Join the Drawdown EcoChallenge, presented by Ecochallenge.org and Project Drawdown

April 4 - April 25, 2018

Gaia Community UU Feed

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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?

Kathryn Degler 4/19/2018 11:40 AM

I realized that committing to eating to one meatless meal a day wouldn't be that hard so I did. My standard breakfast is meatless anyway.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Use Forest-Friendly Foods 1

How is your diet currently impacting deforestation? What can you do to decrease your negative impact and increase your positive impact?

Patty Page 4/10/2018 1:55 PM

I'm good on coffee (never drink it - that's easy) and cocoa (buy Rain Forest Alliance). Pretty good on palm oil - except that my favored laundry detergent potentially contains palm oil derivatives. I've emailed them to ask.
Meat, dairy and eggs: Not yet fully transitioned to plant-based diet, but do buy only local meat and eggs, organic dairy as close to local as possible.

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Patty Page 4/10/2018 1:23 PM

Just finished a "Waste Busters" challenge in my local community, which was fun, so this was like jumping from one moving train to another. And I was happy to find a UU team to join. The daily challenge I choose was 2 meatless meals a day - easy because I never eat meat at breakfast so I only had to do one other meal; hard because my retired husband is an omnivore who'd be happy to be a carnivore. Choose other actions based on where I want to expand my applicable knowledge.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Reduce Animal Products

What do you think contributes to people in North America eating more meat than other countries, and what does this say about North American values and ways of living? How do we start shifting a meat-focused food culture?

Patty Page 4/10/2018 1:16 PM

Why more meat consumption than other countries?.... Probably more marketing, starting with the government. Generations of meal-planning around "the meat." Romance with the Burger. Twin infatuations: fast foods and fast-paced lives. No simple answer, but many answers. Some people will respond to the ugly truth about the animal-to-meat industry; some to health factors; some to learning more about preparing nutritious, tasty meatless meals; some to peer pressure.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Women and Girls Start a Social Media Campaign

How are people responding to the statistics you're sharing on social media?

Erin Scrogum 4/09/2018 4:27 PM

So far, likes for the info and sad faces on Facebook.

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Susi Matthews 4/08/2018 8:07 PM

I cleaned out the refrigerator and made supper with what was on hand, enough soup for another approximately 5 meals.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity Generation Explore Other Electricity Generation Solutions

What did you find out? What is the most interesting fact you learned?

Susi Matthews 4/08/2018 8:06 PM

I learned that it might be possible to save 20% on the cost of energy for this house. We'll see if the landlords agree. And then we'll go from there.

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Susi Matthews 4/08/2018 8:04 PM

I spent 30 minutes looking into Arcadia wind power to learn about it and see if this would be a good move for this house. Have forwarded the information to the Landlords to get their input on the potential for the house.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Keep Track of Wasted Food

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?

Erin Scrogum 4/06/2018 11:37 AM

I would rather spend my money on concerts or books that wasting food, but I do not have an average family of four -- wasting food is already a major no-no in the house.

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- Beth Beek Blackford 4/06/2018 12:28 PM
  
  That's what I'm thinking too, but I'm going to keep that Food Waste Diary religiously, just to be sure. Assuming I save some money from reducing my waste, I'd invest first in putting in an organic garden, and a worm composter. After that, savings will go toward travel adventures!
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Smaller Portions

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?

Erin Scrogum 4/06/2018 11:35 AM

Portion reduction benefits:
weightloss
saves money in food costs
encourages more creative plate presentation

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