No-Impact beginnings...

Here i am in Vignola, settled in to my hostel for the night with two very nice Spanish girls who are definitely going to think I am weird. So far, being here and gauging the situation, I think certain things will be a snap this week -- I can walk everywhere, for example -- and certain things will be impossible -- I have no control over our general energy consumption, for instance.
Before I began the week I was asked to take a survey which asked me about my general happiness: what percentage of last week I was truly happy, somewhat happy, or down; my general habits in the categories that are addressed during the week: food, energy consumption, transport, water consumption, volunteerism, and trash production; and my hypothesis for the week.
I am generally a pretty happy person, and when I am not happy it's usually related to something like money, work, or traffic jams; sometimes I am really cranky if I haven't eaten properly. Colin Beavan maintains that improving your lifestyle in a "no-impact" way makes you a happier person. At least, that is what he discovered. I think that my particular experience will prove him right; in fact, I already think he's right. In my own experience I have noted this. Take travel. Going by foot means I feel in control of my mobility, for example, and I can go as fast or as slow as I want. Having to plan my meals means I will eat well and healthily. Producing less trash means consuming less and therefore buying less; buying less stuff means spending less money; spending less money means Danielle is happier. I am generally a happier person when I am taking up less room on the planet and being less of a consumer -- this I know already, and it's partly why I am doing this experiment.
In terms of my general habits I am already pretty conscious of how I treat the resources at my disposal and how much I consume. I am a big reuser and recycler, and I don't like to use products that are not natural; I try to buy organic, and in bulk. Here, that is impossible --everything is packaged, so that has been a challenge. I already am a public transport kind of gal. The areas I could improve, I know, are water consumption and energy consumption, and I would like to give back in a small way. I don't have a ton of time to volunteer but it doesn't take much. I would also like to make nearly no trash.

What I think will be most difficult here is eating. Finding products that are not packaged is impossible as I've said, and in Vignola it might be really hard to find anything organic.
My goals are to find out if there is a farmer's market and use it; to use as little of the hostel's resources as possible (ask them to leave my towels, no cooking, only hot water with lemon in the morning as opposed to coffee); and to talk about the experiment with the other singers who are here doing the masterclass week. That last will take a lot of balls for me, since I have never really been the "converting" type. It hink of talking about environmentalism like that is a little bit like evangelism which makes me uncomfortable. I have to get over that.

Iniziamo!