Milithza Silva

One surprising outcome of the challenge is that by seeing the example of other participants, your perspective and ways of thinking about how you go about your daily activities starts to evolve/shift and they you start considering new alternatives.  In the past, on my leisure time I might have used the bike for a ride on the park or for one-hour exercise.  Keep in mind that I live near the core, 7 minutes from the subway but I work on the suburbs.  Given that the distance is 26-35 km is not feasible for me to use the bike as a commute option as it would take me 1.5 hours bike ride each way.  Having said that, on my off days I have started to plan my activities around using the bike as the main mode of transport.  Thus is not just for leisure and exercise but as a way to reduce even more my reliance on the public transport.  with the weather warming up, it is so much easier.

One of the reasons this challenge has been challenging is because it forces us to look at our habit, the ways we are comfortable and used to doing things and exploring new and/or different ways to tackle things.  As I mentioned before, being vegetarian for over 20 years, I find having a mostly plant-based diet a really easy thing to do.  For the most part at home is quite easy to choose 95% of my meal content to be plant base, but I still have difficulty parting away from cheese and yogurt.  The real challenge is when I'm out and about with friends and family as almost everyone in my circle of near-and-dear is a regular traditional consumer.  This weekend while out, it was a new exercise in researching options that would be 100% vegan and that both my friends and I could enjoy.  As it happens, the city has seen quite an increase in the last few years of plant-based options and is not far-fetched to find "regular" restaurants with a section of their menu with vegan options.  For instance, I was pleased to discovered that a very traditional Italian restaurant such as "Il Fornello" has gone the extra mile to have such alternatives.
https://italianforvegan.com/
That way I can still have a good time socially and neither my companions nor me have to struggle and hopefully once they see the options and see what I had on my plate, it does serves as encouragement to give plant-based options a shot.  Countless times I have to illustrate/educate my acquaintances

on the fact that I have nutritious + delicious meals as vegetarians (often people think vegetarian's diet consists of leafy salads...)

Using Public Transport and Carpooling, is not a new concept.  In the good old days, people were forced to do it because private cars were not easily accessible to most people.  In many underdeveloped countries, it is still the default way for people to go around the places they need to go.  Interestingly it is also used by some other species in Nature.  If they can do it, it should not be so much of a challenge for people who want to make a difference...  Learn from the frogs :)

When it comes to reducing food waste, I find is so much easier when you are the head of household with 1 member.  The difficult part is when your house constitute more people.  Especially if you have guests that do not share your awareness.  It is a good opportunity to educate and see a different perspective.  Whether they are open to expand their view and adopt new habits...  well that's a challenge.

In doing the challenge, one part I think is very important is sharing the knowledge and awareness with friends, families and colleagues.  At times is difficult to get people from work to see that every bit of change personally and corporate adds up.  Being a conscious or aware consumer, gets place on hold when at work for so many people as the financial implications may not easily be seen as directly impacting them.  Withing my team I'm constantly reminding my colleagues to reduce, reuse, recycle.  Also to choose the electronic forms whenever possible and not to print paper if can be avoided (better use of materials).  Also to keep the lights off the boardrooms when not in use.  Hopefully little by little those bits adds up and can translate to reduced consumption in the workplace.