Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge 2025

Romina Mendoza-Worley

Asheville High School/SILSA

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
406 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

12

more servings

of fruits and vegetables
UP TO

49

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

30

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

362

minutes

spent learning

Romina's 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 1
DAILY ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

More Fruits And Veggies

I will eat a heart healthy diet by adding 4 cups of fruits and vegetables each day to achieve at least 4 cups per day.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 12 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

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 3
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

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

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

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

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 0
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 1
DAILY 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

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?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/21/2025 8:23 PM
I’m not one to eat a ton of food, even though my mom says I should eat lots of food. I sometimes use small plates, but I definitely should use them more, since I’ll have less work to do when washing dishes. Using a smaller dish can also help prevent me from wasting food and getting full without finishing.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Have you ever had a significant experience in nature that altered your perspective or focus? If so, please describe it.
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/21/2025 7:56 PM
My mom tends to our communities garden every single year, along with her friend. I always help out, and since it’s spring, it’s about time we start to plan what we want to grow. Every year we plant sunflowers and other types of flowers. My mom always saves the seeds of plants from the year before and collects other seeds of plants while waiting for spring to come around. I’m excited to see what plants eventually sprout.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

How does eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat positively affect yourself, other people, and our planet?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/20/2025 4:54 PM
I haven’t had watermelon in a while, so i decided I should give it the attention it deserves. I personally like eating my watermelon with salt, it gives it extra flavor and I picked it up from my dad.

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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?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/11/2025 7:18 AM
I used to take walks all the time, especially during quaratine, but it was always noisy because of the cars and other vehicles passing by. It's still that way today, and it smells like gas a lot because of the cars.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry

What did you learn about the climate impact of refrigerants? How do supermarkets contribute to this impact?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/10/2025 10:06 AM
Refrigerants like HFCs and HCFCs increase the heat in the atmosphere more than carbon dioxide. It’s important that we know this because we all use refrigerators and cooling appliances, especially stores. Supermarkets usually have a cold section that sells milk, eggs, meat, cream, and other things. To keep these in good quality, refrigerators and cooling systems are needed. There are so many supermarkets that exist and run all day, meaning more refrigerators are running everyday, which contributes to global warming a lot.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry

What are some attributes of an offset that you should consider before purchasing them?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/09/2025 9:29 AM
Before purchasing a carbon offset, I should check the price, the plan, and the goal that is trying to be achieved. It’s important to make sure I’m supporting a company or business who wants to do good for the Earth, in a healthy way. I also need to make sure this will benefit everyone in the long run, including habitats and organisms, not just humans.

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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?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/08/2025 9:49 AM
Family planning benefits us all and we should all consider it, not only for our well-being, but for the world as well. Family planning benefits our health, our future generations health, our rights, our wealth, and Earth. By taking part in family planning, we can reduce carbon emissions, reduce food and other wastes, slow global population growth, live longer lives, and stay employed. Having children when you’re ready will also help you feel like you have a more stable life, and you can even choose to not have children at all.
The needs of different people in different places differ in many ways. Depending on where you are, you can be introduced to different ideas of life and choices. Different places also are economically different as well as rely on different resources, like renewable or non-renewable ones. Many places also do or don’t have access to things such ashealthcare, education, and technology. There are also different jobs. All of these things contribute to what one needs to live a stable life.

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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?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/07/2025 9:53 AM
Some barriers that exist to women’s equal participation and/or representation in my community are probably the way others view women and take advantage of them. This goes to being as simple as stealing answers for a worksheet the class is doing. I’ve seen some not do worksheets at all and then go to someone asking for answers, most of the time that I’ve seen this happen, it’s a boy asking a girl for answers. I also feel that social media has a large impact on everyone’s view of each other. Many girls have been silenced because of social media, whether they’re trying to be heard and are being ignored, or they’re too embarrassed to even say anything because they don’t live up to social media’s standards. Not too long ago, when the school held a dodgeball game, I only saw one team that had a mix of females and males, and that team was full of teachers. The other teams were made up of students and were only made of boys or girls. That’s just another thing I observed.

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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?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/04/2025 9:57 AM
Cities should focus on the most worn down, abandoned, and trashed places first. Or at least the places that cause the most pollution. By doing this, not only will they be able to support lower-income residents, but it’ll also quicken the process of cleanup by getting the hard stuff taken care of first. Once areas get cleaned up and improved, the city and government should support the residents who already lived their before improvements, if the price were the rise.

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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?
Romina Mendoza-Worley 4/03/2025 10:02 AM
Even if I live far from peatlands, I can still encourage people to help take action in not purchasing items with palm oil or supporting companies that influence deforestation by spreading the word. I can also support companies that do not approve of deforestation. Since peatlands are a type of wetland, I can visit a wetland near me and learn more about wetlands and how to care and protect for them.

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