EcoChallenge.org

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 3 - April 24, 2019

ANDREA PROVAN

Bardians and Our Community

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
491 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

15

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

495

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

2.0

public officials or leaders

contacted

ANDREA's actions

Transport

Use Muscle Power

#49 Cars

I will cut my car trip mileage by only taking necessary trips, and I will only use muscle-powered transportation for all other trips.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Transport

Conduct Virtual Meetings

#63 Telepresence

I will encourage my office to hold meetings virtually whenever possible instead of requiring travel.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Go for a Daily Walk

#54 Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 45 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY 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

Buildings and Cities

Online Energy Audit

Multiple Solutions

I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME 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

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 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Reduce Animal Products

#4 Plant-Rich Diet

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

COMPLETED 15
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Social Justice

Contact your Elected Officials

#23 Farmland Restoration

I will contact 1 elected officials to voice my opinion on the importance of restoring farmland in my region, including both public and private land.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Smaller Portions

#3 Reduced Food Waste

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

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
Action Track: Social Justice Contact your Elected Officials

Do you have any personal connections to a farm or farmland? If so, what are they? What feelings are evoked for you when thinking about declining farmland?

ANDREA PROVAN 4/15/2019 7:51 AM

We live in an area of family farms. It is amazing how far reaching the effect of weather goes. When a cold snap killed the fruit tree buds a few years ago, that affected the apple crop so fewer migrant workers were needed. This severely lowered the number of students needing ESL services at the school, so the teacher hired to teach them was not needed. So many lives, not just the farmers and consumers, were affected!

Read More
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?

ANDREA PROVAN 4/12/2019 3:55 PM

We have such a beautiful campus and the Spring flowers have really popped out in the past 10 days. Walking would be more enjoyable if folks were not smoking and vaping on the paths. It would be fabulous to have a local walking/biking path going all the way to Hudson.

Read More
- Laurie Husted 4/15/2019 8:33 AM
  
  Check out the route of the Empire State Trail (Also we need to comment on it) I’ll try to send out something to help with that.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transport Use Muscle Power

How do your transportation choices affect your engagement in your community? Does your experience or enjoyment differ while walking, riding transit, biking or driving?

ANDREA PROVAN 4/12/2019 3:47 PM

I like to walk but it is too dangerous where we live on State Route 9G. So we have to drive to places to walk or risk getting hurt. There is a wonderful community of walkers especially at Olana where you often see the same people out.

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?

ANDREA PROVAN 4/09/2019 10:57 AM

There is simply too much choice and too many inexpensive items (often of dubious quality) available that do not reflect the true cost of the foods. And folks will overbuy simply because it is available.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Smaller Portions

Fun fact: Your brain and stomach register feelings of fullness after about 20 minutes of eating. While dishing food out, we tend to load our plates with more than we need. Using smaller plates helps to mitigate this. Aside from the environmental benefits, what other benefits might come out of eating smaller portions?

ANDREA PROVAN 4/09/2019 10:54 AM

It allows one to be more aware of the food and encourages more mindful eating. One has to be more selective about what one chooses to put on the plate when the space is limited.

Read More
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?

ANDREA PROVAN 4/04/2019 8:37 AM

My son's college education!

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ANDREA PROVAN 4/03/2019 12:35 PM

Living in a rural area makes it very difficult to limit car use as there are no alternatives.. It is way too dangerous to bike on Route 9G and there is no public transportation going north. So I have as energy efficient a car as I can afford, carpool when I can, and try to run errands/food shop/ etc. in one trip.

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- Laurie Husted 4/03/2019 6:33 PM
  
  This doesn't solve your problem but it's good news - there is a statewide bike infrastructure improvement project coming that gets north of campus (through Tivoli Bays). Governor Cuomo's Empire State Trail will pass through campus starting from Kingston Bridge and heading north. There's an Open House on Wed. April 10 where we can see the plan and comment - click on the sustainability calendar for details: https://bos.bard.edu/events/ Attending covers several Drawdown Actions! As for affordable cars - I believe the Nissan Leaf that had the great discount last year for Bardians (but got only 100 miles best case) might be in effect for last model year that gets more like 180 miles? Let me know if you want me to get the details.
  
  Read More