Mari Walter-Bailey

I try to limit my single use waste as much as possible but I think if I were to bring my own to-go containers I could eliminate even more. A lot of the reason I don't is just because I forget or don't plan ahead. I've thought before about just having containers and silverware that I bring everywhere so I have them just in case.
Another place I think I could improve is in grocery shopping! So much of the things we buy are wrapped in plastic and it makes me really upset. I try my best to avoid it but I think even just through this challenge being more conscientious  has helped me to avoid producing as much waste as I could.

Practicing gratitude for me is as simple as taking a walk around my neighborhood. Sometimes in a city it seems like we are detached from the natural world but its good to remind yourself that nature is everywhere you find life. Moral obligation, I think, probably stems from love or from understanding. To feel obligated to nature I think beyond respecting it as an aesthetic feature, you have to be cognizant of its function in an ecosystem, even just a basic understanding. For example, we all love trees of course, they're everywhere. But understanding that they help us breathe and provide homes for animals probably makes us more inclined to protect them.
This past summer I worked at the Lincoln Park Zoo and being there every day I really felt overwhelming gratitude for the natural world despite the zoo not being a natural space.  I highly recommend the nature boardwalk to everyone as it does have a lot of native species and is just really beautiful. Another place I really love is Montrose point/beach.

In relatively simple terms with wealth comes convenience. Here, we are so accustomed to the ease of getting meat whether it be at a fast food restaurant, at a grocery store or a steakhouse. Meat then is looked at as part of our identity and as an overflowing resource available for our use at all times. Unfortunately, this mindset is why it is so hard for people to conceptualize what it means to not eat meat. Another problem I see is with the push to go vegetarian or vegan many people want you to go all the way, right away. Realistically, if you eat meat in all 3 meals a day and cut it out of just one, that still has a huge impact and is much more feasible for the time being.
 Consuming as much meat as we do has devastating effects on the environment but of course ones we don't see. It involves clear cutting lands for cattle, providing tons of corn/grain/grass for feed, and the production of hundreds of tons of methane. Most often the negative impacts of agriculture effect only those who are already vulnerable, then becoming a problem of environmental racism/justice.