Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge

October 1 - October 31, 2023

Gayle Giovanna

Strafford Striders

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
962 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

54

locally sourced meals

consumed
UP TO

93

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

485

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

588

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

300

minutes

spent learning

Gayle's actions

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 31
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Support Local Food Systems

Plant-Rich Diets

I will source 25 percent of my food from local producers each day. This could include signing up for a local CSA, buying from a farmer's market, visiting a food co-op, foraging with a local group, or growing my own ingredients.

COMPLETED 31
DAILY ACTIONS

Buildings

Learn about the Legacy of Redlining

Multiple Solutions

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about the legacy of redlining and how city planning and environmental justice issues are interconnected.

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

Buildings

Upgrade My Windows

Insulation

I will upgrade the windows or weatherstripping in my home or office to reduce air leaks and save on energy costs.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Plan to Insulate

Insulation

I will spend 60 minutes finding out how to make my home more energy efficient through better insulation and weatherization.

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

Research Cement Alternatives

Alternative Cement

I will spend at least 20 minutes researching cement alternatives that reduce the carbon footprint of concrete.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Share Bioplastic Disposal Tips

Bioplastics; Recycled Plastics

I will spend at least 15 minutes researching how to properly dispose of bioplastics in my city and share this information with 4 friends, family, and/or colleagues.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Practice the 5 Rs

Recycling

I will practice the "5 Rs" — refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle — to reduce my waste more than I can with just recycling alone.

COMPLETED 31
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Tend A Garden

Conservation Agriculture

I will tend to a garden, or prepare for one, each day using sustainable gardening practices.

COMPLETED 31
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Support Nutrient Management

Nutrient Management

I will research and support local farmers who have made the decision to not use synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn about Local Indigenous Practices

Indigenous Peoples' Forest Tenure

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning how local indigenous tribes are caring for the land by participating in a training, workshop, or presentation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 3 meatless or vegan meals each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 31
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity

Protesting Biomass For Electricity Generation

I will write three emails to the electric companies in my region, to tell them why I choose to not have electricity in my three-season cabin, rather than utilize the electricity from forest-destroying biomass generation. It is NOT green energy!

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Protesting Biomass For Electricity Generation

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Learn More about Micro Wind

Micro Wind Turbines

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of micro wind.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Learn More about Wave and Tidal Energy

Ocean Power

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of wave and tidal energy.

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
Electricity Learn More about Wave and Tidal Energy

What did you learn about wave and tidal energy? How do they compare to other energy sources?

Gayle Giovanna 10/31/2023 3:31 PM

Fascinating! Why isn't wave and tidal power more well-known as a renewable resource? It makes so much sense! It is rather like regular hydropower, with turbines to make electricity from the water power. But of course the variability in tides (neap and ebb) would make a huge difference. I wonder whether a rise in sea level would necessitate the building of new dams? Also, how about increased storm surges, due to more powerful hurricanes?

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings Learn about the Legacy of Redlining

How does city planning and design relate to equity and climate change?

Gayle Giovanna 10/30/2023 4:49 PM

Having grown up in a redline district, I know first-hand about the environmental hazards that come with redlining. My home city, when I was a child, always had a methane flame burning, from Monsanto processing plant. The area was a superfund site for many years, with heavily contaminated soils. It always had an oily chemical stink. Now it has been cleaned up, but nobody from our city lives there. It has been turned into a casino and a hotel, a mini Las Vegas. Nobody I know goes to the casino, or stays in the hotel.

Read More
- Jeanne Poirier 10/30/2023 7:39 PM
  
  In a perhaps inappropriate way, climate justice.
  
  Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings Upgrade My Windows

How does improving your home's (or office's) energy efficiency help you better live out your values?

Gayle Giovanna 10/30/2023 4:37 PM

The window over my kitchen sink lets in quite a bit of cold winter air. My carpenter is going to take it out and replace it with a thermopane window, and insulate around the new window. I hope that means we will be warmer this winter.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings Plan to Insulate

What are some of the benefits of making your home more energy efficient?

Gayle Giovanna 10/30/2023 4:32 PM

I spent an hour with a local carpenter, discussing how to better insulate my three-season cabin. I have not been living there in the winter, because winters in Vermont are too cold for a poorly insulated abode. My carpenter suggested taking out the old fiberglass insulation (horrible stuff!) and replacing it with closed-cell panels. It would be nice to actually be warm!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings Learn about 'Green Gentrification'

Cities and towns need to plan for climate change. How can your city or town make its climate action plans equitable and socially just?

Gayle Giovanna 10/30/2023 4:25 PM

Even with the best intentions, city planners sometimes make improvements to sections of their cities that price lower-income residents right out of the improved neighborhood. This is called "green gentrification".

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks Learn about Biochar

Can biochar provide additional benefits besides sequestering carbon?

Gayle Giovanna 10/29/2023 12:51 PM

Biochar sequesters carbon for many years. It has many advantages- neutralizing acidic soils, holding water and nutrients and releasing them slowly are two-- but the main advantage that I can see is that it takes the carbon from the feedstock and puts it into a state that will not break down into CO2. So the carbon stays in a solid state, and does not become a greenhouse gas, as it would if you let the feedstock decay naturally.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry Practice the 5 Rs

What are some more "Rs" you could add to your daily practice to reduce your waste?

Gayle Giovanna 10/29/2023 11:55 AM

Research: do your homework to find better ways to avoid buying something packaged in materials that will then have to be recycled. For example, you could buy dried beans in bulk (bring your own bag), rather than buying them already processed in a can.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Go for a Daily Walk

What have you noticed on your daily walks? What have you enjoyed? What infrastructure changes could make your walks more enjoyable or possible?

Gayle Giovanna 10/29/2023 11:29 AM

The infrastructure on my daily walks includes trees, boulders, smaller rocks, mosses, streams, and a large pond. No concrete sidewalks, no paved roads. Most of the time not even a path or trail. My 27-acre property is surrounded by hundreds of acres of forest-land. I like to ramble around in the forest, with just the trees for company.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Support Local Food Systems

Dependable fresh food, supporting local farmers and building resilient communities are just a few benefits of local food systems. Which of these (or other) advantages inspire you the most?

Gayle Giovanna 10/25/2023 9:11 PM

The food coop that I go to has numerous advantages: First, they buy from local farmers, giving them an outlet for their produce. Second, the coop is owned by its members, thus creating community, and keeping money within the community. Third, they support numerous community organizations. This further builds community. Fourth, anything they can't sell, goes to the local food sheif, adding another layer of community enhancement. I don't know which is the most important, I just like to shop there.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Learn about Local Indigenous Practices

What did you learn about indigenous peoples' land management that you can apply in your own life?

Gayle Giovanna 10/16/2023 6:28 PM

I went to a Three Sisters potluck. The Three Sisters in Native American gardens are corn, beans and squash. We invited an Abenaki man, Earl Hatley, to talk about his garden project. Earl talked for over an hour on a community garden that employed seeds that were grown and some proportion were saved, year after year. These seeds had a long lineage, so they were more resilient to variations in climate and soil fertility than the hybrid seeds sold by most seed companies. His talk was very interesting, a window into ethnobotany of the Abenaki.

Read More