I will enjoy 1 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.
COMPLETED 22
DAILY ACTIONS
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 22
DAILY ACTIONS
Electricity Generation
Advocate for Solar Installation
#10 Rooftop Solar
I will create a plan to and advocate for solar installation at my business, apartment building, or campus.
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 22
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 22
DAILY ACTIONS
Transport
Research and Consider Switching to a Hybrid or Electric Vehicle
#26 Electric Vehicles
I will spend at least 30 minutes researching and weighing my options to see if a hybrid or electric vehicle makes sense for my lifestyle.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Materials
Share Bioplastic Disposal Tips
#47 Bioplastic
I will spend at least 30 minutes researching how to properly dispose of bioplastics in my city and share this information with 3 friends, family and/or colleagues.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Food
Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates
#3 Reduced Food Waste
I will spend at least 30 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.
On this last day of the Drawdown EchoChallenge, I am happy to have participated. It didn’t have the community connection I had thought it would, but I feel like I’ve made some changes that I will be able to continue and expand upon both personally and environmentally.
My goal in this challenge was to take the time to learn consistently each day. I feel that I’ve broadened my understanding in several areas and have adopted new practices that will help me focus on being more environmentally conscious. :)
I feel very fortunate to live in a community where women are business owners, are on local committees, and are in government. We’ve come a long way but still have far to go in reaching equal numbers of representation. In doing this particular Drawdown challenge, the line I read that said, “Make schools more girl-friendly.” really struck me. Girls certainly are more encouraged to participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics than in the past, but it is still not enough. If you look at some clubs like our local robotics team, it is dominated by boys. Barriers will still exist until girls are truly educated equally.
Previous to exploring this topic, I hadn’t given much thought to family planning’s impact on the environment. After taking some time to research it, the interconnectedness seems quite logical to me. More people on the plant means more resources used and more pollution created. I know family planning can be a very loaded topic. It seems to me that one’s faith and morality can be upheld and respected while still addressing this very personal issue that has worldwide consequences.
I remember when Earth Day was seen as a fringe movement. It’s good that it seems to be better received and more widely accepted now. I hope that someday in the near future, it will be recognized as vital with every day being treated as Earth Day!
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?
I already try to be conscious of repurposing and recycling. My daughter and I have also been refusing things like straws at restaurants and I just spoke to my husband tonight about getting more cloth bags for shopping. We seem to be living in a society where repairing things is discouraged. For example, we tried to have our washing machine fixed once and the repair guy almost laughed at us. Still, I’m encouraged by events such as local repair cafés even though they are meant for smaller fixes. Moving forward, I’ll try to be more conscious and proactive in reducing and the other r’s.
Today, I did some research on the Drawdown EchoChallenge. In a challenge from October of 2018, they had a category called Simplicity. I found it to be very interesting. I hope to incorporate some of those principles in addition to what I’m doing for this challenge.
I haven’t been a red meat eater for many years, but I do eat fish/poultry. For the EcoChallenge, I signed up for one meatless meal a day but that’s easily achieved at breakfast so I’ve been having 2 meatless meals a day instead. I’m not ready to go vegan because of my daily yogurt.
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?
People in North America probably eat more meat than people in other countries because of more wealth. It may also be seen as having higher status to eat meat. Others might say that our meat eating culture has a lack of respect for animals.
