P.S. by Macaron Hoarder: Newport/Narragansett: Three Mansions, Two Letters, and One Church; PGC 2012 Days 14-15

My grandparents paid a short visit before heading to the Ocean House in Westerly, but other than that, not much else happened. I rested around the house and tried to do homework without slumping into a nap--winning another PGC 2012 challenge (Packaged Foods!) still kept my spirits up.

The PGC 2012 Day 14 Challenge was about sustainable agriculture. This challenge seemed to have some overlap with the Meatless Monday challenge, but it's hard to separate the two when they're so interconnected. One part of the challenge included tracking a dairy product you commonly eat/drink: I drink almond milk. It's not even from an animal. Even so, I was surprised to find that the company who produced the almond milk is not Fair Trade Certified.

Today, I helped start a clothing drive co-hosted by the university's College Democrats and College Republicans clubs on campus. Students can donate gently used or new cold winter clothing to any bins designated on campus. This donation drive was inspired by PGC 2012 Day 7's extra credit and it gave me the motivation to do something productive and beneficial to the community. All donations will be given to the Martin Luther King Center/Child and Family.

PGC 2012 Day 15 focused on Fair Trade, something I've managed to discuss in nearly all of my answers to the previous challenges. The extra credit for this challenge was to create an event inspired by Fair Trade. My event was an afternoon tea with Turning Green Founder Erin Schrode about either eco-living in college or sustainability ethics in business. I realize it was not the most well written proposal--it is 3:00 am--but I hope someone will see it and take it seriously enough to consider holding the event.

For the Packaged Foods challenge, I wrote a letter to Starbucks about the presence of artificial sweeteners in their breakfast sandwiches and the absence of Fair Trade or organic ingredients.