Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge 2025

Evelyn Bruce

Asheville High School/SILSA

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
421 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

2.0

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

3.0

lightbulbs

replaced
UP TO

3.3

pounds of paper

have been saved
UP TO

49

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

543

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

580

minutes

spent learning

Evelyn's actions

Industry

Green My Job

Industry

Using Drawdown's Job Function Action Guide, I will learn about climate actions I can take at work.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Properly Dispose of Refrigerants

Refrigerant Management

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning how to properly dispose of my refrigerator, freezer, and other refrigerants at the end of their useful lives.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Go Paperless

Recycled Paper

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

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

Conservation Agriculture, Regenerative Annual Cropping

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about the need for more regenerative agriculture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Go for a Daily Walk

Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 15 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Sinks

Learn More about Silvopasture

Silvopasture

I will spend at least 32 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

Tropical Forest Restoration

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Research Peatlands

Peatland Protection and Rewetting

I will spend 30 minutes researching the environmental benefits of peatlands and what is being done around the world to conserve and restore them.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Research Barriers to Participation and Representation

Family Planning and Education

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the barriers to women's equal participation and representation around the world.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Learn about 'Green Gentrification'

Multiple Solutions

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about green gentrification and how it relates to city planning for climate action.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Learn about the Need for Family Planning

Family Planning and Education

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the need for family planning globally.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Reduce Food Waste

Reduced Food Waste

I will keep a daily log of food I throw away during Drawdown Ecochallenge, either because it went bad before I ate it, I put too much on my plate, or it was scraps from food preparation, and commit to reducing my food waste throughout the challenge.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 1 meatless or vegan meals each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Transportation

Use Muscle Power

Multiple Transportation Solutions

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 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Research the Climate Impact of Refrigerants

Refrigerant Management

I will spend 30 minutes learning about the climate impact of refrigerants and what climate-friendly refrigerants are by using the links below.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Choose LED Bulbs

LED Lighting

I will replace 3 incandescent lightbulbs with Energy Star-certified LED bulbs, saving up to $14 per fixture per year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants

Farm Irrigation Efficiency

I will prevent water runoff and increase absorbency by mulching the base of trees and plants in my yard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Composting

Composting, Reduced Food Waste

I will start a compost or worm bin where I live.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Explore My Area

Sometimes protecting nature requires feeling connected to nature. I will invest 30 minutes in exploring and appreciating a natural area in my region, whether a forest, wetland, coastal area, or somewhere else.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Explore Other Transportation Solutions

All Transportation Solutions

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching other Drawdown Transportation Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Visit the Coast

Macroalgae Protection and Restoration

I will visit a coastal or ocean site to experience the ecosystem and look for the presence of macroalgae/seaweed.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Learn about Biochar

Biochar Production

I will spend 30 minutes learning about biochar and how it can help sequester carbon.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Learn about Carbon Offsets

I will spend 30 minutes learning about carbon offsets, and why they are a necessary solution in combating a climate crisis.

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
Industry

What do you want to prioritize over material 'stuff' in your own life?
Evelyn Bruce 4/22/2025 4:15 PM
I prioritize things like my grades, soccer, my friends and family, and my social life. I think that prioritizing material things will get you nowhere in life. I think that you have to live in the moment and do things that will make you happy and better yourself as a person, instead of focusing on things like your phone or other material things in your life.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Clean air, clean water and healthy food are just three reasons to care about regenerative agriculture. What are some other reasons? How could/does regenerative agriculture positively impact you and your community?
Evelyn Bruce 4/22/2025 4:07 PM
Regenerative agriculture gives you many benefits other than clean air, water, and healthy food. It also improves soil and its health, increases biodiversity, and even helps fight climate change by storing the excess carbon that would have been going into the atmosphere in the soil. These things also reduce erosion, improve water, and more. By protecting and preserving these things, regenerative agriculture can create healthier diets and a better community.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Name some of the human activities impacting the health of water systems, both locally (your watershed) and globally (freshwater and oceans). What can you do to improve the health of water systems?
Evelyn Bruce 4/22/2025 3:37 PM
Human activities impact water systems both locally and globally in many ways. Locally, all of the pollution that comes from things like agriculture, runoff, and untreated wastewater can do things like make the rivers, lakes, and streams within our watershed contaminated and very dirty and not healthy or safe, depending on how bad it is. Globally, things like plastic, oil spills, and climate change can harm lakes, oceans, and rivers. To improve these things, people can reduce their plastic usage, avoid dumping waste, clean up their local areas, and reduce the amount of water they use.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Why do people in richer countries eat more meat than people in other places? How does eating more meat affect our bodies, our planet, and other people?
Evelyn Bruce 4/22/2025 3:18 PM
People in richer countries can eat more meat because they can afford it, have better access, and they also often see it as something that has to do with their culture. While eating meat provides a lot of nutrients and protein (and it's really good), it can increase the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other health problems, and red meat especially affects this. It also harms the environment by creating things like greenhouse gases, using large amounts of resources, and more.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

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?
Evelyn Bruce 4/22/2025 3:12 PM
I would rather use this money towards things like traveling and bettering my home life, and stuff like that. I could also put this towards a college, and I know that $1,500 won't make much of a dent when it comes to that, but over time it would still help.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Producing food that goes uneaten squanders many resources—seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labor, financial capital. Which of these kinds of waste most motivates you to change your behavior regarding food waste? Why?
Evelyn Bruce 4/21/2025 2:05 PM
I think that the kind of waste that motivates me the most is the hours of labor that go into making food that just ends up going in the trash. I think that this is really bad because it's so much energy and money just going down the drain. I think this motivates me because it hurts knowing how much we are hurting our planet when it comes to food waste.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity

Changing lightbulbs is an excellent first step toward energy efficiency! What's next for you?
Evelyn Bruce 4/21/2025 2:00 PM
I will start to turn off more lights to save more energy throughout my house. I know this is just a small impact, but it still helps!!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks

How can spending more time outdoors enhance your sense of place -- your deep knowledge of and appreciation for your surroundings?
Evelyn Bruce 4/21/2025 9:24 AM
I think that spending more time outside made me more aware of my surroundings and made me feel more one with nature. I think that doing this helped me calm down and helped my mind slow down because sometimes I have a lot of thoughts in my head, and doing this made me more relaxed. It also taught me not to take my surroundings for granted.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

What coastal site did you visit and what did you learn while there?
Evelyn Bruce 4/21/2025 8:25 AM
I visited Nassau, Bahamas, and Princess Cays. I learned that there is a lot of algae on things like rocks and surfaces that it can stick to. I stood on a rock formation and walked around on it, and algae were abundant on it, and it was very sticky, slippery, and suctiony. Algae was also collected on a rope out farther into the ocean, but I couldn't take a picture of it because it was too far out. Microalgae form due to sunlight availability and nutrient-rich surfaces, and they formed on the surfaces like the rocks I stood on because those rock was a stable attachment site.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Can biochar provide additional benefits besides sequestering carbon?
Evelyn Bruce 4/21/2025 7:59 AM
I now know that biochar can help sequester carbon regarding things like long-term carbon storage, soil health benefits, and even reducing greenhouse gas emissions. I also learned that it can help with more things other than sequestering carbon, like it can create a habitat for things like soil microbes and fungus, and this can help plant health. It can also reduce the soil acidity, and it can help the soil hold water, which is helpful in very dry areas.

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