Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge 2025

Augustus Crosson

Asheville High School/SILSA

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
556 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

60

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

72

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

351

minutes

spent learning

Augustus's actions

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn About Aquaculture

Improved Aquaculture

Each day, I will spend at least 15 minutes learning about sustainable aquaculture.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY 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

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn About Cattle Farming

Improved Cattle Feed; Improved Manure Management

I will spend 20 minutes researching cattle feed and manure management, or visiting a dairy farm to learn about their farming practices.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Learn More about Silvopasture

Silvopasture

I will spend at least 14 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

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

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 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Smaller Portions

Reduced Food Waste

I will use smaller plates and/or serve smaller portions when dishing out food.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

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

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

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Eat Mindfully

Reduced Food Waste

I will eat all of my meals without distractions, e.g., phone, computer, TV, or newspaper.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Health and Education

Learn about the Need for Family Planning

Family Planning and Education

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning more about the need for family planning globally.

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

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

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
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

What was the most interesting thing to learn about sustainable aquaculture practices?
Augustus Crosson 4/21/2025 5:36 PM
I think that the most interesting thing that I learned about sustainable aquaculture practices is how many emissions are really released. It's pretty crazy how much fish produce and how much they eat and the amount of excrement they release.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Mindful eating is healthier for us than eating with distractions. How does your eating experience differ when practicing mindfulness?
Augustus Crosson 4/21/2025 5:31 AM
When I practice mindfulness when eating it provides me a more enjoyable experience. If I eat mindfully the people I speak more with the my family and I enjoy eating more because I have the people that I love around me and where I can talk to them.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation

What have you noticed on your daily walks? What have you enjoyed? What infrastructure changes could make your walks more enjoyable or possible?
Augustus Crosson 4/21/2025 5:27 AM
I have noticed a lot of wildlife on my walks which has been really nice just to see all of the plants and animals. Though sometimes I do see a lot of trash around which really sucks. I think that my walks could be better if I decided to pick up some of the trash that I saw.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

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 from eating/serving smaller portions?
Augustus Crosson 4/21/2025 5:25 AM
Eating/serving smaller portions can cause us to spend less money and have more leftovers that we can eat later. Plus after that we will probably start to eat less and enjoy our portions of food more.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry

What are some attributes of an offset that you should consider before purchasing them?
Augustus Crosson 4/10/2025 8:25 AM
Some attributes of an offset that you should consider before purchasing them are how it can change the world. If more carbon offsets are purchased it will encourage more people to think about the environment and what they do. Also still just purchasing them is a way to reduce carbon emissions over the world helping with global warming. If people choose to use these and really focus on the environment it will help the world and everyone inside of it.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry

What did you learn about the climate impact of refrigerants? How do supermarkets contribute to this impact?
Augustus Crosson 4/10/2025 8:21 AM
I learned that refrigerants have an insane amount of heat trapping potential. These refrigerants have major problems and if not used efficiently can cause major problems. Supermarkets contribute to this impact by using these refrigerants because its easier and probably cheaper for them. They also put them in certain products continuing their use.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Health and Education

What did you learn about the need for family planning? How do the needs of different people in different places compare to each other?
Augustus Crosson 4/08/2025 7:40 AM
Family planning is incredibly important for our future. First women need to be able to have choice in our world and equality needs to happen for our species to continue to grow. Then once women have choice and are able to have a family plan so that they can actually do what they want, the amount of emissions and population growth will slow. Then education goes hand in hand with this, when people are able to plan its easier for children to get their education and for people to actually be able to provide for their children.
In our country our needs are so different. In our part of this world we have enough resources for most of the people that we have but it is not distributed so that everyone can survive. Then in third world countries where poverty is so much more common they just needed the basic needs for life. Where poverty is so common things like food, housing, and clean water are needed for the people to be able to survive. Another thing that I haven’t talked about much is

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health and Education

What are some of the barriers that exist to women's equal participation and/or representation in your community?
Augustus Crosson 4/07/2025 7:53 AM
Women who are less economically stable in my community have more problems missing school because they need to help their family. Then when they miss school chances of things like child pregnancies and harder times getting jobs in their future get much higher.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings

Cities and towns need to plan for climate change. How can your city or town make its climate action plans equitable and socially just?
Augustus Crosson 4/04/2025 8:05 AM
I think to make climate action plans in Asheville equitable and socially just the people of Asheville actually have to try and help the people with lower incomes and try and actually do these climate actions. Also our city should build more affordable housing but also include those climate plans to help with the climate change.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks

Much of Indonesia's peatlands have been drained so they could be replaced with palm oil or pulp and paper plantations. How can you make choices that help to protect peatlands, even if you live far away from one?
Augustus Crosson 4/03/2025 7:41 AM
I can probably support operations to restore peatlands and prevent the destruction of them so over time they can do better. Also I can spread information about peatlands and how their protection is needed to continue to slow global warming. Peatlands are things that need to be protected and not exploited so more carbon can be sequestered and reduced and not released.

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