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April 3 - April 24, 2019
Natalie Zend's avatar

Natalie Zend

DrawdownTO

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 538 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    126
    gallons of water
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    210
    minutes
    spent exercising
  • UP TO
    9.0
    plastic containers
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    2.0
    trees
    planted

Natalie's actions

Materials

Fix Leaky Faucets

#46 Water Saving - Home

I will fix faucets or report leaky faucets to facilities that have been wasting up to 9 gallons (34 L) of water per faucet every day.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Go for a Daily Walk

#54 Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 30 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 7
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 12
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

Materials

Eliminate Toxic Plastics

#47 Bioplastic

I will avoid buying toxic plastics, including polycarbonate, polystyrene and polyvinyl and instead replace them with bioplastic or durable options.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Use

Plant Trees

#15 Afforestation

I will plant 2 tree(s) in my community, public parks, or backyard.

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?


  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/23/2019 2:30 PM
    A challenge I have around food waste is when house guests leave food that is already rotten or that I don't want. For example, I have lots of frozen bananas already. I guess I need to make some milkshakes pronto! 

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/20/2019 6:20 PM
    I routinely take my insulated coffee mug and a paper bag to the coffee shop. Otherwise, the bag they put my scone in is single-use paper, for really no good reason.

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/20/2019 6:19 PM
    This week my Brazilian house guest (a pastry chef!) made us a cake. I avoided food waste by sharing it with fellow participants in a workshop I was taking. Then, as I was leaving the workshop, when the caterer told me they were about to throw away a lot of leftover desserts, I filled up my Tupperware and brought those to the Drawdown Toronto core team meeting!   

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/20/2019 6:16 PM
    I walked a lot this week. I was taking a course at Hart House and walked home on Monday night and Wednesday night (about an hour). I've also gotten into the habit of walking from Ossington Station home (20 min) instead of taking the bus.  

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/13/2019 7:34 AM
    I learned from my Bolivia almost-ex-mother-in-law years ago to wash plastic bags and stick them to the walls to dry. Now I actually use magnets and stick them to the fridge door. I accumulate way more bags than I can use though--so it's a good thing to do but not the solution.

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/13/2019 7:32 AM
    I did manage to cook up the rest of a bag of moth beans that I had found earlier just wouldn't cook sufficiently. With the Instant Pot I have now they did cook enough, though they were still al dente. I was pleased enough with the soup I made--enjoyed the curry-coconut-lemon flavours.

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/13/2019 7:31 AM
    I've been working hard to avoid food waste but in the process have ended up throwing out some really, really old stuff. Miso soup powder that I salvaged from my neighbour's kitchen when he moved out--expired in 2016! A slice of Amish pumpkin pie in the freezer that I heated and tried to eat, but it was really too stale. Some ancient crackers. A bag of lemongrass spice powder from Cambodia that a friend gave me--expired in 2013! This is a humbling process. 

    • Addy Davidson's avatar
      Addy Davidson 4/13/2019 10:06 AM
      It shows your good impulses -- that you saved these things.  Takes a more organized mind than I have, however, to keep track of all the things I've saved.  Requires a new habit of mental organization!

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/13/2019 7:28 AM
    I finally decided on a Saskatoonberry tree (also called serviceberry). I ordered it from TreeMobile and their delivery day is Sunday April 28. Yay! 

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/10/2019 7:41 AM
    Daily walk: Yesterday I walked 25 minutes to the public pool and 25 minutes back, and also had a great swim. Felt good to be in the water and feel my own fluidity. And the walk made for a great warm-up and cool-down.

  • Natalie Zend's avatar
    Natalie Zend 4/10/2019 7:40 AM
    Re: keeping track of wasted food, I did have to throw out about 1 tbsp of humus and a handful of chips that had gone bad. On the plus side, on Monday I pulled out a few things that risked being wasted: 1/2 a can of tomato paste, some old-ish sprouts, some kale, some tomatoes that were no longer good enough to eat raw... and Bruce made a delicious pasta sauce with all those ingredients. It was enough for dinner for the two of us and two more leftover meals for me! This morning I salvaged an apple that was no longer good enough to eat raw. I made sugar-free applesauce out of it and added it to my morning cereal. Yum!