Drawdown Ecochallenge 2025

Caitlyn Isaac

"I’m ready to learn about attainable ways I can be more sustainable and gain a better understanding of how our actions contribute to climate change."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
502 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

775

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

30

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

35

minutes

spent learning

Caitlyn's actions

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

Transportation

Go for a Daily Walk

Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 20 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 15 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Smart Seafood Choices

Ocean Farming

I will visit seafoodwatch.org and download the app to commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Share Your Story

Share Your Aha Moment

Fill out this form and share your Ecochallenge story with us!

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 23
DAILY ACTIONS

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
Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Many states and countries have advisories on eating fish. Find out what is advised for your region. Do you think your diet choices fall within these guidelines? What steps do you need to take to make sure that they do?
Caitlyn Isaac 3/26/2025 7:47 PM
When looking on Seafood watch I noticed that most of the fish caught in California were listed as good alternatives (yellow) but not the best choice. I couldn’t find specific regional advisories aside from that. I only really eat salmon and I am now more familiar with how to use the seafood watch guide to determine what options are the most sustainable.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Share Your Story

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQKnH7V660-tDnXQQko2liN5VVgj45KQx-VxuDP5PVyKHG7w/viewform
Caitlyn Isaac 3/26/2025 3:04 PM
I really enjoyed the way that Drawdown Ecochallenge organized various actions with a clear understanding of the difficulty. I found it difficult to remember to take pictures and post each day, but I feel like I had a lot more awareness throughout this challenge. Doing the daily actions of walking and tracking my food waste as well as the one-time actions of learning about more eco-friendly practices helped me both learn and learn how to be aware.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

What coastal site did you visit and what did you learn while there?
Caitlyn Isaac 3/24/2025 9:18 PM
I visited the coast along Cannery Row. While there I saw a lot of giant kelp along the top of the water, bulk kelp on the beach, and some feather boa kelp. I also noticed various red and green algae’s along the rocks.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

How does knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates empower you to make better decisions?
Caitlyn Isaac 3/13/2025 8:51 AM
According to the USDA use by, sell by, and best by dates are all for food quality not for food safety. This empowers me to not throw out food just because it is past the posted date. Unless the food shows signs of spoilage or mold it can still be eaten, sometimes I feel nervous about eating stuff after the date even if it tastes and smells completely fine but now I know it is totally safe.

Read More
Caitlyn Isaac 3/06/2025 11:19 PM
Today was similar on my amount of food waste. I’ve been doing well with sticking to eating my leftovers but I know when I clean my fridge at the end of the week there will be some waste.

Read More
Caitlyn Isaac 3/05/2025 6:40 PM
Today I only had a little bit of food waste. My breakfast and lunch were waste free aside from an egg shell. Dinner I had the ends of a zucchini and a few extra pieces and I made muffins so I had a banana peel and the ends as additional waste. I know other days I have more food waste but it was nice to see that I could have a day with minimal waste that could easily go into compost if our dorms had a system for that.

Read More
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?
Caitlyn Isaac 3/04/2025 9:24 PM
I would much rather use that amount of money to travel or to save for a house. It is mind boggling to me how much food waste we produce so I’m interested to see how much I waste.

Read More