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April 3 - April 24, 2019
Dana Halladay's avatar

Dana Halladay

SUNY New Paltz

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 226 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    6.0
    meatless or vegan meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    90
    minutes
    spent exercising
  • UP TO
    15
    minutes
    spent learning

Dana's actions

Food

Smaller Portions

#3 Reduced Food Waste

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

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

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 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Reduce Animal Products

#4 Plant-Rich Diet

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

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

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.

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 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 15 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

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 5
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
    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?

    Dana Halladay's avatar
    Dana Halladay 4/23/2019 3:41 PM
    On my walks, I have noticed that it takes me a very long time to get to any store or restaurant from campus. As the walk was nice, it would have been more convenient if there were alternate routes that would get me to these places faster, as if I had a car I would have probably drove. Changes I would make would be to rearrange parking lots so they are behind the buildings, so then things are more accessible to pedestrians. Also having clear, designated places for pedestrians to walk would promote people to walk more often in cities.  
  • 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?

    Dana Halladay's avatar
    Dana Halladay 4/22/2019 7:39 PM
    I would say there are many contributors. One being accessibility. Meat is often very accessible to people. If you were to go out to eat at a restaurant, any food place, or even places like a college campus dining hall, you would realize there are often many more meat options than meatless. Another reason could be just what we were taught growing up. Not often as a child do people learn about their diets (in depth anyway.) This shows that Americans can perhaps be kind of set in their ways, and are more interested in what is convenient to them rather than being more aware. 
  • 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?

    Dana Halladay's avatar
    Dana Halladay 4/21/2019 9:56 PM
    Reducing could be implemented in many ways, by doing things such as buying an actual water bottle rather than using plastic ones. Reusing can include simply putting plastics to reuse, such as bottles, or plastic bags. I can refuse by not using plastic bags and using a reusable one instead. Repair, can mean fixing things instead of throwing them away right away. And re-purpose could be putting something to use in a different matter. Most of this come down to simply being aware of what you are doing with materials that you use. Implementing these R's makes me feel resourceful and not wasteful. 
  • 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?

    Dana Halladay's avatar
    Dana Halladay 4/17/2019 3:29 PM
    Knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates makes me make better decisions by understanding when things are actually not good to keep anymore. This way, I pay more attention to the food itself and examine it to see if visibly good. Then by knowing the date  I know when is the proper time to throw out . 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Keep Track of Wasted Food
    An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. Where would you rather use this money?

    Dana Halladay's avatar
    Dana Halladay 4/14/2019 5:38 PM
    If I could save that much money just by not being wasteful with my food, I could put that money into my bills, and start saving up for traveling.