"I have joined a two week ecochallenge, and am wanting to really spend time trying to decrease non-recyclable plastic use, (Also a great excuse to invest in the keep cup I have my eye on made of renewable rice husks) restart dropping off my redcycle soft plastic, and making sure to eat everything in my fridge before it gets old. Simple but in a world of distractions I need a re-motivator. Join Heidi Edmonds group if you need motivating too!"
POINTS TOTAL
0
TODAY
0
THIS WEEK
745
TOTAL
participant impact
UP TO
150
minutes
spent learning
UP TO
5,185
pounds of CO2
have been saved
Jess's actions
Buildings and Cities
Online Energy Audit
Multiple Solutions
I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Land Use
Buy Bamboo
#35 Bamboo
When they are available, I will purchase products made from bamboo instead of wood, plastic, or metal.
COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION
Land Use
Choose Better Wood Products
#38 Forest Protection
I will only purchase wood and paper products from ecologically certified sources like Forest Stewardship Council.
COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS
Land Use
Forest-Friendly Foods 1
#5 Tropical Forests
I will spend at least 60 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Land Use
Forest-Friendly Foods 2
#5 Tropical Forests
I will replace or remove products in my current diet that are known to contribute to deforestation.
COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS
Transport
Purchase a Carbon Offset
#43 Airplanes
If I buy a plane ticket, I will purchase a carbon offset.
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 14
DAILY ACTIONS
Women and Girls
Support Women-Owned Businesses
#62 Women Smallholders
I will support women-owned businesses when I shop this month.
COMPLETED 10
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 19
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 17
DAILY ACTIONS
Women and Girls
Research Barriers to Participation and Representation
#6 Educating Girls, #7 Family Planning, #62 Women Smallholders
I will spend at least 90 minutes learning more about the barriers to women's equal participation and representation around the world.
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 11
DAILY ACTIONS
Transport
Improve a Bus Stop
#37 Mass Transit
I will improve a bus stop in my neighborhood by posting the stop schedule, adding seating or shelter, adding art or flowers, picking up litter, or some other small improvement.
UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Women and Girls
Start a Social Media Campaign
#6 Educating Girls
I will share stats on gender inequity in education with my social media feed to raise awareness.
COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS
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?
Ended the challenge well today I think. Brought someone else's food scraps home with me for chickens instead of landfill and also brought home some soft plastic for recycling
Great to hear! What did you end up using to store your soft plastics ? Its a bit of a house design issue.. where do we store stuff on the way to where it best goes...
This week I have met with other environmentally conscious people and started trying to convert some of our current plastic bag usage to paper. ( without blowing the buget)
I had an interesting convo with my partner and housemate this week where we frankly discussed waste and agreed we could all do better. I think I pulled off keeping it casual and not laying blame :)
Another ecochallenge fail. I went to a craft fair at a local brewery and they said it was against their licence for the event to serve in anything but (disposable) plastic cups. What a turn off.
I was really dumbfounded today to find out that Ipswich-the region over from Brisbane are now just going to be dumping everything from local recycling bins to landfill since China has stopped accepting plastic waste from Australia.):
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?
This has been one of the hardest challenges for me, because in our house it does often come down to me to clean out the fridge, and I do throw more food to the chooks and dogs than I would like. My excuse to myself is that it is not often food that I have bought. It is often things that my housemates or partner have bought and not eaten in time. Anyway I hope if I show them the food diary at the end of the challenge it will open dialogue. My win for today is to make a cake with offcuts from my neices birthday cake and leftover easter lollies. I am going to take it in to share at work tomorrow.
Good on you for trying to fix them! :) I used to take my shoes to get repaired at a place on Roma Street near where I worked. Not sure if it is still open. There was one at the bottom of the Myer Centre in the city too.
