EcoChallenge.org

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 3 - April 24, 2019

Megan Beveridge

Moseley Architects

"Bringing nature's magic back to the earth, wizard style."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
838 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

340

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

45

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

18

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

6.0

public officials or leaders

contacted

Megan's actions

Transport

Use Muscle Power

#49 Cars

I will cut my car trip mileage by only taking necessary trips, and I will only use muscle-powered transportation for all other trips.

COMPLETED 19
DAILY ACTIONS

Materials

Eliminate Toxic Plastics

#47 Bioplastic

I will avoid buying toxic plastics, including polycarbonate, polystyrene and polyvinyl and instead replace them with bioplastic or durable options.

COMPLETED 18
DAILY ACTIONS

Buildings and Cities

Go for a Daily Walk

#54 Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 20 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Keep Track of Wasted Food

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will keep a daily log of food I throw away during the EcoChallenge, either because it went bad before I ate it, I put too much on my plate, or it was scraps from food preparation.

COMPLETED 18
DAILY ACTIONS

Transport

Research and Consider Switching to a Hybrid or Electric Vehicle

#26 Electric Vehicles

I will spend at least 45 minutes researching and weighing my options to see if a hybrid or electric vehicle makes sense for my lifestyle.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Support Indigenous Peoples' Land Management

#39 Indigenous Peoples' Land Management

I will donate to The Nature Conservancy, which works with Indigenous Peoples to secure land tenure and resource rights, support improved governance and local institutions, assist in natural resource mapping, planning and management; and strengthen livelihoods and sustainable economic development.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transport

Research and Advocate for High-Speed Rail

#66 High-Speed Rail

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching and advocating for a comprehensive high speed rail network in my country/region.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

#5 Tropical Forests

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Research Cement Alternatives

#36 Alternative Cement

I will spend at least 45 minutes researching cement alternatives that reduce the carbon footprint of concrete.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Share Bioplastic Disposal Tips

#47 Bioplastic

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching how to properly dispose of bioplastics in my city and share this information with 3 friends, family and/or colleagues.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity Generation

Communicate With My Elected Officials

#2 Wind Turbines (Onshore)

I will write or call 3 elected official(s) telling them not to support fossil fuel subsidies and instead support wind energy generation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Advocate for Forest Protection

#38 Forest Protection

I will contact 3 congress people or representatives to advocate for public policy that protects forests and the enforcement of existing anti-logging laws.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Women and Girls

Learn about the Need for Family Planning

#7 Family Planning

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the need for family planning globally.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

Megan Beveridge 4/14/2019 9:56 AM

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Megan Beveridge 4/14/2019 9:54 AM

Farmers market day! I went to the local farmers market for the first time this year :) I came prepared with my trolley, reusable grocery and produce bags, jars, a metal straw, a cloth napkin, and a set of real utensils. We had a great breakfast at the bagel stand and I got an iced latte in one of my jars! It used to seem so hard to avoid plastic, but you can reduce it so much just by coming prepared.

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Megan Beveridge 4/12/2019 10:04 AM

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Keep Track of Wasted Food

An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. Where would you rather use this money?

Megan Beveridge 4/12/2019 7:30 AM

If a family of four spends an average of $1500 a year on food they throw away, I assume a household of 2 would be half that. $750 would almost be an entire month's payment on my mortgage. I would much rather spend it on something that improves my future than something that is going to waste.

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Megan Beveridge 4/12/2019 7:27 AM

It's the end of the first full week of the EcoChallenge and I feel good! This evening the office will be screening Paris to Pittsburgh, a National Geographic documentary about the efforts of local governments and people to reduce their footprint despite less stringent federal law.

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Megan Beveridge 4/10/2019 10:51 AM

Every once in a while I go on a zero-waste spree where I eliminate all the waste I possibly can all at once. It's a noble effort, but in the end I always go back to how I started. I like that one of my daily challenges now is to avoid buying plastic, because it's a single thing that I can focus on and make into a habit before moving on to another issue. Hopefully for once it sticks!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transport Research and Consider Switching to a Hybrid or Electric Vehicle

Reducing (or eliminating) exhaust emissions and improving public health are two benefits of green vehicles. What other motivators inspire you to consider switching to a more fuel-efficient vehicle?

Megan Beveridge 4/10/2019 10:49 AM

One thing that motivates me to consider switching to a hybrid or electric vehicle is time. As someone who doesn't like to have to stop in the middle of something, I don't like getting gas. I put it off and stretch that last gallon to its limit before filling up. I want to be able to reduce or completely eliminate the need for a gas station. A plug-in hybrid or fully electric vehicle would be ideal for me because the hybrid doesn't fully rely on gasoline so it can go longer between filling up, and an electric vehicle can be charged while you're doing other things (like sleeping!!).

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Megan Beveridge 4/09/2019 3:00 PM

One week down! Today I did all my daily actions. My food waste was a banana peel and some lima beans from lunch. I'm doing Whole30 so I'm off legumes right now. Laurel ate a lot of them, but we still ended up leaving some on the plate. We dined in so there was no plastic purchased and I brought my water bottle for a drink. Not too bad!

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Megan Beveridge 4/08/2019 2:23 PM

Today's challenges went well! I biked to work, walked at lunch time, brought all my food for lunch, didn't eat any food from single-use plastic, and the only food waste was my apple core.

On my afternoon walk, I found a lot of problems in our infrastructure that would prohibit someone from moving around the city efficiently if they had limited mobility. There are a lot of places where stoops and trees impede upon the sidewalk so much that there wouldn't be room for a wheelchair to pass through. There are crosswalks with no ramps from the sidewalk. A lot of the street trees have roots that have grown into the sidewalk, causing it to split. Being able-bodied, I didn't have trouble, but it reduced the quality of my experience of trying to take a walk with a friend. We couldn't always walk next to each other and one person would have to drop back to get through pinch points.

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Megan Beveridge 4/05/2019 12:26 PM

It's going to be tough to keep track of all this over the weekend! I'll be logging in through my phone instead of the website, so hopefully I'll remember to do it each day.

So far today I've had to drive because of rain and some longer distance commutes that can't be walked or biked to. I avoided driving around during my punch walk today even though the construction office is pretty far from the units I was looking at. The neighborhood is all townhomes with streets made to slow down vehicle traffic and encourage walking. I parked at the office, walked to our units, walked back to the office to go over things with the GC, and went back to my car. It may not sound like much, but the other members of the team drive between them. If it wasn't supposed to rain all day I might have tried to bike there! However, this morning I also had an appointment that was much too far for muscle power.

I haven't thrown out any food so far today, but if I do I'll be sure to keep tracking that in my planner! Yesterday was just half a sandwich because I didn't know it would have mayo on it and it was just making me feel sick.

My only plastic purchase of the day was the lid to my coffee cup. I kicked myself for this one because I have a reusable mug, I just didn't have the time to clean it before going to the cafe. Overall though, it's much less than many other workers who use a k-cup, add a creamer pod, stir with a plastic straw, then later go to Starbucks and get an iced coffee in a plastic cup with a plastic lid and a plastic straw, then get lunch to go in a plastic deli container with plastic utensils, then make their afternoon coffee with another k-cup, creamer pod, and stirrer. I probably only get one take-out container or cup every other week as a rule. If I slip up and forget my reusable one, I make an extra effort to bring it in the future.

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