I will switch to washing my clothes in cold water, saving up to 133 lbs of CO2 a month and 1,600 lbs of CO2 over the course of the next year.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Nature
Explore My Area
I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Food
Choose Organic Ingredients
I will enjoy 2 meal(s) cooked with organic ingredients each day.
COMPLETED 22
DAILY ACTIONS
Waste
Go Paperless
I will reduce the amount of paper mail that I receive by 0.11lbs (0.05kg) a day or 3.3lbs (1.6kg) a month by opting into paperless billing, ending unwanted subscriptions and opting out of junk mail.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Health
Support Pollution Reduction
I will spend at least 60 minutes learning about water and air quality issues in my area, how they are impacting human and environmental health, and how I can help.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Health
Know My health
I will get my Core Four Biometrics tests (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and BMI).
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Waste
Use a Reusable Water Bottle
I will keep 3 disposable plastic bottle(s) from entering the waste stream by using a reusable water bottle.
As we get to the end of the Eco challenge, I have had a lot of trouble with my goal of eating at least 2 organic meals every day. It was easy at first as I gave up all delivery for lent, forcing me to cook on my own or go to the dining hall anyway, but a lot of food at the dining hall is not organic, and cooking gets time consuming and boring after a while. I am glad that I have eaten at least 1 organic meal every day, but at the start I was eating 2 or even 3. It has certainly been tough.
I've had a similar experience with trying to eat at least one meatless and one vegetarian meal a day. Taking part in this challenge made me realize just how much meat I eat, and it's difficult to filter it out without being intentional. I'm anemic, but there are good plant-based options I've found on campus to up my iron consumption without eating meat. Still, the options don't change much, and sometimes it's frustrating to eat the same thing every day. I wish campus would make more meatless options the default for dining, instead of focusing on meat so heavily.
I do also want to cheer you on though!! Finding organic food is really hard, especially on campus. It's tough to eat sustainably and it's tough to research, so props to you for being able to make 2-3 organic meals a day!
I recently spent a lot of time researching the Potomac and the water quality issues that it has. I always wondered why I never see people swim in it, even when it is pretty warm out. What I found is that it is actually illegal to swim in the potomac within DC city limits (unless it has changed since mid 2024) and that is because of the amount of terrible stuff in the water. To list a few, there is ecoli, fertilizers, algal bacteria, and even PCBs. Below is an image of a graph that I think represents what I found really well.
Knowing my health and getting my 4 tests done were interesting, I have a genetic trait that results in high cholesterol that has been and will be a problem for me later in life. I found out from this blood test that I have a normal total cholesterol, something I have been working hard to lower. My good cholesterol is still high unfortunately, but that usually doesn't lower or raise so it is not really a problem. Proof is below.
Its getting a little bit difficult with the organic meals, I am trying really hard to make my own food from organic ingredients but it is very expensive and time consuming.
Reducing your paper mail can reduce mental clutter as well as physical waste -- by reducing what is coming in, you can reduce what is going into the recycling bin too. How does it make you feel? What is the next step you will take to reduce your waste?
I put paperless for my credit card bill earlier today, while I like getting the paper bill, that certainly adds up over time. Also, dealing with the shredding or documenting of the bill is a headache.
This past weekend, I went into Virginia to go fishing, I have always been a fan of fishing but had never done it while being here at school. It was a nice way of relaxing and taking a break from screens. Those things definitely improve both my mood and my brainpower.
While water bottles are needed for health and safety in certain places, we can do more to reduce the unnecessary use of them. What are the barriers to you using reusable bottles and tap water instead of bottled water? How could you make this a permanent habit?
Tap water is sometimes not good for you depending on what state you're in, if you dont have a filter it is not always safe. Otherwise its pretty simple.
