Day 8: Thoughts

To end the week, the family decided to stay in and just
relax. For once, I got a chance to fully absorb the situation; the changes, the
challenges and the outcome or progress that was made this week. It was nice to
just switch everything off and take a break from the world; your own little
corner of ‘non-technology’ serenity. I admit, I didn’t completely switch off
everything (I needed the microwave to heat up food), but I enjoyed it and I didn’t
exactly plan for the day. I decided that I would just go with the flow.

Looking back, it’s been an amazing week. Incredibly insightful and so much was learned and gained. I think the fact that there was a new theme or challenge everyday, made it that more interesting. I’ve learned so much from this week. I’ve learned that I can still challenge myself and that I didn’t need to consume so many things to be ‘modern’ or happy.

I’m happy to say that
whatever changes I’ve made, I intend to continue with them. I know it’s not
much but it’s a start; a start in the right direction. I’ve even noticed now,
my family doesn’t use as much electricity as they use to. They don’t turn on as
many lights and don’t use as much tissue paper as before. It reminds me of the
last few words from the No Impact Man book,

‘By continuing to think about these issues and doing my
best, even if it’s not as extreme as during the project proper, I continue to
change the people around me. We can all change people around us by changing
ourselves ’.  (Page 224, No Impact Man)

I whole heartedly agree that change starts from inside. In
the past week alone I’ve manage to cut nearly all of my garbage and eat
healthier. On top of that, I’ve learned where our ‘stuff’ comes from and where
it ends up (aft we’re done with it) from Story of Stuff and the impacts of our ‘stuff’
in landfills like Jardim Gramacho (Brazil) and the ocean from documentaries  like Wasteland and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. After seeing those images, I don’t know how I could go back to mindlessly throwing away so much trash.

Speaking of trash, this week’s amount of trash is incredible. All I have is a paper plate, a bus ticket, a paper cup and a can drink. Everything else was composted (fruit seeds and stems) and I mostly had bread and fish that week. It’s an amazing feeling to have accomplished this little amount of trash (no matter how minute the accomplishment is).

Looking back at the ‘grateful’ list, out of 30 items, 7 were consumerable products. I’ve also noticed with each passing day, the consumerable items were quickly replaced with non-consumerable items. I think that at the end of the day, the things that we’re really grateful for can’t be bought. It’s the people in our lives and what they represent and bring into our lives that matter the most.

On a whole, it’s been an incredible ride. So much was given up, learned and transformed.  I’m very grateful that I got to take part in this project.

Thank you Tara 🙂

Day 7: Change

Day seven and it was spent wisely watching Wasteland and just walking around Amsterdam. The movie was really an eye opener. The amount of garbage that ended up at the Jardim Gramacho garbage dump was unbelievable. I’m shocked at both the amount and what’s in the amount of garbage there; old or unused items (toys, books, and shoes), plastic bottles, organic matter, etc.

Its one thing to have facts and figures being thrown at you at like ‘Every year, we junk some 4 to 5 trillion plastic bags worldwide, according to the Worldwatch Institute’, page 53 of No Impact Man or that ‘according to the Environmental Protection Agency, 4.8 million tons-nearly 10 billion pounds-of disposable paper napkins, towels, cups and plates is what the United States sends to landfills every year’, page 48 of No Impact Man,but it’s another thing to see the amount of garbage being dumped at the landfills (even if it is through a screen).

Never in all my life would I have ever imagined that much garbage and the people who make a living out of that garbage. I’m a little fuzzy on their personal stories and some parts of the film (because of the language barrier) so I can’t really comment much about it. But it really was an amazing movie from the massive amounts of garbage (and the message it sent about the amount of garbage produced) to the hopes and dreams of the people there. It’s inspiring to know that just because of a photograph; people’s lives can be transformed. All Vik (Vik Muniz) did was take a photo and it changed the way that everybody looked at garbage and the Catadores. I guess it really is true; a picture is worth a thousand words.

It really tied in with today’s theme of ‘giving back’. With today’s theme set in place, I tried to give back as much as possible. In a way, I did things that I would normally do but with more motivation I guess. I opened doors, I helped people with their luggage, and I gave my seat away. On top of that, I donate to causes back home like Mercy Malaysia and UNICEF that enable kids to have better access to education and drinking water. I do what I can do but looking at the pyramid (I’m at the bottom of the pyramid), it really isn’t much. I’ve always wanted to volunteer or sign up with certain organizations but I guess I just wasn’t that serious about it or just didn’t want to put in the time. I don’t know if I’ll ever be that serious to do more that just donate money every month.

Anyway, below are some of the charities/organizations I would love to work with (and are some of which I’ve been donating to):

Groups/Organizations/Charities	Obstacles preventing participation	How to remove obstacles
Mercy Malaysia	Lack of time, not sure of level of commitment	Volunteer on weekends or during holidays or even on a certain project, could donate on occasion
World Vision Malaysia	Lack of time, not sure of level of commitment	Volunteer whenever free, take part in a project or sponsor a child
UNICEF	Lack of time, not sure of level of commitment	Donate money, participate in some regional projects

I think today has been a real lesson in giving back. It’s made me reevaluate where I stand on contributing back to society. Just because you donate, doesn’t mean it’s enough. I guess there’s always more that we can do. It’s just a matter of figuring out how much more are we willing to do.

The five things I’m grateful for are:

1. Family and friends
2. The wonderful life I have
3. The amazing day I had
4. The inspiring movie we watched
5. All the good in this world

Day 6: Aqua

Time sure does fly. It’s hard to believe it’s already day six. I haven’t watched TV in five days. I haven’t had chocolate or chips in five days. I haven’t even used my lights in five days. I don’t even know what to say. I’m baffled by the sudden change in my routine. I’m even more surprised at how easy it was to adapt.

In that spirit of change or adapting, I tried using baking soda as a substitute for toothpaste and soap. I have to say that with the tooth paste, it is definitely an acquired
taste. I was hoping it tasted a little better than it did, but I’m surprised that it did the job. As for baking soda as soap, I like it. It cleans and exfoliates at the same time (very cool). I could get use to using it on a daily basis, just without so much baking soda (it hurts when you use it too much, or is it just me?).

Let’s see, so far I’ve used water for drinking, taking a shower, brushing my teeth, and to go to the loo. I didn’t use it for cooking because I was out the whole day. So I’m guessing I might have used around 5-6 liters of water today (1.5 liters for drinking, 3.5 liters for showering, the loo and 0.5 liters for washing hands and face).  According to www.waterfootprint.org, my total water footprint is 685 cubic meter per year. I have no idea what that means but as I’m looking at the graphs, I’m guessing it’s not too bad (I could be wrong though).

Looking through http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/from-lettuce-to-beef-whats-water-footprint-of-your-food.php(the website that tells you the water footprint of food), I’m shocked to see that  it takes 2847 gallons of water to produce one pound of chocolate (and now feel bad for all the past chocolate I ate). I also notice that the foods that have the highest water footprints are live stock (which makes sense). It never really hit me as to how much water everything uses until now. No wonder water scarcity is such a big issue.

I admit, it’s pretty hard to actually save water especially when you’re not sure how much water is wasted on a daily basis. Today, I didn’t exactly use a lot of water but then again maybe it is a lot of water. The only thing I kept to was the fact that I didn’t want any chemicals flushed down with today’s water usage. Hence, the use of baking soda as an alternative for soap and toothpaste (inspired from No Impaact Man).

Lastly, the five things I’m grateful for are:

1. Family and friends
2. The luxury of having water
3. The amazing life I have
4. Learning something new everyday
5. Baking soda

-Zarina

Day 5: A day under the sun

I think today’s ‘no electricity’ theme was pretty easy for me. I guess already cutting down on electricity since day one prepared me for not having/using  electricity. Honestly, it’s not really a big deal. I could definitely see myself having a ‘once a week no electricity day/night’. To try to get the whole family involved, we (the whole family-mom, and two other sisters) spent the whole day at Roermond (a factory outlet) and Maastricht. It was good (no electricity used throughout the day) yet bad (the temptation of so many things to buy) at the same time. God only knows how tempted I was to buy the whole factory outlet. There was one thing that really caught my eye; this gorgeous black Burberry clutch that was 60% off.  It pained me to let it go but I had to stick to the rules. It was so depressing. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful, loving and
(above all) compassionate mother who dislikes seeing her children sad. Let’s just say, I got what I wanted without breaking any rules (someone buying you a gift doesn’t count as buying it yourself, right Tara? ;))

After reading the other blogs, I dawned on me that I was the only who didn’t complain about my trash. I didn’t make trash this week, so I guess there’s really nothing to complain about. After reading No Impact Man, one particular quote stuck with me. “Four weeks after the project began, we weren’t just changing the way we lived; changing the way we lived was changing us”, page 71 of No Impact Man. I know it hasn’t even been a week but I feel that during this time, the project has really opened my eyes to the way that I (and we as a society) deal with consumption and the environment. It’s made me aware. I realize now that I’m much more analytical (or fussy) about what foods I buy based on their packaging. If it’s wrapped in plastic, then I try to find another alternative. I don’t know how long I’m going to keep this up but for now I’m really glad that (even in a small way) I’m contributing to not ‘trashing’
the environment.

Moving on, the items that use energy in my house are lights*, laptop*, phone*, stove*, oven*, house phone*, washer*, dryer*, refrigerator*, freezer*, microwave*, television*, heater, garage door, electronic gate, my sister’s battery operated toys, remote control for various items, and hair dryer.

*means that I would usually use these items throughout the No Impact Week.

Among these items:

Laptop: MITIGATE (I only use electricity to charge it, so that I can get my class work done)

Phone: MITIGATE (I only use electricity to charge it so that I have a way to keep in touch with people)

Stove: MITIGATE (I only use it to cook simple dishes)

Oven: MITIGATE (I only use it to bake bread)

Lights: ELIMINATE (I have already done so since day one)

Television: ELIMINATE (I have already been living TV free since day one)

House phone: ELIMINATE (I hardly use the house phone, so there’s no point in having it turned on)

Washer and dryer: ELIMINATE (Just for the remaining days to save water. Plus I think I have enough clothes to last me until Sunday)

Refrigerator, freezer and microwave: ELIMINATE (So that I am forced not to waste food)

Honestly, I think I can live without everything except for my phone and laptop. I don’t think there’s a way to not go through a day without checking your email, skyping your friends or even fbing people (whether it’s by computer or phone). I guess that’s just our way of communicating and being part of a community or collective.

To end, the five things I’m grateful for are:

1. Family and friends
2. The ‘no electricity’ day I spent with my family
3. The invention of candles
4. Strength and determination
5. Challenges and temptations

-Zarina

Day 4: And its all about food

I have to admit out of all the themes; today’s theme was pretty intense. I love food and to be honest, the more variety the better. Coming from Malaysia where there’s always been a variety of fruits and vegetables grown locally (not to mention different styles of cooking them), it’s hard to limit my food choice to just whatever is in season. But I did it anyway. I went to the market before class and started asking around. I was able to get some apples and nectarines that grew locally (I didn’t have enough containers for strawberries and cherries :(), a loaf of bread and some nuts. I kind of figured food would be my downfall to the No Impact Challenge, so I’m not too bothered by it. I’ll eat whatever I can (locally) and I’m still going to continue not purchasing or consuming anything with a plastic wrapper.  About trying a new diet and all, I’m not really big on vegetables. I don’t actually eat vegetables, so to go vegan for the rest of the week is a big no-no.  But I’m willing to cut down on my meat after figuring out how massive its carbon foot print is.

Speaking of carbon footprints, below is a list of yesterday and today’s carbon foot print calculation from http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/Carbon-Calculator.html

Today (Wednesday, June 01, 2011)	Yesterday (Tuesday, May 31, 2011)
Fruits (nectarines and apples-in season): 21	Peaches: 21
Nuts: 10	Noodles: 1055
Falafel: 246.25	Fried chicken: 100.75
Bread:53	Bread: 33
Smoothie (banana and orange):95.25	Mashed potatoes: 15.25
Bagel with Cream cheese:318	Grilled Salmon:34
Chicken (grilled):100.25	Water:62.5
Hot chocolate:351
Water:62.5
Total: 1257.25 Co2 e points	Total: 1321.5 Co2 e points

It’s high no doubt but I’m still getting the hang of it. So I’m hoping by the end of the week, I’ll have it below the 1000 mark. Upon calculating today and yesterday’s consumption, I never knew frying noodles, making hot chocolate or even cheese (285 Co2 e points) would  add up to such a large carbon footprint. It’s definitely something I’d like to look into and hopefully lower. I think the hardest part for today was really just trying to figure out how or if I was going to eat locally and how ‘local’ would it have to be on top of figuring out what was actually in season at the moment.

While we’re on the topic of food, I found the reading titled ‘Convenience, schedules and sustainability’ by Alan Warde, Elizabeth Shove and Dale Southerton interesting. What stuck out the most for me was the fact that the term ‘convenience’ originally meant coming together (convenientia) rather than for ease or time management. I have to say that I agree with most of what the paper suggests. Now days, everything is simplified and made convenient. We have our daily appliances like the washing machine or dryer, instant or microwavable meals like instant noodles or easy bake cakes, and a whole sector which provides convenience such as fast food restaurants. Everyone knows that to some extent, it’s effected our environment (badly) but what about how it’s affected us? Sure, it’s made our lives ‘easier’ but what about making us lazier? I love baking.  I do it as often as I can. When I walk into the grocery store and see all these instant cake batter, it surprises and annoys me. Since when have we as a society had no time to mix in flour, eggs, butter and sugar to make a cake? Since when have we decided that mixing ingredients is too time consuming that we’d rather add water and voila instant home-made cake?

Throughout the experiment, I never really thought about how I’d react to all these changes. I set a few rules (tough rules I might add) and I followed them. No questions asked. I never really allowed myself to challenge or break or even get annoyed at the rules. I’m not saying I’m not having fun. I am. Everyday I learn something new about myself and about the way I live. I also like the challenge. But with every challenge comes frustration. Frustration at going at it alone. Frustration at having temptation everywhere. Frustration at just the sudden change of things. I’m glad I got to ask Colin (Colin Beavan, author of No Impact Man) (thank you Tara :)) about what kept him going. I’m not saying I’m going to give up or take it easy mid way. I don’t back down from a challenge so easily. But I was curious. Like many of us, after our seven days are up, life goes back to normal. Like Colin himself, after the 365 days were up, why continue (if not for book writing and being the main symbol of No Impact Man). I guess why continue when many don’t or don’t choose to start in the first place?  What I got was that it wasn’t entirely about you or me (as individuals), it was about ‘us’ as a collective. If you can inspire someone to be aware or more conscious about the environment while living their daily life, then that’s a good reason to continue exactly what you’re doing and/or how you’re living.

The five things I’m grateful for are:

1. (As always) Family and friends
2. Change or the ability that we as humans possess to easily adapt to change
3. The gift of being reinspired
4.  The good in people
5. Life

-Zarina

Day 3: Transportation, compost and treadmills

Out of the three days, today was pretty slow-paced for me (maybe because I didn’t have any class). Since today’s theme was transportation, I decided to forgo it and just stay home. I like to think that in this area, I‘ve been living green (for the past few months). I walk and take public transportation everywhere I go which isn’t really that far (just to class, the local shopping street and home). It’s a drastic change and definitely something I’ve gotten use to since I’ve been here. I’ve taken the time to stop and notice more (about the scenery or a particular thing) since I’ve started walking. It’s nice to know that you’re not entirely in a rush now a days and you can take time to just stop and relax.

My only dilemma today was my yearning for chocolate (I can forgo the pizza and chips) and since it comes covered in a shiny plastic wrapper, it’s definitely a no-eat item.

I’ve also looked into composting. I never knew it was actually that simple. I was a little freaked out about the worms (from No Impact Man), so it’s just simple outdoor composting for me.

I’m reading the assignments and all I notice are how everything ties in especially with us consuming more and more stuff (and paying more and more for it). It’s like a cycle, a crazy cycle that we just haven’t figured out a way to get off yet. It’s diabolical even how manufacturers produce products that aren’t built to last but instead built not to last (planned and functional obsolescence). All in the name of profit, I suppose. I guess when you plugged into that kind of system, how do you get out? At what point do you just say stop and jump off the ‘hedonistic treadmill’(from What’s Mine is Yours and The Story about Stuff)? I think the worst part about this system is whether ou truly are happy or not. I’m sure your happy when you buy the stuff (instant gratification) but how long does that ‘happiness’ last?

I’m now thinking about my spending habits and I can definitely say that I spend more than I should. I have way too many things and I’m running out of space to keep all these things. Luckily for me, most of my unused clothes get donated to many charities that my aunt helps out with in her spare time. But still, what about the rest? What about the massive amounts of CDs I had growing up or the amount of ‘outdated’ gadgets I have? What do I do with them? I don’t want them incinerated or thrown into landfills like in The Story About Stuff.

Recently in Malaysia, there have been some initiatives started up by companies and individuals to recycle all the outdated and unwanted computers and other gadgets but I guess if it was really an issue why wasn’t it advertised and encouraged? I think there’s still a lot about recycling, treadmills and consumption I still don’t know about.

The five things I’m grateful for are:

1. My family and friends
2. The amount of comfort and luxury I have in life
3. The (now) massive amount of fruits I can eat thanks to my new composting situation
4. The people who are doing something for a cause
5. Being able to learn something new everyday

-Zarina

Day 2: In the name of beeswax and home made bread

I can’t say I’m not surprised by what happened today. Somehow along the way to class, I end up looking for beeswax candles (I never knew how hard it is to actually get them here in The Hague), get stood up by the bus and end up chasing the exact bus half way through my route to the train station (I might as well have walked the whole way). Karma has struck again.

It didn’t start out that bad actually. I had home-made bread since I’m apparently giving up all plastic packed foods 😦

That reminds me, the following are things I intend to do or not do (at one point or another during the No Impact Week):

1. No electricity other than for charging my mobile
   phone and laptop (so say good-bye to TV and hello candles).
2. Not using tissue or paper towels.
3. Try using baking powder as toothpaste, body wash
   (soap), shampoo and etc. (I’m a little scared to do this one).
4. Not buying or consuming anything new or with a
   plastic wrapper (so no shopping and junk food, baking bread everyday and
   hitting the market on Wednesday).
5. Walking or cycling to Webster (or until the
   train station-whichever method that doesn’t kill me).

Anyway, regarding the exercise I didn’t really make a lot of trash. Most of it was paper like from ticket stubs, pop corn bag, post-it notes and some peach seeds. I’m kind of surprised. I thought I’d have more but since I’ve already cut down on paper towels, I guess there really isn’t much to throw away. Looking back, it does kind of scare me that most of the items that I threw away (before this experiment/project) consisted of a lot of paper towels and tissue paper. Knowing that you only used those items for five minutes (or only once) and just chuck them out is ridiculous. To think that society has openly embraced this ‘throw-away’ culture is crazy. I can’t even imagine (nor do I want to) the amount of tissue paper (among other products) that I’ve thrown away without a moment’s notice or ounce of hesitation.

About the questions:

What did you put in your special trash bag?

Regarding our special trash bag, all I put into it was a paper cup from a smoothie I ordered. I didn’t bring along my water bottle and I was kind of hungry (plus I figured since it was paper, I could recycle it) so that’s what justified my ordering of the smoothie. It was weird because I found myself asking the server if they used paper or plastic cups and politely rejecting the plastic cover and straw. I know that at any other time, whatever the cup was made of (plastic or paper) wouldn’t have mattered. I would have still bought the smoothie. Now, it kind of does matter. I guess when you know
about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and just how much plastic is in there (twice
the size of Texas?), you don’t want to make it any worse.

Why was it hard or easy not to make trash?

I guess (coming into this week with a clear mindset), it wasn’t that hard not to make trash. I think not making trash was easy (provided you know what exactly is it that you want to stop throwing away). I guess most times, you just don’t stop and think as to where and how by throwing away something will this affect the environment (and ultimately you again).

Where was it impossible not to make trash?

I don’t think I found an incident where it was impossible not to make trash unless you count the smoothie incident. I guess that was out of sheer necessity (for food or drink-depends on how you look at a smoothie). Even in that incident, I found myself debating between bottled water (plastic) against a smoothie (in a paper cup).

The five things I’m grateful for are:

1. My family and friends
2. The foods I can still eat (during this week)
3. The beautiful day we had that made it fun to
   walk about.
4. The fact that the bus eventually showed up
   instead of not showing up (leaving me with a way to get to class).
5. The lavender-scented candles that light up my
   room.

-Zarina

Day 1: Candlelight blog anyone?

It’s the first day of the No Impact Week Experiment and I can tell you its been interesting. I kind of hate that the first thing that we have to give up is consumption itself. I’m definitely a shopaholic, so to not be able to buy anything (for a whole week I  might add) is going to be hard. I mean, I’m the type of girl who gets a kick out of walking down the rows or aisles in a supermarket (because I love food and shopping), so to not be able to ‘shop’ is going to be an adjustment. And yes, I did go to the supermarket and it was horrible not to mention depressing. I couldn’t buy anything because they were all packaged with plastic and I vowed not to buy anything packaged in plastic for the week.

Anyway, my list of things that I ‘need’ to buy are:

1. Food

2. Bus and train ticket for class (but I’m contemplating walking instead of taking the bus or just cycling all the way to Webster, so we’ll see.)

I could put down a lot of other trivial needs like clothes and shoes but I wouldn’t be fooling anybody. So I’ll stick with these two.

I never really cared enough to do something about the environment. I mean, I do believe in global warming and the fact that everyone needs to stop trashing (literally) the Earth. I don’t know what I expect out of this project. I don’t know what I’ll gain but I do know that I’m definitely going to go all out to try to live off the ‘technology dependant’ grid for the week. After reading ‘No Impact Man’ and being bombarded by all these figures and facts (like by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will face water scarcity and a child dies every eight seconds from drinking dirty water-pages 193 and 194 from No Impact Man) it makes sense why people adopt a low impact way of living. It just makes sense. It’s also a scary thing to find out too.

So I guess we’ll just have to see how things turn out for the week. By the way, just to prove how committed I am to this project, I’m typing this blog with a candle as my source of light (for the whole week-did I mention I’m afraid of the dark?).

-Zarina

Group Dynamics and Thrift

I am Zarina and I’m from Malaysia and I live in Den Haag, The Netherlands. The main things I consume in a day are food, entertainment (in the form of watching tv or facebooking) and social interaction with family and friends (I don’t know if this counts though). The main things I consume in a week are food (a lot of food), public transportation (to get to Webster and around Den Haag) and lots of entertainment and social interaction. In order to be modern, I need my blackberry (because it connects me to everyone and allows constant connection with the cyber world-Im a bit of a Facebook junkie). In order to be happy, I need my family and friends. Honestly, I enjoy all these gadgets and this ‘modern’ way of life, but I think that you can’t and will never be able to put a price on real happiness.

The things I want to consume in my life are similar to what I already have or are already consuming in my life. At the end of the day, I want to live my life the way I’m accustomed to. The things that I most desire in my life are happiness, family and friends because that’s all that really matters (to me). My preferred methods of consumption are personally buying items because I like to know exactly what I’m buying or purchasing and I think it’s always fun to shop and buy things.

The ‘social signals’ that influence my consumption the most are hedonism (impulsive shopper), freedom, common sense, rationally, naturalness and competence.

Experiment

We each brought 10 items for 3 different experiments. They consisted of  bartering or exchanging of  goods, auctioning of goods and lastly opening a shop with the options of selling, bartering or bargaining for goods.

Methodology

Bartering

The atmosphere was pretty calm and in the beginning a little a slow. I guess people felt obliged to buy items they didn’t want. The negotiation process was pretty simple. I game of rock, paper, scissors always helps. I will say that there was definitely a mixture of things up for grabs (like masks, ceramic duck, food, toys, books, etc) and a lot of people were eyeing the same things.  I don’t know if anyone came into the game with a strategy but I think  knowing that the 60 euros equals 1 credit point definitely changed the dynamics of how the whole experiment was played.

Auctioning

I think auctioning was a little harder because the element of money came into play. The process of auctioning off the goods was pretty simple. Just put in the highest bid. I did notice that most of the others (including myself) didn’t put up high bids. I think the highest bid was probably 5 Euros. So it was interesting because I’m not usually so thrifty or penny-pinching.

Store/Shop

The last scenario was opening up a store with the options of either fixing a price, bargaining or bartering. This scenario was definitely the most unorganized way of buying and selling. It was madness with everyone yelling and trying to entice ‘buyers’ to buy from them.

Ideas for how to document ‘exchanges’

I think it would have been every interesting if we had actually video recorded the process of all three exchanges. I think the viewers (or ourselves) would have liked to see the transition from the beginning and calmness of the game to the middle where the element of ‘money’ was first introduced to the last part where there’s just a mad scramble to collect as many items or as much cash as possible. I guess you could have seen the changes or emergence of different personalities, strategies from start to finish.

Apart from that, I think surveying or interviewing the parties involved to ask their feed back would have been insightful. I guess questions about reasons for purchasing or selling items, strategies and their overall sense of satisfaction could have been noted.

Explanation of group dynamic

I think I mentioned it already but I got a sense that the dynamics changed with every new element put into play. Some members of the group were buying and accumulating items for their stores, others bought because they wanted the items while the rest were still trying to figure out their strategy. Certain personalities came into play and overall I think there was a sense of competition.

Personal reflection

I will admit that I came with the intention of hitting that 60 Euro mark and with that, I was pretty tight with my money. I didn’t bring back a lot of things but all through the game I kept score and tried my best but when I figured out that I couldn’t hit the mark, I just decided to spend all my money instead. It was interesting because I’m not penny-pinching in real life. But then again, my spending habits were never tied to a credit point. So for me it was an experience in being a little thrifty.