My original plan for my senior project was to focus on learning the different methods used on sustainable urban farms versus sustainable rural farms. I was going to spend three weeks working with different organizations throughout the city, and the last three weeks on a farm in Connecticut. Because of COVID and the need to quarantine, I had to change my essential question to make my project more realistic for our current situation. I was still interested in pursuing the same topic of food sustainability, so I altered my question to make my goals something I could achieve at home. My current question is, how can learning about food sustainability inform the sustainable practices I use in my own life? Being stuck at home has actually been really interesting for the conditions of my project. At home, I think I’m able to really notice my living habits more than I would if I were out and about. My essential question has not changed throughout the six weeks of senior project but I think my focus has changed multiple times throughout the project. My project was a mix of research/ learning with the more personal aspect of seeing how I could live more sustainably using the knowledge I gained from my research. The senior project hours that I logged were the hours that I spent working on my online classes, watching documentaries, listening to podcasts, etc. However, the action that I was inspired to take on my own happened outside of these hours. In the beginning, I was super interested in learning the facts and logistics of our farming/ food system. I wanted to know what was happening at the root of the issue. I learned a lot about the problematic tactics that are used in today’s system, including information about monocultures, the use of antibiotics/ chemical fertilizers, overfishing, and more. I was inspired to go vegan within the first week of my project, which was a choice that I never thought I would ever make. I think it was after watching the documentary Cowspiracy when I decided that I had to make my own significant changes to my diet. In the later weeks, I was super interested in learning about plant-based diets, food accessibility, and wanted to learn from other people who also made this change. Veganism is something that is really stereotyped and judged. I often judged the choice myself before doing this project. Like many, I thought veganism was something that white people with money did or crazy animal activists. However, through my research, I found many who changed this perception I had. They further inspired me and reinforced my decision to make the dietary choice I did. From there, I was also inspired to create different creative vegan recipes that were easy, affordable, and tasty. The goals that I had for my senior project were to make changes to my daily habits in order to live a more sustainable life but I didn’t think that I would be inspired enough to want to make long-lasting change. Doing this project has helped me see the importance of my own actions as a food consumer. I have the privilege to make sustainable choices with my food and I think that this new sense of responsibility won’t be a temporary feeling. I don’t think I would ever try to persuade anyone to make the same changes that I’ve made but I would definitely want to share my process with other people. I would hope to get people thinking about their own role in the food system and the changes they could make to be more sustainable.