EcoChallenge.org

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 3 - April 24, 2019

Emily Robinov

SUNY New Paltz

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
823 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

50

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

95

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

1.0

tree

planted

Emily's actions

Land Use

Plant Trees

#15 Afforestation

I will plant 1 tree(s) in my community, public parks, or backyard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Choose Better Wood Products

#38 Forest Protection

I will only purchase wood and paper products from ecologically certified sources like Forest Stewardship Council.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Women and Girls

Learn about the Need for Family Planning

#7 Family Planning

I will spend at least 10 minutes learning more about the need for family planning globally.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Explore Other Buildings and Cities Solutions

All Buildings and Cities Solutions

I will spend at least 10 minutes researching other Drawdown Buildings and Cities Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transport

Explore Other Transport Solutions

All Transport Solutions

I will spend at least 10 minutes researching other Drawdown Transport Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Forest-Friendly Foods 2

#5 Tropical Forests

I will replace or remove the palm oil, coffee, and cocoa products in my current diet that are known to contribute to deforestation.

COMPLETED 6
DAILY ACTIONS

Buildings and Cities

Go for a Daily Walk

#54 Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 10 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Use

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

#5 Tropical Forests

I will spend at least 10 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Properly Dispose of Refrigerants

#1 Refrigerant Management

I will spend at least 15 minutes learning how to properly dispose of my refrigerator, freezer, and other refrigerants at the end of their useful lives.

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 9
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

Food

Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

#11 Regenerative Agriculture

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning about the need for more regenerative agriculture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Explore Other Food Solutions

All Food Solutions

I will spend at least 20 minutes researching other Drawdown Food Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Learn More about Silvopasture

#9 Silvopasture

I will spend at least 20 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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

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 11
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
Land Use Choose Better Wood Products

Beyond carbon sequestration, what other benefits do forests offer you personally?

Emily Robinov 4/24/2019 11:41 AM

Besides carbon sequestration, forests offer many benefits such as an environment to explore the Earth. There are things in the forest that many will not see as they live in cities. Its important to explore and see the beauty within forests without disturbing the systems within the forests.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings and Cities Explore Other Buildings and Cities Solutions

What did you find out? What is the most interesting fact you learned?

Emily Robinov 4/24/2019 11:30 AM

I learned about a man named Oscar who owns a company called Conceptos Plasticos. His company takes plastic and transforms it into durable building blocks. They go around the city of Bogota and collect peoples plastics to recycle and reuse. They also help to educate those in that city on the importance of recycling. If these plastics were not being recycled, they would sit in a landfill for 400-500 years. These blocks were then used to build houses in slums nearby. While watching a video about this, I questioned if the process of melting the plastics would release chemical toxins into the air. Oscar explained how when they melt the plastic, they make sure to keep the temperature around the melting point to prevent burning the plastic and releasing chemical toxins into the air.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Women and Girls Learn about the Need for Family Planning

What did you learn about the need for family planning? Share some of the learning with your friends!

Emily Robinov 4/23/2019 12:46 PM

I learned that educating more women around the world could have great impacts for the Earth and for the world as a whole. For example, educated girls have higher wages which contributes to economic growth. Also, more educated women tend to have healthier and fewer children which would help to curb the population growth.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Transport Explore Other Transport Solutions

What did you find out? What is the most interesting fact you learned?

Emily Robinov 4/23/2019 12:04 PM

I learned that reducing the roads that cars could drive on in a city is a good solution to reduce the amount of pollution. Many thought that by reducing the amount of streets accessible to cars that there would be more traffic on the other roads and reduced amounts of customers. However, these new measures actually increased the travel time of those driving because the streets were less crowded and people were now walking most places which is also beneficial for a persons health. Traffic in cities cause noise and air pollution but by having less roads for cars, this will reduce the amount of pollution. In Barcelona, just by reducing the roads accessible by cars, the CO2 emissions were cut by 42%.

Read More
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?

Emily Robinov 4/21/2019 7:52 PM

My transportation choices directly impact my engagement with the community. When I walk to places in town, I am more likely to stop in stores and talk to people as I travel to my destination. When I drive, I do not interact with the people in the community and just go directly to my destination.

Read More
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?

Emily Robinov 4/21/2019 7:49 PM

I could incorporate the R's into my lifestyle by being mindful of my daily actions and changing some actions to align with the R's. For example, I reduce the amount of plastic I use by bringing reusable bags to the grocery store instead of getting plastic bags. I try to reduce the amount of food waste by taking smaller portions and buying less food to eliminate an excess amount of food expiring and going to waste. Implementing the R's into my lifestyle helps me to be aware of the actions that I used to take which contributed to climate change. Now, with the R's it makes me excited to know that I am directly contributing to reversing climate change.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials Properly Dispose of Refrigerants

How do you address your own feelings of concern, fear or despair about climate change?

Emily Robinov 4/21/2019 7:45 PM

To address my own feelings of fear about climate change, I try to educate myself on ways to reverse climate change. I look for solutions that I can incorporate into my daily routine to help reverse climate change. I also try to educate my family on some easy solutions that they could partake in as well as encouraging them to change some of their bad habits that are contributing to the changing climate.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

Clean air, clean water and healthy food are three reasons to care about regenerative agriculture. What are some other reasons?

Emily Robinov 4/21/2019 7:40 PM

It is important to care for regenerative agriculture because it increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services. Regenerative agriculture is also important because it tries to capture the carbon above soil to try an reverse current global trends of atmospheric buildup.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Explore Other Food Solutions

What did you find out? What is the most interesting fact you learned?

Emily Robinov 4/21/2019 7:35 PM

I learned that human activity is responsible for a major portion of greenhouse gas emissions and a large contributor to that is crop and livestock production. There are many supply side solutions that help reduce the amount emissions from farming. Some of these solutions include, farmland irrigation, farmland restoration, managed grazing, and regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture was very interesting because it is a crop production system that includes at least 4 practices to make the production better for the earth. Some of these practices are green manure, compost application, organic production, cover crops, crop rotation, and reduced tillage.

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?

Emily Robinov 4/17/2019 7:59 AM

On my daily walks to class, I have noticed how buildings seem to be built first and then walk way placement are an after thought. I have enjoyed taking the time to notices the different infrastructure around me.

Read More