Andrea Hudgens
"I want to reclaim the quality of time I spend living life instead of worrying about the quantity of things available to me while I'm alive."
POINTS TOTAL
- 0 TODAY
- 0 THIS WEEK
- 959 TOTAL
participant impact
-
UP TO100minutesspent learning
-
UP TO60minutesspent outdoors
-
UP TO210minutesbeing mindful
-
UP TO66more servingsof fruits and vegetables
Andrea's actions
Health
Take Control
Both system and personal sustainability are important! I will develop a plan with my medical professionals to achieve my best health and live my life to the fullest.
Water
Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants
I will prevent water runoff and increase absorbency by mulching the base of plants and trees at my home or work.
Nature
Support Local Pollinators
At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators to produce fruit. I will spend 60 minutes researching which plants support local native pollinators and plant some in my yard.
Simplicity
Meditate
I will meditate or create a moment of silence for 10 minute(s) each day to reflect on things important to me.
Nature
Explore My Area
I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area.
Waste
Go Paperless
I will reduce the amount of paper mail that I receive by opting into paperless billing and ending unwanted subscriptions.
Waste
Find Local Recycling Depots
I will spend at least 10 minutes finding out where to recycle the recyclable items that I can't put in my curbside bin.
Health
More Fruits and Veggies
I will eat a heart healthy diet by adding 3 cup(s) of fruits and vegetables each day to achieve at least 4 cups per day.
Simplicity
De-Clutter My Home
I will de-clutter, clean, and donate or recycle unneeded items in my home.
Food
Weekly Meal Planning
I will reduce food waste and save money by planning a weekly menu, only buying the ingredients I need.
Simplicity
Needs Vs. Wants
I will adopt a "Needs Vs. Wants" approach and only buy things I need.
Health
Audit Toxic Cleaning Products in my Home
I will spend 30 minutes researching toxic chemicals found in cleaning supplies and personal care products and remove them from my home.
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 QUESTIONHealth Take ControlHow do environmental health, community health, and your personal health intersect?
Andrea Hudgens 10/11/2018 6:50 AMI see the 3 being holistically connected. If just looking at food availability/diversity, the availability and quality of locally-sourced whole foods can be directly affected by local industry (and chemical usage/runoff), which can then influence the individual's food choices. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONWaste Find Local Recycling DepotsOur ability to recycle certain things ebbs and flows based upon many factors. Luckily there are places that accept uncommon things to recycle or dispose of in a less harmful way. What did you find when looking for places to recycle items that can't be recycled in your curbside bin?
Andrea Hudgens 10/11/2018 6:32 AMHousehold paint. This may sound irrelevant, however for anyone who has ever bought a can of paint used part of it, and then had leftovers ... what do you do with it? Typically this is not an acceptable item for putting in household trash and/or recycling.
The best option I discovered was community recycling programs which use donated paint for remixing (to either create a new color, or a basic 'grey'), and then use that paint for rehab or graffiti abatement programs. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONWater Mulch the Base of Trees and PlantsWhere are your nearest natural bodies of water? How might they be affected by runoff?
Andrea Hudgens 10/10/2018 2:24 PMI live 2.5 blocks from a natural stream which is part of a watershed system that feeds into the Mississippi River. Subsequently before utilizing lawn care treatments - either pesticides and/or herbicides - or fertilizers, I consider the chemicals involved and the ultimate effect it could have on the environment. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONNature Support Local PollinatorsWhy is it important to take care of pollinators?
Andrea Hudgens 10/10/2018 2:11 PMI grew-up in a family that ran an apiary. At the time, I took for granted being around bees, going to bee meetings, helping out during the honey extraction, etc ... However, the older I become I realize that pollinators, in my case the honeybees, are critical for crop production and ultimately food harvest. Living in an urban area I realize how much more difficult it is for local/urban farms to have any remarkable yield without aid from pollinators, and how much more of an impact pesticides and "everyday" chemicals may have in the survival/success of pollinators. -
Andrea Hudgens 10/09/2018 4:48 AMIt is definitely a conscious effort to be mindful every day. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONSimplicity MeditateWhat would you like to invest more time in reflecting on?
-
REFLECTION QUESTIONWaste Go PaperlessReducing your paper mail can be such a freeing action to take -- by reducing what is coming in, you can reduce what is going into the recycling bin too. How does it make you feel? What is the next step you will take to reduce your waste?
Andrea Hudgens 10/04/2018 12:42 PMI struggle with clutter, especially paper clutter. I feel relief when I realize I have less paper to deal with. Ideally I would like to do an annual personal audit and make sure than any new subscriptions that pop-up are reasonably managed. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONSimplicity Needs Vs. WantsHow is creativity necessary for practicing simplicity?
Andrea Hudgens 10/04/2018 12:41 PMI'm of the opinion that if one commits to the "less is more" philosophy, or even conscientious consumerism where purchases are not thoughtless and random, that one is forced to look at available resources to fill a desire rather than just acquiring additional resources. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONNature Explore My AreaHow can spending more time outdoors enhance your sense of place?
Andrea Hudgens 10/04/2018 12:35 PMWhen encountering nature in its own form, I personally relearn the lesson of permanence. I realize that my life span is relatively minimal in contrast to nature. Trees and rocks existed before I did, and hopefully will remain long after.
Encountering nature also helps me re-scale myself. In the developed, man-made environment everything is scaled to people. Even multi-storied skyscrapers with dwarf people on the street level have a person-based scale.
It isn't until I'm standing in front of a 60+ foot tree that I realize the world is much bigger than what I see in my built environment. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONHealth More Fruits and VeggiesWhat do you think contributes to people in North America eating more meat than any other places, and what does this say about North American values and ways of living? How can we start shifting from a meat-focused food culture to a more plant-based one?
Andrea Hudgens 10/04/2018 12:30 PMI think there is a disparity with Americans/the American-lifestyle and our views on land management. Having studied the development patterns of communities, from urban cores to exurban/suburban sprawl, I can say, culturally, we have an idea that land is either expendable or unlimited vs. other countries' landlocked placement and/or cost prohibitive means for maintaining land. Subsequently, I think this perception either creates or perpetuates the association of livestock to land, and an ultimate ideology of 'unlimited supply'.