EcoChallenge.org

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 3 - April 24, 2019

Loretta Holtz

Team Comsewogue

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
569 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

75

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

2.0

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill

Loretta's actions

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

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 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Women and Girls

Research Barriers to Participation and Representation

#6 Educating Girls, #7 Family Planning, #62 Women Smallholders

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the barriers to women's equal participation and representation around the world.

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

Transport

Explore Other Transport Solutions

All Transport Solutions

I will spend at least 15 minutes researching other Drawdown Transport Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

#5 Tropical Forests

I will spend at least 15 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 1
DAILY ACTION

Land Use

Buy Bamboo

#35 Bamboo

When they are available, I will purchase products made from bamboo instead of wood, plastic, or metal.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Become A Master Recycler/Composter

#55 Household Recycling

I will sign up for a Master Recycler/Composter program in my area.

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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials

What single-use items (e.g. straws, coffee cups, vegetable bags, plastic bags) do you regularly use? What could be substituted instead?
Loretta Holtz 4/24/2019 6:15 PM
Instead of taking plastic vegetable bags I could bring my own cloth reusable ones.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials

What could you do differently to waste less?
Loretta Holtz 4/24/2019 6:13 PM
In order to waste less I plan to purchase 15 to 20% less food per week. This is approximately how much food the my family currently wastes each week.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Use

Are bamboo alternatives readily available in your community? If not, what are other sustainable alternatives?
Loretta Holtz 4/23/2019 4:44 PM
Bamboo alternative products are readily available in my community and I plan to look for them when purchasing items for my home. Furniture, clothing, bedding, cutting boards, paper products and building supplies are just some of the products that can be made from bamboo.

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Loretta Holtz 4/23/2019 4:15 PM
Today I'm going to select some of my books that I'm no longer reading and I'm going to drop them at a Little Free Library so that they don't end up in a landfill.

Read More
Loretta Holtz 4/21/2019 7:16 PM
Composting is a great way to make good use of the vegetable and fruit scraps from your kitchen. It's a much better alternative than putting those things in your trash.

Read More
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?
Loretta Holtz 4/21/2019 7:13 PM
Now that I know that palm oil production contributes to deforestation I'll be more aware of avoiding that product in foods I purchase. I found out that there are many names for palm oil so it's important to know what else it can be called.

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Loretta Holtz 4/17/2019 6:29 PM
One of my challenges is keeping track of wasted food each day. Doing this has helped me to pay more attention to how much I buy in the first place. Today went well. I had zero food waste!

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Loretta Holtz 4/17/2019 6:21 PM
Starting tomorrow I am going to try to carry a set of reusable cutlery with the lunches that I pack for work every day.

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Loretta Holtz 4/16/2019 5:06 PM
This evening I went to a restaurant for dinner and I brought my own reusable container so that I could put my leftovers in it. It saved me from using another plastic container that would be added to our global waste and it will save the restaurant money because it will be one less container they have to supply to a customer.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials

Good job on choosing recycled paper! How can you take your action a step further?
Loretta Holtz 4/10/2019 6:01 PM
I can take my action a step further by reducing total overall use of paper products and I can make sure that I reuse paper as scrap paper whenever possible.

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