April 3 - April 24, 2019

Daniel Yuhas

"My mission is to protect our planet and its inhabitants, and to shape our company into one I can be proud to work for."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
729 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

50

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

440

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

22

meatless or vegan meals

consumed

Daniel's actions

Buildings and Cities

Go for a Daily Walk

#54 Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 20 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 22
DAILY ACTIONS

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 22
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 22
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Smaller Portions

#3 Reduced Food Waste

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

COMPLETED 20
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 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Explore Other Food Solutions

All Food Solutions

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

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Learn More about Silvopasture

#9 Silvopasture

I will spend at least 15 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

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?

Daniel Yuhas 4/24/2019 8:50 PM
Having reflected on the "Forest-Friendly Foods 2" daily challenge, in which I "replace or remove the palm oil, coffee, and cocoa products in my current diet that are known to contribute to deforestation," I thought of what might be an improvement to the challenge. I think that in future Eco-Challenges, there should be more of an emphasis placed on sustainability in this particular daily challenge. Maybe it could specifically state that you can eat food with palm oil that is RSPO (Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil) certified. As I learned from watching Years Of Living Dangerously, it's not the oil itself that's bad, it's how the oil is produced that can be bad. Even the St. Louis Zoo website has a page about palm oil and how the industry is affecting animals like the orangutan, and it says that "using certified sustainable palm oil is a more effective and responsible choice" than boycotting palm oil. Teaching people not only to look for palm oil in the ingredients lists on their food, but to look for that certification, it would raise awareness of sustainable palm oil, and using certified palm oil instead of boycotting all palm oil would reward companies who have made sure their palm oil is produced sustainably, and might entice more companies to get the certification. Then maybe our company's store brand products will get that certification too. HINT HINT

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

What did you find out? What is the most interesting fact you learned?
Daniel Yuhas 4/24/2019 8:46 PM
I learned a lot about silvopasture and composting. I think the most interesting thing was learning some of the science that goes into composting. It's more than just throwing vegetable scraps into a pile or bin; it takes a balance of carbon and nitrogen to be most effective. I value and appreciate efficiency, and it's easy to appreciate the inherent efficiency in both silvopasture and composting.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

Had you heard of the term "silvopasture" before now? After learning more about it, what do you think is the biggest advantage of silvopasture?
Daniel Yuhas 4/24/2019 8:38 PM
I hadn't heard of silvopasture before the EcoChallenge, but I'm glad I know about it, because it's at the very least interesting. It's difficult to actually pick just one advantage as the biggest, but shade and possibly more nutritious food for the animals is a big one. Trees being planted is a big advantage too.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
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?
Daniel Yuhas 4/22/2019 7:46 PM
I have several hobbies that can be expensive, so I'd probably rather use the money on music equipment, filmmaking equipment, or movies and books.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

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?
Daniel Yuhas 4/22/2019 7:42 PM
Serving smaller portions is more healthy, because it helps avoid overeating, and overeating is unhealthy. If you overeat, you also go through food faster, so if you avoid overeating, you decrease the frequency of necessary grocery shopping trips, and therefor save money.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

How does knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates empower you to make better decisions?
Daniel Yuhas 4/22/2019 7:35 PM
Knowing that "sell by" and "best by" dates aren't expiration dates empowers me to make a better and more informed decision when deciding if I should throw something out based on the date on the package.

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Daniel Yuhas 4/22/2019 6:40 PM
Happy Earth Day!

I figured I'd recommend one more environmental documentary. I know, I know... "Happy Earth Day. Now here's something to bum you out." There's a documentary on Netflix called Chasing Coral, which is about the "bleaching" of coral reefs, and the effort to document it with time-lapse photography. Although it's not about him, it features Charlie Veron, another scientist who very much inspires me.

Here's the trailer for Chasing Coral.

And as an alternative if you don't have Netflix, or supplemental material if you want to watch something else before or after Chasing Coral, here's a clip from 60 Minutes Australia about the Great Barrier Reef, which also features Charlie Veron.

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Daniel Yuhas 4/16/2019 11:26 AM
The other day at the Earth Day celebration, I noticed a children's book called Women Who Dared: 52 Stories Of Fearless Daredevils, Adventurers, And Rebels. I flipped through it, and saw that marine biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle was one of the 52 women in it.

So I'm hitting you with another documentary recommendation. A woman I know recommended a Netflix documentary to me a while back called Mission Blue, which is about Sylvia Earle and her efforts to protect the ocean. It's an incredible story, and she's definitely an inspiration.

Here's the trailer for Mission Blue.

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- MARIA ALBULESCU 4/17/2019 4:18 AM
  I will definitely added to my list! Thanks Daniel for all your recommendations.
  
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Daniel Yuhas 4/14/2019 8:59 PM
The Earth Day celebration at Depot Park was a lot of fun. I'm so glad we went! I found it really inspiring.

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Daniel Yuhas 4/14/2019 7:39 AM
I'm pretty excited about the Earth Day celebration at Depot Park today. I hope I get to see/meet some of you there!

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