Ecochallenge.org and Project Drawdown

Drawdown EcoChallenge

April 4 - April 25, 2018

Kristilyn Vercruysse

MSR Design

"To take care of all the natural beauty and live a harmonious life with nature."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
687 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

30

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

1.0

person

helped
UP TO

40

miles

traveled by carpool
UP TO

11

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

1.0

donation

made

Kristilyn's actions

Transport

Try Carpooling

#75 Ridesharing

I will commute by carpool 8 mile(s) per day and avoid sending up to 2.16 lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

#3 Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 5 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

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

Food

Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

#11 Regenerative Agriculture

I will spend at least 10 minutes learning about the need for more regenerative agriculture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Women and Girls

Learn about the Need for Family Planning

#7 Family Planning

I will spend at least 15 minutes learning more about the need for family planning globally.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transport

Conduct Virtual Meetings

#63 Telepresence

I will not travel for meetings and will instead conduct them virtually.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Transport

Use Muscle Power

#49 Cars

I will cut my car trip mileage by only taking necessary trips, and I will only use muscle-powered transportation for all other trips.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Women and Girls

Help Girls Overcome Health Barriers

#6 Educating Girls

I will donate one or more Femme Kits to help girls overcome health and sanitation barriers to being able to attend school.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Go Paperless

#70 Recycled Paper

I will reduce the amount of paper mail that I receive by opting into paperless billing and subscriptions.

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 6
DAILY ACTIONS

Materials

Become A Master Recyler/Composter

#55 Household Recycling

I will sign up for a Master Recycler/Composter program in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Explore Other Food Solutions

All Food Solutions

I will spend at least 10 minutes researching other Drawdown Food Solutions.

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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Women and Girls

What did you learn about the need for family planning? Share some of the learning with your friends!
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/24/2018 11:47 AM
It is important to give people the information to make informed decisions. This is a no brainer to us in the United States but is not always the case in other countries. Not only is it important to give females the same education than males but it's also important to give them information about contraception and to give them access to it. Women should be in control of their own bodies and that means that they need accurate information.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials

What single-use items (e.g. straws, coffee cups, vegetable bags, plastic bags) do you regularly use? What could be substituted instead?
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/24/2018 11:45 AM
We eat a lot of fresh veggies in the house which can use the plastic bags from the grocery store. We just bought a six pack of reusable produce bags which work really well for long term storage as well as reducing the number of plastic bags that are thrown away. A five pack is available at amazon for $12.00 - and make sure to not quick ship to ensure that each shipping truck is filled to the max.

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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 this?
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/24/2018 11:41 AM
In working through smaller portions our food budget has gone down and I'm less hungry during the day.

Read More
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/23/2018 4:41 PM
It's easy to ride your bike everywhere when the weather is so perfect. Here's to putting 18 miles on the bike!

Read More
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/20/2018 2:05 PM
Our office went on a tour of the Eureka Recycling plant in Minneapolis. They showed us their process of sorting commingled recycling which really helped demonstrate why it's important to not put recycling in plastic bags! It gets mixed up with everything and ends up being one of their biggest contaminants. You can recycle plastic bags but not in your city recycling. You'll have to bring them to a pick up location, typically a big box store.

Reuse but if you can reuse you should recycle and if you can't recycle, compost....and if you can't compost - only then should you throw it away.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials

What could you do differently to waste less?
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/20/2018 2:01 PM
I bring my own to go containers to restaurants and use glass containers whenever possible.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

Now that you know the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates, how will you view expiration dates differently?
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/20/2018 11:51 AM
Just yesterday we had some Feta cheese - unopened with a sell by date in February 2018. Well we used it. It tasted great. I'm still healthy. If it doesn't smell bad - eat it and now I have an excuse!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Women and Girls

In what other ways could you help girls overcome health barriers to being able to attend school?
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/20/2018 8:18 AM
I can't imagine having a single part of being a female and all the natural things that entails keeping me away from education or life in general. Men and women are equals and should be treated as such in education as well as all other aspects in life. Giving a femme kit can give a female a chance as continuing education and having equal rights as any man. It's a small gift that has the potential to make a huge impact. DO IT!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Transport

How do your transportation choices affect your engagement in your community? Does your experience differ while walking, riding transit, biking or driving?
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/20/2018 8:13 AM
I enjoy my bike ride every morning. I am in a better mood when I get to work due to the fresh air and exercise. It doesn't hurt that I typically see an eagle or hawk flying next to me.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transport

Take a moment to think of places you frequent often (work, grocery store, natural areas). Could you choose one or two days a week to schedule driving with a friend, neighbor or co-worker to these places?
Kristilyn Vercruysse 4/05/2018 4:52 PM
it's a great thing i work with my spouse. we drive to work everyday we don't bike.

Read More