Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge

Jai’la Dobson

SiA 2024

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
451 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

7.0

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

14

zero-waste meals

consumed
UP TO

97

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

83

minutes

spent learning

Jai’la's actions

Transportation

SiA Homework for Sept 4 - PRACTICE POST

Write an Ecochallenge POST to our team, briefly stating how you currently commute to Vanier. In Quebec, because we have a lot of hydro electric power, one of the main source of carbon emissions is from transportation. What commuting options do you have that would be healthier for you and the planet? Will you be considering any changes for this semester? If so, select or create an EcoChallenge action. If not, explain what your particular challenges are and what you could do to help other people in your situation (e.g. organise car sharing, propose a bus shuttle, etc.)

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Share Your Story

SiA Homework for Sept 4 - PRACTICE POST

On Sept 4, we will have 3 guests come talk to us about sustainability initiatives at Vanier. In preparation, please read over VANIER'S 5-YEAR SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLAN 2018-2023 and then write an EcoChallenge post that includes the following: - What do you think about the plan? Is it ambitious enough? Is there anything missing or superfluous? From your own observation and experience, how well is Vanier doing? List some questions that you would like to ask our speakers regarding Sustainability at Vanier? - Identify at least 3 initiatives that you are potentially interested in contributing to this semester and explain why. (Note there is a column labelled student involvement.) For more detailed information, you can also consult the 2020 VANIER ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT in the links.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Share Your Story

SiA Homework for Sept 11 - Intro Post

Please write a short post to introduce yourself to the class. Mention some of your interests and what program you are in. If you have some ideas for your sustainability project this semester, please share - you might find a collaborator! Inspire others with the EcoChallenge actions that you are interested in trying out. Include a photo of yourself if you like.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Stay on the Ground

Telepresence, High-Speed Rail

Instead of traveling by plane, I will find an alternative way to accomplish the goals of an upcoming trip (i.e. telepresence, vacation locally).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn About Aquaculture

Improved Aquaculture

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

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

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 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 6
DAILY ACTIONS

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

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 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Health and Education

Watch Drawdown's Climate Solutions 101 Series

Family Planning and Education

I will watch Drawdown’s Climate Solutions 101 and share what I learned with others.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Share Your Story

READ Quebec's principles for a just transition AND/OR PARTICIPATE in the Sept 27 Climate March

For the week of Sept 25 to Oct 2, please read the documents attached AND IF YOU CAN, please attend the Sept 27 Climate March. Many people and organisations feel that the government is dragging its feet on the important changes required to meet our climate commitments. For your post, reflect on the value of mass demonstrations. Include a photo of a protest banner or slogan that you find effective (if you can't attend the event then find a photo on the web from other climate marches).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Zero-Waste Cooking

Reduced Food Waste

I will cook 2 meals with zero-waste each day.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Green My Job

Industry

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

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.

UNCOMPLETED
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?

Jai’la Dobson 11/12/2024 6:49 PM

Final Post
I did not necessarily find the weekly posts to be difficult, or completing the actions. It was more of an issue of forgetting to do it, however i managed to complete everything. I learned a lot of things, things that people maybe already knew. One thing I learned was how eating meat can actually have an effect on the earths health, deforestation. I know it seems simple but i just never really thought about it before. I do think my efforts make a difference, not a big one, but a difference. Even though I am only one person, but that is still one less water bottle on the floor, for example. I did not include anybody in on the eco challenge, if i had it could have pushed me to do better and learn more because of the friendly competition. I do think I can keep some of these habits going, now that this is over. I am pretty sure I can keep making meatless meals and meals with no waste.

A world without fossil fuels would have both positive and negative consequences, here are some. For the positive side, the earth would be healthier as there would be less pollution and the amount of carbon dioxide would decrease which would help slow global warming. For the negative side, there could be a loss of jobs in particular fields like oil or gas, since some jobs rely on fossil fuels and just making the switch from fossil fuels would cost a lot of money, making the switch costly.

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Jai’la Dobson 11/12/2024 6:48 PM

The Need For Family Planning
I spent roughly 32 minutes learning more about the need for family planning globally. It is depicted how significant education is, especially for women and girls. It explains the correlation between education and population growth. This means that if more women go to school, the less time they will have to make more babies. Making more babies means more resources are needed and there is an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. This is because humans need food, resources, and they need transportation, greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, lower population or more woman getting an education, can actually help with the earths health.

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Jai’la Dobson 11/12/2024 6:33 PM

Drawdown’s Climate Solutions 101
The Drawdown’s Climate Solutions 101 series was very interesting, and after watching all six videos, there were some things that caught my attention. My post would be way too long if i explained each video, but i will share some of things i learned or found interesting from certain videos. So from the first video, Stetting the Stage, i learned that agriculture covers 35-40% of the earths land and is the biggest ecosystem. In the fourth video, Supporting Sinks and Improving Society, I learned that there are two types of sinks, temporary and permanent. An example of a temporary sink is a forest that eventually gets burned down or cut and a permanent sink is a forest that stays intact. Whether some of these things are common knowledge or not, it is all new information to me. These are just 2 things out of all the information that can be gained from the series.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks 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?

Jai’la Dobson 10/30/2024 5:43 PM

Deforestation
There are many food items that cause deforestation and i indulge in a few of them. Eggs, dairy, meat and coffee are all examples of drivers of deforestation. My diet includes the majority of these food items, i typically drink coffee and eat meat everyday. My coffee also happens to have milk in it. So that is three out of the four examples I provided. Therefore, after reading for a while I realized that my diet negatively affects deforestation. In order to have space for coffee plants and animals, we need to make space, deforestation; the removal of trees for a reason, like planting and growing crops. To decrease my negative impact on deforestation, I can simply change my diet. I can lay back on the coffee so I am not contributing to the consumption of caffeine, which is available to us because of deforestation. Another thing I can do is eat meatless or vegan meals, this way I am cutting back on the amount of meat i am eating, which again, is only available due to deforestation.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Learn About Aquaculture

What was the most interesting thing to learn about sustainable aquaculture practices?

Jai’la Dobson 10/27/2024 9:15 AM

Sustainable Aquaculture
I was reading for about 20 ish minutes and it was my first time learning about aquaculture in general. Before i started, i thought my action was on sustainable agriculture, which i know a little bit more about. However, the most interesting thing i’ve learned while reading about sustainable aquaculture is that since the year 2014, aquaculture has given more fish for humans to eat as opposed to, regular fishing like commercial and seasonal fishing. Something else that caught my attention is that aquaculture is expected to take up 50 percent of where fish comes from, for humans to cook and consume. Therefore, aquaculture is more efficient than regular fishing. Mind you, i did not even know this was a thing, so it is very surprising to me.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry Green My Job

What actions will you take to green your job?

Jai’la Dobson 10/27/2024 8:29 AM

Actions That Can Help Green My Job
The Drawndown’s Job Function Action Guide depicts what an individual can do to help fight climate change at work, depending on what they do for a living. I myself am a healthcare worker, a housekeeper to be specific.
My job title was not referred to in the article, however with the help of general knowledge and skimming through the article i was able to come up with some things. Working at a hospital, specifically in my department there are a list of things that i can do to help green my job, like spreading word, energy efficiency and reducing waste. To explain, spreading word, i can help educate my coworkers about climate change and how much damage is being done to our planet, these can lead to my coworkers making their own decisions to battle climate change at work, or even at home, by extension. For energy efficiency, i can start by making sure all lights, that aren’t being used, are closed. Something else i can do is suggest changing the lighting in our hospital and swap it for a more energy efficient source of light, that requires less energy. Lastly, reducing waste, again, i can suggest that our hospital places recycling bins in all patients' rooms as opposed to solely having a garbage bin. This does not eliminate how much trash is being tossed away but it does at least organize the waste. This means the recycling won’t end up with the garbage and vice versa. However, something i can do myself, to reduce waste, is to use less gloves. This can be done by using the same pair of gloves until it needs to be changed. For example, i sometimes change my gloves after every garbage bag i change, however i can use the same pair for all garbages in the vicinity and change my gloves when i put a new bag. This can stop me from throwing away at least 20 pairs of gloves, 40 individual gloves a day, which reduces the waste that comes from me.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Reduce Food Waste

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?

Jai’la Dobson 10/27/2024 7:18 AM

Reduce Food Waste
An average American throws away close to 240 pounds of food every year. In addition, generally a family of four individuals would spend 1500 dollars on food that is thrown in the garbage, per year.

To answer the question of what i would rather use the money on is very simple. Instead of basically waisting the money, i would use it to donate to those who have no food let alone any money to waste on food. Doing this, will allow those who a deprived from one of their basic needs, food, to indulge in it. The money is going to be used anyway, it is 1000 times better to spend the money on something that can help benefit someone whether that is a friend, loved one or even a stranger as opposed to it being wasted. In addition, it helps the earth health, as less food wasted means less garbage which means less pollution, leading to a healthier planet. Stomachs that were once empty can now be full and waste bins that were once full can now be empty. It is a win win for everyone. This is the best of best scenario, the 1500 dollars can be spent on literally anything else apart from food that turns to waste. However, feeding hungry people means less waste tossed away and less hungry people, it kills two birds with one stone. Healthier people and a healthier planet.

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Jai’la Dobson 10/23/2024 7:55 AM

Thanksgiving
The main idea i got from the videos are countries’ priorities. It is evident that the economy is much more important than the environment. Countries are more prone to focus on their economic growth as opposed to the well being of its citizens and the sustainability of the earth. It isn’t that the countries are purposely trying to neglect them, it is just that while the country is trying to grow the economy the well being of the people and earth are at stake. For example, the fossil fuel industry, by burning oil and other things it leaves the air polluted. This industry makes good profit at the expense of the earth’s health and by extension, human health. Somethings that i am thankful for, that also don’t negatively impact our environment are my mom and reusable water bottles. My mom because she makes sure to not buy plastic items, especially things that is intended for one use. Straws, typically made out of paper now, are only purchased if they are metal , which limits the amount of plastic thrown out from our family. I am also thankful for reusable water bottles, as they act as a regular plastic bottle but better. You can keep them way longer than the plastic ones, which are intended for singular use. The reusable water bottles means less waste, less plastic thrown out. As for degrowth and how it can improve my life, i can make more sustainable choices like going outdoors for walks and bike rides. This not only does nothing wrong to the earth but it also can help improve the quality of my life.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Smaller Portions

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?

Jai’la Dobson 10/08/2024 6:52 PM

Smaller Portions
Obviously using less food to cook a meal means less waste, which helps keep our planet healthier. Less garbage tossed out, less garbage in landfills means less toxic substances polluting the earth. Aside from the earth, eating in smaller portions helps humans health as well. It can help prevent people from overeating. Eating in smaller portions, means less calories consumed by an individual. Consuming less calories can help with weight loss. Therefore, having smaller portions can help with the health of the plant but also people.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Stay on the Ground

What was your process like for restructuring your trip? How can you avoid more air travel in the future?

Jai’la Dobson 10/07/2024 11:48 PM

Travelling By Plane
I am supposed to take a trip in January, to New York city. I was planning on taking a plane ride there, from montreal. However, as this is one of my actions, and since joining this sustainability class, i’ve concluded it will not only be more beneficial for me but for the planet as well, if i opted to take the train instead. This is actually a win win for me because i do have a fear of planes, and it is better for the earth, as train rides require less resources, than plane rides. I think the change of transportation for my trip will be just fine. To avoid more airtime in the future, i will simply evaluate all the possible ways of getting to my destination. If it is somewhere where, my only option is to take a plane, then i would have to assess whether or not the trip is necessary. It is only then, when i’d travel by plane.

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