EcoChallenge.org

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 3 - April 24, 2019

Emily Andrews

USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
864 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.0

person

helped
UP TO

245

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

210

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

21

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

1.0

donation

made

Emily's actions

Action Track: Social Justice

Support Indigenous Peoples' Land Management

#39 Indigenous Peoples' Land Management

I will donate to The Nature Conservancy, which works with Indigenous Peoples to secure land tenure and resource rights, support improved governance and local institutions, assist in natural resource mapping, planning and management; and strengthen livelihoods and sustainable economic development.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Women and Girls

Support Women-Owned Businesses

#62 Women Smallholders

I will spend 10 minutes each day researching women-owned businesses I can support when shopping.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Social Justice

Learn about Local Indigenous Practices

#39 Indigenous Peoples' Land Management

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning how local indigenous tribes are caring for the land by attending a training, workshop, or presentation.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Reduce Animal Products

#4 Plant-Rich Diet

I will enjoy 1 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

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.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Local Perennial Biomass

#51 Perennial Biomass

I will spend at least 30 minutes finding out if anyone is working on perennial biomass projects in my region and how I can get involved.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Tour a Green Roof

#73 Green Roofs

I will set up a visit to tour a green roof in my city, and ask about the codes and process for installing a green roof.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Women and Girls

Give a Microloan

#62 Women Smallholders

I will give 1 microloan(s) to women who need help starting a business.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

#5 Tropical Forests

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Go for a Daily Walk

#54 Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 30 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Explore Other Food Solutions

All Food Solutions

I will spend at least 45 minutes researching other Drawdown Food Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials

What do you want to prioritize over material 'stuff' in your own life?
Emily Andrews 4/24/2019 10:26 AM
I'm not going to get to this challenge of reducing paper by online billing and subscriptions. Darn. I actually wanted to dig into all the junk mail I receive at work and home and get off mailing lists. But this takes a lot of time! There used to be a great app for this, but it seems to have gone away. If anyone has any good tips for reducing junk mail, I'm all ears!

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- Johanna Schweiss 4/25/2019 2:28 PM
  If you're getting lots of unsolicited credit card offers, you can turn them off for 5 years here: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ I found this to make a big difference for us! And is better for privacy/security.
  
  This website supposedly makes it easy to opt out of mailers: https://dmachoice.thedma.org/register.php I think I remember looking into this, and couldn't turn off the annoying ad packets/store coupons that bug me the most! Might be worth the $2 if you haven't gotten into it already.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings and Cities

What have you noticed on your daily walks? What have you enjoyed? What infrastructure changes could make your walks more enjoyable or possible?
Emily Andrews 4/24/2019 10:24 AM
While I didn't meet the challenge of taking a daily walk, when I did, it made my day better! Being outside, noticing changes in the weather, noticing how walkable my neighborhood is - all contribute to a better sense of place.

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Emily Andrews 4/23/2019 11:25 AM
Hey team - we've accomplished so much with our collective actions to combat climate change. Great work! I have a few more one-time challenges I hope to get to before the challenge ends. Hope everyone else is making progress and learning new things.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

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?
Emily Andrews 4/23/2019 11:24 AM
We eat a lot of meat in North America for a lot of different reasons - for one, we have the land and the money to support it. But I really see this changing more and more every day. People see the health benefits of a more plant-based diet. And the environmental benefits. Plus, it's delicious. My friend fed me a super health and nutritious breakfast of spicy, herb-y lentils and a fried egg this morning - YUM!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Use

How is your diet currently impacting deforestation? What can you do to decrease your negative impact and increase your positive impact?
Emily Andrews 4/21/2019 4:48 PM
I had no idea how many products contain palm oil - Cheerios, Girl Scout Cookies, cheese-its. Oh my! Avoiding processed food will help, but after reading a few articles, I think it's probably more effective to make our voices heard as consumers and ask companies to stop using palm oil. Or to adopt a "forest friendly" policy for their ingredients. Thinking of making a list of companies and organizations o reach out to - starting with the Girl Scouts!

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- Jenna Jarvis 4/24/2019 8:16 AM
  Good idea! Because I'm addicted to Cheez-its and peanut butter. I'll help reach out to Nabisco.
  
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Emily Andrews 4/17/2019 11:27 AM
You guys, so many food-related businesses are women owned. This means I get to eat out more often, right? Seriously though, I started looking into the ownership of all the businesses around my office (home is next) and lots are owned (or co-owned) by women's . . . Urzi's Market, Missouri Baking Company, Shaw's Coffee (my go-to), Sweet Art (also vegetarian / vegan!), Fiddlehead Fern Cafe, Patisserie Chouquette. And of course, my fave, Adriana's. I think I'll pick up lunch there tomorrow!

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Emily Andrews 4/16/2019 1:07 PM
St. Louis leads the nation in female entrepreneurs! According to a recent study, 45% of the start ups in the metro area are female-owed and the most active industry is health care and social assistance. Interesting that these are the most active areas for start ups - but probably not too surprising. KC makes the top 20 list as well, which means Missouri is looking pretty good!

Here's a short piece from the RFT:
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2019/04/15/st-louis-leads-the-nation-in-female-entrepreneurs?utm_source=featurefollow&utm_medium=home&utm_campaign=hpfeatures&utm_content=HomeTopFeature

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Women and Girls

Globally, women typically invest a higher proportion of their earnings in their families and communities than men. Why do you think that is?
Emily Andrews 4/13/2019 3:30 PM
I just made a loan to a small, women-owned convenience and second-hand store in Guatemala through Kiva. What a cool program! Not only did I learn about women-owned businesses around the world, I can re-invest the original loan once it's paid back. And I was able to chose an eco-friendly business in addition to a women-owned business.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings and Cities

What did you learn on your green roof tour?
Emily Andrews 4/11/2019 10:40 AM
It was great to tour Urban Harvest's Food Roof this morning! Even though the veggie beds aren't quite in full force, you can sense the potential! Not only does this green roof provide food access in some of our city's neighborhoods that lack access to fresh veggies, it's also manages stormwater. They collect the water onsite and use to water the veggie beds.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

What did you find out? What is the most interesting fact you learned?
Emily Andrews 4/10/2019 12:09 PM
Thanks to my pal Joyce, I attended a lunch and learn today about entomophagy - eating insects. I've eaten crickets and grasshoppers before, but at the time, I didn't put much thought into the potential for insect protein to reduce my environmental impact. Today, I learned that 1 kilogram of crickets only produce 1 gram of CO2 vs over a thousand grams for beef and pork. But wait, there's more! 1 lb of cricket protein only takes 1 gallon of water, while 1 lb of almond protein takes 2,000 gallons. Oh, and I ate some crickets - in cookies, pumpkin bread and a quesadilla.

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