Ecochallenge.org and Project Drawdown

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 4 - April 25, 2018

Lexy Timmermans

ENV 100 Physical Geography Class Team

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
650 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.0

documentary

watched
UP TO

13

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

295

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

9.0

zero-waste meals

consumed

Lexy's actions

Electricity Generation

Watch a Video about Methane Digesters

#30 Methane Digesters (large), #64 Methane Digesters (small)

I will watch a video about methane digesters (also commonly known as anaerobic digesters).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity Generation

Learn More About Geothermal Energy

#18 Geothermal

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of geothermal energy and consider investing in this technology.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Women and Girls

Support Women-Owned Businesses

#62 Women Smallholders

I will support women-owned businesses when I shop this month.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Electricity Generation

Learn More about Biomass

#34 Biomass

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of biomass.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Learn about Temperate Forests

#12 Temperate Forests

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the environmental services provided by and the environmental issues affecting temperate forests.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Research Retrofitting Incentives

#80 Retrofitting

I will spend at least 60 minutes finding out if my city, region, or state offers incentives for retrofitting existing buildings.

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 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Transport

Research and Advocate for High-Speed Rail

#66 High-Speed Rail

I will spend at least 60 minutes researching and advocating for a comprehensive high speed rail network in my country/region.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Reduce Animal Products

#4 Plant-Rich Diet

I will enjoy 1 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Zero-waste Cooking

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will cook 1 meal(s) with zero-waste each day.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

composting

#60 Composting, #3 Reduced Food Waste

I will start a compost bin where I live.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Learn More about Silvopasture

#9 Silvopasture

I will spend at least 60 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Learn about Local Indigenous Practices

#39 Indigenous Peoples' Land Management

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning how local indigenous tribes are caring for the land by attending a training, workshop, or presentation.

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?

Lexy Timmermans 4/19/2018 1:13 PM

Supporting women-owned business is super important in bridging the gender gap and allowing women to have a greater role in the international market economy. I have been for some time wanting to by these hemp reusable bags by the company handsonhemp for a while now and the Drawdown EcoChallenge is the perfect opportunity! This company is online but the manufacturers are located here in Boulder! It is a woman owned small business committed to deep sustainability. The hemp bags are for grocery use like buying in produce and bulk. It's a great way to integrate zero-waste smart shopping and support a wonderful, local, sustainable women owned business!

https://handsonhemp.com

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- Fern Deininger 4/23/2018 10:52 AM
  
  LEXY I LOVE THIS. You rock for taking the time to use hemp bags for produce, while also supporting women owned businesses. Hemp bags from a women owned company benefits 2 important eco-words-- economy and ecology. aHHH you're great.
  
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Lexy Timmermans 4/19/2018 12:48 PM

I was confused on what biomass was before researching about it but it's actually a form of fuel that everyone already knows. It's the burning of organic materials to create heat or electricity. This was the first fuel method to be discovered--Burning logs of wood to make fire. Biomass can also be other materials such as certain crops, Hawkins mentions a certain type of grass, forest debris and manure. Hawkins in his description really emphasizes that this is not the solution, rather a means of bridging the gap to clean energy. It is a carbon neutral solution if done right. The use and replenish nature of it has to be in balance or else it will create more carbon in the atmosphere. How it works is that trees are grown by harnessing energy from the sun and Co2 in the atmosphere. When you take that tree and burn it, you are releasing the Co2 back into the atmosphere so it is a closed loop system. This can go bad when trees are being harvested from forests and used faster than we regrow them, concluding in more Co2 and deforestation.

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Lexy Timmermans 4/16/2018 8:03 AM

Temperate Forests are composed of coniferous, evergreen, deciduous and mixed associate trees. They are really important for the state of the Earth right now because they house a variety of biodiversity, protect watersheds and are considered carbon sinks. Carbon sinks means that they sequester carbon instead of emitting it into the air. Temperate forests are all over the U.S. They're usually categorized into two groups, deciduous and evergreen. Deciduous forests are largely found in the East where leaves will change colors and fall in autumn. Evergreen forests are mostly in the Pacific Northwest region. We are provided with a lot of goods from these forests including commercial goods like timber, food, fuel, bio-product and eco benefits like carbon storing, nutrient cycling, water, air purification and maintenance of wildlife habitats. There is a lot of restoration happening around these forests already which is good. It's a really low-cost strategy with big benefits.

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Lexy Timmermans 4/08/2018 6:56 AM

Yesterday was Boulder's first Farmer's Market of the year!

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Lexy Timmermans 4/06/2018 11:08 AM

At this point in the challenge I'm finding myself most interested in the food category. Anytime I ever see anything about food I think about Michael Pollen, a man that shifted my whole mindset about food when I was in High School. In Defense of Food, and Omnivore's Dilemma are two books of his that I would recommend to anyone interested in this topic. And actually, I would recommend Omnivore's Dilemma to every American. It questions the way we eat in this country, the fad diets we go through, the food obsessions and the truly simple answer to our complicated question of what we should eat: whole foods. I'm going to try to embody his work and knowledge as I go through these daily challenges I've so far committed to: the zero waste, and smaller portion meals. I'm curious to see what insights will arise with this push to awareness of food.

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Lexy Timmermans 4/05/2018 5:07 PM

Silvopasture is a word I don't think I've ever heard. After having researched a little about it, I'm surprised that it isn't more popular. Even Drawdown put Silvopasture in its highest ranking among the agricultural solutions. They define silvopasture as "the addition of trees to pastures for increased productivity and biosequestration [storage of greenhouse gasses]." There is so much good that seems to be going on with this ancient practice, much further than healthier meat and lessening carbon, including things like: economic benefit, short term from animals and long term with trees; soil for more plentiful trees, control of invasive species and management of bush control. I tried to see if there was silvopasturalism happening in Colorado but it doesn't look like it. One place that it is going on in however is Wisconsin, although it is not widespread. It's cool, they have a state law called the Wisconsin Property Tax Law that gives landowners incentives to graze livestock in woods.

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Lexy Timmermans 4/04/2018 8:22 PM

What I stumbled across in my research for indigenous practices in Boulder was this event that happened called Rising Voices. I don't know if it happens every year but it brought together a variety of indigenous representation from all over the world and western scientists. The goal was to bring western science and indigenous science together to collaborate on knowledge for dealing with Climate Change. There was a lot of agreements made, especially about western science not discriminating against indigenous science and taking it just as seriously as any other form of information. Some prominent ideas throughout was the strong push towards place based knowledge and community over possession of land v.s government.
I read an excerpt from a presentation given by native Hawaiian, Kaimana Barcarse called "The Connection Between Climate Change, the Environment, and Language." He msaid that language is closely tied to what they observe in nature. They know climate change is happening because in old songs and stories there is mention of animals on certain islands that aren't there anymore.

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