EcoChallenge.org

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 3 - April 24, 2019

Kiley F

ForEverClean

"It's easy to destroy the world, but it's hard to get it back."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
865 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.0

documentary

watched
UP TO

20

lightbulbs

replaced
UP TO

200

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

20

minutes

spent learning

Kiley's actions

Buildings and Cities

Choose LED Bulbs

#33 LED Lighting (Household)

I will replace 20 incandescent lightbulb(s) with Energy Star-certified LED bulbs, saving up to $14 per fixture per year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants

#46 Water Saving - Home

I will prevent water runoff and increase absorbency by mulching the base of trees and plants in my yard.

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 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

#11 Regenerative Agriculture

I will spend at least 5 minutes learning about the need for more regenerative agriculture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Smaller Portions

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will use smaller plates and/or serve smaller portions when dishing out food.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Learn More about Silvopasture

#9 Silvopasture

I will spend at least 5 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Go for a Daily Walk

#54 Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 10 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

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 22
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity Generation

Watch a Video about Methane Digesters

#30 Methane Digesters (large), #64 Methane Digesters (small)

I will watch a video about methane digesters (also commonly known as anaerobic digesters).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 10 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

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?

Kiley F 4/11/2019 2:53 PM

I had a lot of fun cleaning up around the school today! I wish I could do it more often. Once we get the school more cleaned up, perhaps we can wander to the woods across the street and clean up the trails there? I would definitely be up for it.

Read More
- Charley Silfee 4/12/2019 1:51 PM
  
  I had fun too! Even though I didn't pick up trash I cleaned up branches and stone to make the entrance of our school clean. It was nice seeing everyone working but having fun at the same time!
  
  Read More
Kiley F 4/08/2019 4:27 PM

We just took Willow and Hunter for a walk! I got the honors of holding onto the beast. She was pulling so much that it was like running without the distance just trying to hold her back. Once we got up to the levee beside the lake, I ran her down the entire length of it while she kept looking over her shoulder with a pair of paranoid brown eyes that were worried as to whether or not Hunter was receiving more attention and treats than she was. I'm hoping we tired her out enough. So I guess that walk was great for multiple reasons. We got exercise and practiced walking on a short leash with Willow. (News flash, she sucks at it.) We didn't run into any creepy dudes at the end of the no outlet road, which was a relief. (Although I'm sure Willow could take him.) Great walk. :)

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings and Cities Choose LED Bulbs

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

Kiley F 4/06/2019 5:07 PM

To be honest, most, if not all, of the lights in my house are LED lights. That's around fifty, might I say, and the maximum amount I could put is twenty. Next would probably be turning off all lights when I'm not in need of them (something my dad does even when we kinda do need them). I could turn the TV off when I'm not watching it and unplug some things when I'm not using them.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants

Name some of the human activities impacting the health of water systems, both locally (your watershed) and globally (freshwater and oceans). What can you do to improve the health of water systems?

Kiley F 4/06/2019 4:58 PM

There is a lot of runoff from the many roads that are in my area. The salt from snowy days and litter from inconsiderate humans flows into the rivers on a rainy day and pollutes the water, decreasing its overall health. Pollution is dumped into water all over the globe on a daily basis in large amounts that not only threaten those who drink the water, but also threatens those who live in it. I can avoid littering and dumping waste into rivers and streams to improve the health of water systems.

Read More
Kiley F 4/06/2019 6:53 AM

I was also thinking of putting an infinity sign as our profile picture since we're "Forever" and a black and white pine tree forest as the background.

Read More
Kiley F 4/06/2019 6:01 AM

Our hot water pipe burst, so we aren't wasting hot water right now. Does that count?

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings and Cities Go for a Daily Walk

What have you noticed on your daily walks? What have you enjoyed? What infrastructure changes could make your walks more enjoyable or possible?

Kiley F 4/06/2019 5:59 AM

It would be helpful if we had walking trails in our neighborhood. People don't obey the rules of the road very often in my community, so we often have people running through stop signs and speeding. It isn't the safest place to walk. If we could reinforce the rules of the road and possibly implement wider shoulders on the side of the road, we could have more area for people to walk in with a bit of a safer route. The amount of houses that are abandoned aren't very nice to see. Many people own vacation houses in my community and only visit during a certain time of the year. As a result, houses aren't properly cared for and are quite unpleasing to the eye. As a result of this, not as many people wish to move here, so the abandoned houses are left abandoned.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials Recycle Everything I Can

How could you incorporate other "R's" -- reduce, reuse, refuse, repair, repurpose, etc. -- into your lifestyle? How does considering implementing these "R's" make you feel?

Kiley F 4/05/2019 2:10 PM

Instead of purchasing materials/items every time I need them, I can check to see if I already have what I need somewhere in my own home. I can decrease waste, save money, and stop filling my house with things I don't need if I reuse and repair things. Implementing these "R's" makes me feel more confident in the fact that I can indeed make an impact on the world we live in. I can do my part without putting too much effort into it. Saving the world's health isn't as difficult as we like to believe it is if we all do our part.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Smaller Portions

Fun fact: Your brain and stomach register feelings of fullness after about 20 minutes of eating. While dishing food out, we tend to load our plates with more than we need. Using smaller plates helps to mitigate this. Aside from the environmental benefits, what other benefits might come out of eating smaller portions?

Kiley F 4/05/2019 2:05 PM

We can both avoid wasting and avoid eating too much for our own health. Taking smaller portions helps our health, our finances, and our world! It's worth getting up if you want more instead of overloading your plate on the first serving.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

Clean air, clean water and healthy food are three reasons to care about regenerative agriculture. What are some other reasons?

Kiley F 4/05/2019 6:02 AM

Regenerative agriculture helps save the beautiful land of our world and reuse that which we've already used for farming land.

Read More