April 3 - April 24, 2019

Brian Hillard

"To engage my community and everyone beyond in climate action, and find new ways I can reduce my own climate footprint. "

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
731 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

10

lightbulbs

replaced
UP TO

12

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

95

minutes

spent learning

Brian's actions

Electricity Generation

Learn More about Micro Wind

#76 Micro Wind

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of Micro Wind.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Forest-Friendly Foods 2

#5 Tropical Forests

I will replace or remove the palm oil, coffee, and cocoa products in my current diet that are known to contribute to deforestation.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Use

Advocate for Forest Protection

#38 Forest Protection

I will contact 7 congress people or representatives to advocate for public policy that protects forests and the enforcement of existing anti-logging laws.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity Generation

Choose Renewable Energy or Purchase Renewable Energy Credits

#2 Wind Turbines (Onshore), #8 Solar Farms

I will sign up for my utility company's clean/renewable energy option. If my utility does not offer one, I will purchase Renewable Energy Credits to match my usage.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity Generation

Advocate for Solar Installation

#10 Rooftop Solar

I will create a plan to and advocate for solar installation at my business, apartment building, or campus.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Research Peatlands

#13 Peatlands

I will spend 15 minutes researching the environmental benefits of peatlands and what is being done around the world to conserve and restore them.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Buildings and Cities

Research Heat Pumps

#42 Heat Pumps

I will spend at least 15 minutes researching heat pumps to see if installing one makes sense for my home/building.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Plan to Insulate

#31 Insulation

I will find out how to make my home more energy efficient through better insulation and weatherization.

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

Materials

Launch a Recycling Program

#56 Industrial Recycling

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

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transport

Advocate For Greener Vehicles

#26 Electric Vehicles

I will assess the vehicles used by my company or college and advocate for a purchasing policy focused on electric and fuel-efficient vehicles

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Research Cement Alternatives

#36 Alternative Cement

I will spend at least 15 minutes researching cement alternatives that reduce the carbon footprint of concrete.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Composting

#60 Composting, #3 Reduced Food Waste

I will start a compost bin where I live.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Choose Recycled Paper

#70 Recycled Paper

I will plan ahead to only use paper products made from post-consumer recycled paper for my home or office.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Reduce Animal Products

#4 Plant-Rich Diet

I will enjoy 2 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 6
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Smaller Portions

#3 Reduced Food Waste

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

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Use

Plant Trees

#15 Afforestation

I will plant 3 tree(s) in my community, public parks, or backyard.

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?

Brian Hillard 4/05/2019 1:18 PM

Today's actions: recycling at the office and research into cement alternatives.

I've chosen recycling at the office, because it's an action I've already integrated. Due to our small office, it isn't economical to have a truck come out to handle the recycling. So I've taken it upon myself to take our recyclables home. I do this every Friday, so it was only fitting to have that action today.

I've also chosen to research cement alternatives. Just this morning I was reviewing the future plans for the Martin Tower property, and it was suggested that a parking garage would reduce the footprint for the required parking and allow for more green space. Considering the footprint that concrete has, I thought it would be a great opportunity to research just what that footprint is, and how it could be lessened.

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Brian Hillard 4/04/2019 10:04 AM

Today I chose composting as one of my actions, as I already compost to a degree, but will make a stronger push to get the rest of my household onboard. For anyone curious, all I do is have a dirt pile behind my garage where I have a hole pre-dug; I then put that meal's food waste in, dig an adjacent hole, and fill the first while making the next hole. In this way I just circle around the dirt pile while slowly transitioning it to garden-ready compost :)

I also chose to promote EVs: conveniently enough, we will be doing a final review of my EV assessment/recommendation for the city of Bethlehem at our EAC meeting tonight :)

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Brian Hillard 4/03/2019 6:53 AM

I'll admit, I got a head start on this....realizing the benefit of reducing the 'animal' portion of my diet, I've been trying to reduce it where I can. I've been trying to have only one animal-based meal per day; even then, I've been cognizant that some meats have a greater impact than others. Pork and chicken have a much smaller carbon footprint, and I've made the effort to switch to those whenever possible (the extended family loves steak, so it's difficult at times). Smaller portions will be easy for me, since I'm usually not a big eater.

Recycled paper will be the interesting one: not for the action of of buying it, but finding out WHY it's more expensive. It turns out the varying qualities of recycled paper adds to the cost of processing. So my next question is, is there a way to improve the quality??

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