EcoChallenge.org

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 3 - April 24, 2019

nelson chew

Team Tortugas

"Learn. Change. Share. Repeat. "

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,001 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

10

lightbulbs

replaced
UP TO

57

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

90

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

105

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

2.0

public officials or leaders

contacted
UP TO

40

zero-waste meals

consumed

nelson's actions

Electricity Generation

Support Companies Leading in Green Energy

#8 Solar Farms

I will use my spending power to reward companies leading in purchasing green energy and incentivize others to invest more in green energy.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transport

Research and Consider Switching to a Hybrid or Electric Vehicle

#26 Electric Vehicles

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching and weighing my options to see if a hybrid or electric vehicle makes sense for my lifestyle.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Women and Girls

Research Barriers to Participation and Representation

#6 Educating Girls, #7 Family Planning, #62 Women Smallholders

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the barriers to women's equal participation and representation around the world.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity Generation

Learn More About Geothermal Energy

#18 Geothermal

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of geothermal energy and consider investing in this technology.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Choose LED Bulbs

#33 LED Lighting (Household)

I will replace 10 incandescent lightbulb(s) with Energy Star-certified LED bulbs, saving up to $14 per fixture per year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Express My Support

#59 Bike Infrastructure

I will find out who in my city makes decisions that impact bike routes and express my support for better biking infrastructure.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Recycle Everything I Can

#55 Household Recycling

I will recycle all materials that are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Zero-waste Cooking

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will cook 2 meal(s) with zero-waste each day

COMPLETED 20
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 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Reduce Animal Products

#4 Plant-Rich Diet

I will enjoy 3 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 19
DAILY ACTIONS

Materials

Launch a Recycling Program

#56 Industrial Recycling

I will set up a recycling center at my workplace or school.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Materials

Go Paperless

#70 Recycled Paper

I will reduce the amount of paper mail that I receive by 0.11lbs (0.05kg) a day or 41lbs (18.6kg) a year by opting into paperless billing, ending unwanted subscriptions and opting out of junk mail.

COMPLETED
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?

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?

nelson chew 4/22/2019 5:50 PM

Saving money of course! When I used to ride a motorcycle in my twenties, it was fantastic how I could fill the tank for a few bucks and ride for a week or more. When I bought my first car, it was a shock how much more it cost to fuel it up. I'd still love to ride a motorcycle but working in a trauma hospital kind of makes you think twice.
Electric motors are apparently more reliable than gas motors. They are also quieter and thus better for hearing Earth Wind and Fire and U2 on the next road trip!

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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?

nelson chew 4/22/2019 5:37 PM

Michelle posted recently about how Queen's University's food plan encourages waste because students are charged a set fee for the year, and can eat as much as they want, so they take huge servings at every meal, then throwing out whatever they don't finish because there is no financial cost.
Solutions? Change the plan at Queens to the one in place at Humber College, where kids pay a set fee at year's beginning, then debit their accounts for every meal they consume during the year, and receive money back at years end - incentive to eat more carefully and not waste. But I suspect there is a profit for Queen's in the way the food plan is currently run....might write them a letter anyhow, just to see if they would consider changing.....don't hold your breath though!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings and Cities Choose LED Bulbs

Changing lightbulbs is an excellent first step toward energy efficiency! What's next for you?

nelson chew 4/22/2019 5:20 PM

Few years back I noticed one of the upstairs bathrooms is always very cold in the winter (nothing like a cold toilet seat in the morning to wake you up!) I crawled into the attic to check and noticed the insulation wrapped around the bathroom fan vent pipe had fallen off. I reattached about half of the length of pipe, but ran out of foil tape and never finished that job. Going to get that done this spring!
Also, there's bunch of caulking and sealing that I can do in the old part of the house. As part of the basement renovation, going to insulate the basement walls too.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity Generation Learn More About Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy is reliable, abundant, and efficient. Project Drawdown states that public investment will play a crucial role in its expansion. In what ways (i.e. with money, time, advocacy) can you invest in geothermal energy?

nelson chew 4/21/2019 10:51 AM

Currently, there is no electricity generated in Canada from geothermal sources. There are many in the USA. Subsurface temperatures in eastern Canada and the prairie provinces are not high enough to support geothermal energy. Geothermal could work in Western Canada but requires extensive drilling to determine the power generation of geothermal reservoirs, and financing currently does not exist either from government or private sources. There is discussion of using already drilled wells from oil and gas exploration to reduce costs. Solar and wind are way ahead at this point as renewable energy sources.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity Generation Support Companies Leading in Green Energy

Every dollar you put into solar or wind is a dollar not put into traditional financial institutions. You'll also be bolstering the fossil fuel divestment movement, too. Name some companies you know that invest in green energy. How can you support them?

nelson chew 4/20/2019 11:31 AM

The movement toward SRI (socially responsible investing) has the potential to be a huge game changer. I credit Jeanette for really pushing this, and we have been investigating SRI for awhile now.

It is a really daunting and challenging task to figure out where to invest your hard earned RRSP (or IRA and 401K for our America friends). How do we do SRI while still getting a good return on investment that will ensure our financial futures? Banks and investing firms know we want SRI and create products that appear to be green focused, but sometimes it's just clever marketing on their part, and upon closer inspection, you find that "green" mutual fund holds a lot of companies that are NOT environmentally friendly. Who to trust? The big bank financial advisor probably isn't the best person, but some "green" independent investment firms are too new to have a trustworthy track record.

Personally, I enjoy looking at direct investment in Canadian renewable energy companies, like Brookfield Renewables, Northland Power, Polaris. There are loads of excellent renewable energy companies, but direct ownership of stocks is also riskier since owning a just a few companies in your portfolio doesn't provide anywhere near enough diversification. And who had time or expertise to be a stock picker? I can't even pick the weeds in the garden.

My feeling is that the best thing is to find a SRI focused investment firm, who is well respected and trusted (I hope these exist!) and go with them.

Read More
nelson chew 4/18/2019 6:22 PM

Quick update on the junk mail situation.....my simple paper sign on my mailbox saying "We do not wish to receive Canada Post Neighbourhood mail" has worked wonders. It's been over a week and we haven't received ANY advertising flyers from the Canada Post person, only the letters addressed specifically to us.

We still get the rolled up bundle of flyers delivered by an independent company, so Jeanette put another sign at the top of the porch steps saying "NO FLYERS" with the rolled up bundle beside it to be sure they get the message. I suspect they'll ignore the sign, in which case more drastic measures will be considered lol. Don't worry, no flyer delivery personnel will be harmed in the process!

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nelson chew 4/17/2019 2:47 PM

I received a response from the ultrasound gel company and they assured me that the bottles and caps are fully recyclable. They will not consider taking back the bottles and refilling them as the risk for bacteria in the bottles is too high with such a process. So "reduce" is not an option, but "recycle" is. I got a 40 gallon bin from environmental services for our workroom, sent out a mass email, and the bin is 2/3 full after 3 days.

I am very proud of all my colleagues who have jumped on board with this.......in the last few days, I watched people throw out a plastic bottles, and then grab it from the garbage and put it in the bin.....it is simply a habit that needed to be broken. As importantly, this has opened a dialogue in the department...it seems many people were working in their own way toward being environmental, but now there is a feeling of "team" which is awesome, and people have come up with ideas and suggestions to improve our efforts.

The coolest thing is that it didn't take a lot of work. Just a few emails and a bit of a push.

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- Louise Zimanyi 4/18/2019 6:55 PM
  
  way to go!!!!!
  
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- Josh Newport (Ecochallenge.org Staff) 4/17/2019 3:23 PM
  
  Such an inspiring story Nelson! Encouraging sustainable action is definitely a team effort and it's great to hear your team was so eager to jump onboard.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings and Cities Express My Support

What do you like most about biking in your city? What would you like to improve?

nelson chew 4/15/2019 6:02 PM

I've been commuting on bike to work for 26 years. What do I love about it? Never getting caught in traffic, or suffering delays on the TTC. Of course, this being Canada, it means some nasty cold rides where my eyelids stick together from the frost, and a few years back I gave up riding through the winter....a few too many close calls on ice hidden beneath snow. I walk the worst days now when biking would just be dangerous.
Dedicated bike lanes are great and I see more and more sensible lanes with physical separation barriers, but there are still lots of weird fake bike lanes where a bicycle symbol is simply painted in a lane where cars are driving ....we know who wins in that situation. Distracted driving is also a very real thing......had a few hair raising encounters, but for me feet and pedal power is the best...keeps me in shape and good for the planet as well.

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- Louise Zimanyi 4/18/2019 6:55 PM
  
  well done - good for your mental health!!
  
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nelson chew 4/14/2019 8:20 AM

Hey, quick update on the cookless steel cut oats recipe.....it does works after all! Just have to leave it in the fridge for a longer time (instead of 9 hours overnight, I did a full day...about 20 hours.)

Just a nutritional FYI....Asians have 30-50% greater risk for type 2 diabetes and oatmeal, especially the less processed kinds (steel cut as opposed to instant or quick oats) have a relatively low glycemic index (assuming you don't brown sugar). Better than sugary breakfast cereals or maple syrup pancakes (which I love sadly)

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- Louise Zimanyi 4/18/2019 6:58 PM
  
  yum! let me know if you want a home made granola recipe!
  
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- Addy Davidson 4/14/2019 12:32 PM
  
  My husband loves this. He puts frozen berries at the bottom of the bowl first, then the oats over the top (he uses a 5-grain version for more flavor). Lots of possible variants!
  
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nelson chew 4/12/2019 9:20 AM

I was trying to find a way to deal with the masses of cigarette butts just outside the hospital and I found a company that actually accepts butts for recycling. If you have a similar situation, the company is called TerraCycle and here is the link:
https://www.terracycle.com/en-CA
I created an account and actually called and spoke to someone at the company...they take the butts at no cost to you!
Now I have to get the hospital to install a steel cigarette disposal post, or some other permanent box for butt disposal.
I'll keep you posted.

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- Jeanette Butterworth 4/20/2019 8:09 AM
  
  This is amazing Nelson-I'm going to try and do the gel bottle and ciggi but thin at my place too.
  
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- Louise Zimanyi 4/18/2019 6:59 PM
  
  great! i know terra cycle but did not know they do this...you are smoking hot nelson - no pun intended (ok well maybe a little!!!!!!!)
  
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