a lot of energy.

TRANSPORTATION FAST

I have avoided using any sort of motorized vehicle so far, but living in Seattle there is no way to avoid using transportation systems without staying in your room. Just getting to class involves using paths and roads made for moving vehicles and students around the University. I walked down to QFC and ended up using another part of the transportation system. The crosswalk isn't normally thought of a major part of the system, but without it and the traffic lights that work along with it would be near to impossible to cross a busy intersection. Both going down to QFC and coming back I also used the stairs that make it a lot easier to climb the steep hill behing McCarty

I have found that living on campus has made it rather easy to fast from most forms of transportation. Back in Yakima the only way to get around was by car because the distance between everything made it impracticle to walk and even ride bikes sometimes. There is little to none public transportation in Yakima so it would easy to avoid that.

Welcome to the Blog

Greetings all. This is Group 1 for the blog assignment, and Ryan Ogle is the team lead for this blog.
You will have weekly posting assignments for the blog as described in the syllabus. Some weeks, the post will be about the readings, some weeks will be the technology fasts, and some weeks will be about other topics.

For the week of October 17, please post (no more than 200 words) about your Technology Fast. Since our current unit is about transportation, for this post you will either (a) try to abstain from using transportation vehicles or infrastructure for up to 36 hours, OR (b) be conscious about what transportation vehicles and infrastructure you are using. I expect just about about everyone will do option B. The format of your post should be conversational, and we are interested in learning about what choices you make about using transportation options. Remember that the goal of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to be thoughtful about your transportation choices. So, if you usually drive, but you choose to take the bus, tell us if that choice affected your schedule, what you choose to take with you, how you plan your overall day. If you use your bicycle on the roads, tell us about how the road infrastructure affects your use of the bicycle. Think about whether your use of transportation technologies is essential a matter of convenience. Does where you live affect your available transportation choices?

Post the results of your Technology Fast by class on Wednesday the 19th.