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April 3 - April 24, 2019
Jenna Simpson's avatar

Jenna Simpson

PCC SOC 228

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 476 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    20
    minutes
    spent learning

Jenna's actions

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

Electricity Generation

Rooftop Solar Consultation

#10 Rooftop Solar

After researching the incentives at the federal, state, utility, and local levels, I will contact a local installer/distributor for a solar panel installation consultation on my house.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

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

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 14
DAILY ACTIONS

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 15
DAILY ACTIONS

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
    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?

    Jenna Simpson's avatar
    Jenna Simpson 4/23/2019 9:22 PM
    I always do my absolute best to reduce as much as possible, whether that be through what I throw away or recycle, or possibly from what I buy. It's important to reduce our consumption treadmill and save what valuable resources we have left for future generations. This goes hand in hand with reusing certain items you buy or by limiting what you buy in general. By purchasing what you need from thrift shops, you could be reusing a perfectly new product that would have otherwise been tossed. By refusing, I'm under the assumption that this is not accepting more than you need. Trying to reduce the amount of something you have is always a smart choice by flat out refusing something may be even healthier for the planet in the long run. Repairing and repurposing are both methods of fixing what you already have so there's no need to buy another and waste more materials. By incorporating all of these small aspects into your day to day life, you could limit your consumption and reduce your carbon footprint on our environment. I try to do any of these R's whenever I can/possible. Especially after the example mentioned in the Story of Stuff video with the radio, it makes me reassess all my personal belongings and salvage what I can in the end.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates
    How does knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates empower you to make better decisions?

    Jenna Simpson's avatar
    Jenna Simpson 4/14/2019 6:06 PM
    Every year, an average American produces around 273 pounds of food waste - uneaten leftovers, stale or expired foods, food scraps... the list goes on. This is an issue generates a whole variety of resource wastage: seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labor, and financial capital. If more people were informed of the quality of their food, we could limit the amount of waste we produce in landfills each year. Use-by dates are pretty much self-explanatory; think of it as an expiration date - this is the last day the product should be consumed, as it will start degrading in quality and could be harmful to your health afterward. A sell-by date is to inform retailers when a product should be removed from its shelf life, but doesn't necessarily mean it's expired. Best if Used By dates are the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. By learning what these differences mean, it lets the consumer know what actually needs to be thrown out or what may be good for a few more days. Before learning what each of these meant, I assumed the date printed on the product was always an expiration date and that it should not be consumed beyond that day. But now I can make decisions based on what the product is and what the packaging is telling me. 

    • Gabbie Johnson's avatar
      Gabbie Johnson 4/14/2019 9:44 PM
      My muffins at work only have a ten day shelf life and as the person who accepts the shipments, I always have to mark the boxes ten days out. After those days are up we give them out to employees because they're not bad, but they're not at best quality either. However, last week I ate one that expired from its shelf life by a few days and it still tasted fine! I don't know if they're just being nitpicky then? 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Composting
    Producing food that goes uneaten squanders many resources—seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labor, financial capital. Which of these kinds of waste most motivates you to change your behavior regarding food waste? Why?

    Jenna Simpson's avatar
    Jenna Simpson 4/12/2019 4:50 PM
    Although all of those resources are very important to consider before wasting food, for me, it's just the fact that I'm wasting food in general that makes me feel guilty. Sometimes you take more than you can eat or leftovers sit in the refrigerator until they go bad and it's then wasted. There are people in this world who don't get to eat three full meals every day and so when I let food go accidentally stale and have to throw it out, I feel like I could have done better on my part and not waste what I don't need. 

  • Jenna Simpson's avatar
    Jenna Simpson 4/06/2019 10:59 AM
    Keeping track of my food usage has been truly interesting. I've had to rack my brain each day to remember what I ate and if I was able to finish it. If I was, I felt proud of myself for not wasting any food and taking the right proportions. If I wasn't able to finish, I tried my best to keep it as leftovers to eat another day before throwing it out. If some of my food generated scraps (ex: I had a bell pepper for a snack and cut out the inside + seeds), I would do my best to compost everything I could. I'm curious to see where my food log will end up and I hope to do better each day I track what I eat.