I’ve always thought of myself as an environmentally concerned person. I grew up in a family in which recycling everything from paper to plastic was part of our daily routine. However, it was not until I lived in Denmark for a semester that I realized that being an environmentalist was about more than just recycling. Through living in one of the most environmentally concerned cities in the world, Copenhagen, I became aware of many of my very wasteful practices and the impact that these practices have on the world and future generations.
Probably the best aspect of my study abroad experience in Denmark was that I had the opportunity to live with a wonderfully kind and friendly host family who taught me a lot about Danish culture. Many of the environmental lessons I learned were through conversations with Nina and Harald, my host parents. I remember first being embarrassed about my style of wastefulness the first time I did my laundry at their house. The washer had just finished, and I was transferring my clothes into the dryer. Nina, who was passing through the laundry room to get to her bedroom, stopped to observe my strange behavior. She looked very puzzled, and finally she said, “Alyson, we normally don’t dry our clothes in the dryer unless it’s an emergency situation. It is very expensive to use that much energy in Denmark.” After I apologized and removed my clothes from the dryer, she showed me the hanging racks so that I could let my clothes air dry. This was not the last embarrassing “I’m a wasteful American moment” during my stay with Nina and Harald. Several times Harald reproached me for wasting energy by leaving electronics plugged into the wall. Later that semester, Nina told me about how ridiculous it was that 18 year olds in high school were starting to drive cars to school (as opposed to riding their bikes or using public transportation), and I hesitantly admitted that in my community most teenagers (including me) started driving to school when they turned 16. 
Moments like these caused me to question my wasteful practices. In Denmark, it was no longer normal to use a dryer, leave my computer plugged in all day, or drive cars around everywhere. Although making these adjustments was frustrating at the beginning, I learned to love the Danish culture of conservation, where more people commute by bike than by car and everyone uses cloth bags for their groceries. Now conservation is something I deeply believe in. I have adopted many Danish environmentalist practices into my daily routine in Texas and have also convinced my house mates to do so as well. My newfound environmentalist attitude has also become an important aspect in my relationship with God. Every time a make the decision to ride my bike instead of drive, to turn off the lights, or to use a cloth bag at the grocery store, I do it because I want to serve God by preserving the beautiful Earth that He created for us. I also do it as an act of love toward future generations, so that they too can experience God’s amazing creations on Earth.
