EcoChallenge.org

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 3 - April 24, 2019

DANIEL SUTTON

Pachamama Alliance Delaware River Valley Team

"I am the possibility of empowerment of all life; starting with women and girls"

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
885 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

22

conversations

with people
UP TO

34

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

36

miles

not traveled by car
UP TO

36

miles

traveled by bus
UP TO

2,280

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

40

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

-1.4

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

1.0

public official or leader

contacted

DANIEL's actions

Action Track: Social Justice

Express My Support

#54 Walkable Cities

I will find out who in my city makes decisions that impact neighborhood walkability and express my support for better walking infrastructure.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transport

Use Public Transit

#37 Mass Transit

I will use public transit 12 mile(s) per day and avoid sending up to -0.45 lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity Generation

Learn More About Geothermal Energy

#18 Geothermal

I will spend at least 60 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of geothermal energy and consider investing in this technology.

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 17
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 21
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 20
DAILY ACTIONS

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

Share Bioplastic Disposal Tips

#47 Bioplastic

I will spend at least 2200 minutes researching how to properly dispose of bioplastics in my city and share this information with 22 friends, family and/or colleagues.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transport

Test Drive an Electric Bike

#69 Electric Bikes

I will test drive an electric bike at a local distributor to see if it makes sense to use one in place of my car, or to extend the area I can cover by bike.

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

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?

DANIEL SUTTON 4/25/2019 4:45 AM

Sorry team, but I couldn't post my actions yesterday and today, it isn't possible to enter yesterday's activities, so we can't fill in what we did yesterday, today. It was great fun. Thanks to everyone.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Action Track: Social Justice Express My Support

How could better walking infrastructure make your city both more enjoyable and more equitable?

DANIEL SUTTON 4/25/2019 4:34 AM

Having a board of commissioners can make a decision process complicated. However, my area representative and I are in agreement about where we need some more sidewalk for safer walking and the owner of the land won't agree to have a sidewalk installed.

Read More
DANIEL SUTTON 4/23/2019 9:08 AM

Psychological studies have shown that the average person needs to do something everyday for 21 days, in order to make it a habit. This challenge was designed to be long enough to help us do that. Checking in here daily is all we needed to remember and gain access to the few daily challenges that we selected to focus on. If you'd like to continue modifying your behavior, ECO-Challenge has several other challenges that we could join. Drawdown will have another challenge in October, and I'm thinking that there just might more for me to learn before October. What about you?

Read More
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?

DANIEL SUTTON 4/19/2019 5:39 AM

By understanding the dates placed on food containers, I have a clearer understanding of how to react when I see the date. In studying this, I also learned more about food colors; primarily for meat/poultry. Freezer burn indicates dried portion of the product that will be tasteless. This portion cut be cut away. The whole item probably does not need to be discarded. The burn portion is not unhealthy, just not tasty.

Read More
DANIEL SUTTON 4/15/2019 9:38 AM

I would love to hear from our teammates about how this challenge is going for them. I'm trying to have a one time challenge always present so that I have an objective that appears to me to be a little more educational and significant than the daily practices. The references with each challenge are fascinating resources. Please share more. Thanks.

Read More
DANIEL SUTTON 4/12/2019 6:27 AM

I am really enjoying having this challenge be present in my life, so that I can focus on my ability to reduce my green house gas emissions. I know its my tiny contribution, but it is a contribution.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Transport Use Public Transit

How has your access to various kinds of transporation throughout your life influenced your current attitudes about transportation and your transportation behavior?

DANIEL SUTTON 4/10/2019 1:49 PM

I lived in Ottawa for 4hrs and mostly used the bus or my bicycle (good weather) to commute the 19miles. It was a star based bus system and required a transfer, but wait was less than 5min every time. Living in Philadelphia, being able to walk to the train station from home and from work was great too. I got a lot of my professional journals read during the travel time. However, for 30yrs, there has been nothing available between home and work that wouldn't have doubled the time and required a lot of walking. I miss public transportation.

Read More
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?

DANIEL SUTTON 4/10/2019 1:25 PM

I can only invest with money into my own home. I have two air conditioners (one for each floor) and a single oil heater that provides hot water as well. It is complicated to determine how to replace all of this, while it is still fully operational, with another system. I did lots of reading, but I really need a trusted specialist to assist in the determination of any financial benefits.
As a drawdown facilitator, I can raise awareness of those who attend our seminars. I'd be better in the seminars on this subject after I do my cost analysis for my home.

Read More
DANIEL SUTTON 4/06/2019 7:42 AM

I used to live by-if I'm not using a light for the next 20min it gets turned off, and that was with incandescent bulbs. We now have three types of bulbs, so I asked Mr. Green of Sierra club what he recommends: Incandescent lights should be turned off immediately if they are not going to be in use. This is because they are very inefficient, so you need to minimize the power they waste. Same is true for halogen lights.

Fluorescents and CFLs should be turned off only if they will not be used again within 15 minutes. The reason for this is that if turning them on and off too frequently can cause them to burn out sooner than they would if turned off and on less. (Of course this actually gets more complicated because of the great variation in utility rates in different areas and at different times. If you have high rates, it might pay to allow as little as a 5-minute interval before turning them off. If you would like more precise information on this just let me know.)

With LED bulbs there is no concern about the interval.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Reduce Animal Products

In your opinion, what contributes to people in North America eating more meat than any other countries? What does this say about North American values and ways of living?

DANIEL SUTTON 4/06/2019 7:31 AM

This country was rich in buffalo meat, then cattle ranching which won the contest over sheep. We've grown up with the habit of eating beef and in general, isn't it the most expensive meat to purchase, so that would make it a treat and special over other meats. We've only just learned about the impact of the type of fat in meats and people are having a hard time adjusting from beef, but consumption of beef is dropping; yet we're only very slowly converting to vegetarian meals. Changing habits, especially eating habits is very challenging for people this privileged.

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