Carly Koura

PCC Eco Panthers

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
381 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

360

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

75

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

60

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

45

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

9.0

pounds

waste composted

Carly's actions

Health

Exercise Daily

Exercise is a great stress blaster! I will exercise for 15 minute(s) each day.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Go get a check up

I will make an appointment for my annual physical.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Support Native Communities

I will use the resource links provided and spend 60 minutes learning about the native populations that lived in my area prior to colonization, and what I can do to support those that still exist.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Nature

Explore My Area

I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Water

Conserve Toilet Water

I will save up to 12 gallons (45 L) of water a day by flushing only when necessary.

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Compost Food Waste

I will avoid sending up to .69 lbs (.31 kg) of food waste to the landfill each day by composting my food or learning how to.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Water

5-Minute Showers

I will save up to 20 gallons (75 L) of water each day by taking 5-minute showers.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Happiness

I will write down three things every day that I am grateful for, or send one email every day thanking or praising someone.

COMPLETED 12
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?

Carly Koura 10/15/2018 9:25 PM

I've been travelling the past 3 days and have found some of my challenges a little harder to stick to, but it's interesting noticing how waste and consumer habits are affected when we leave our day-today routines. A big one of mine is conserving toilet water but I feel like it's rude to force that on your host (and potentially embarrassing to ask for permission).

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Carly Koura 10/09/2018 11:20 PM

So far my Eco Challenge has been going great, and I think the daily challenges I've selected have actually had a big impact on my mood. For instance, the 5 minutes showers really act like a pick-me-up. Before this challenge I was definitely guilty of soaking in the shower--sometimes letting the water run for 20-30 minutes. I used to think it was relaxing but now I find that it made me feel sleepy. Pretty surprised I might actually prefer the 5 minute showers--which is the daily challenge I was most afraid of!!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Support Native Communities

Indigenous speaker and activist Winona LaDuke says that, "most indigenous ceremonies, if you look to their essence, are about the restoration of balance — they are a reaffirmation of our relationship to creation. That is our intent: to restore, and then to retain balance and honor our part in creation." Why is balance important to sustainability?

Carly Koura 10/04/2018 11:31 PM

Balance is important to sustainability because without balance, there is more destructive change than can be weathered by the current lifeforms on earth (which are dependent on creation--the creation of grasses in plains, the creation of fruit from trees, etc.).

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Carly Koura 10/03/2018 11:56 PM

I have done well on all except one of the challenges I've committed myself to this month. The challenge I'm finding most difficult is avoiding refined sugar--it's in a lot of stuff we don't even realize so I found myself accidentally eating sugar in my veggie patty of all things. That slip up is just a reminder to be more conscious of what is actually in processed foods.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Water 5-Minute Showers

Five minute showers are an impressive step toward reducing your water footprint. What is the next step you can take?

Carly Koura 10/03/2018 11:45 PM

Another step I can take towards reducing my water footprint is drinking all of the water that I pour from the tap. For instance, I often take a mason jar of water with me to bed in case I get thirsty, but if I end up not touching it I usually pour it out instead of drink it. It's a bad habit and I should really just drink it instead of thinking it's somehow "old"!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Water Conserve Toilet Water

What would a sustainable water future in your region look like? What needs to change?

Carly Koura 10/03/2018 10:48 PM

I think a sustainable water future in my region would look like curbside and backyard/front yard rain gardens in the majority of neighborhood and city lots, drought tolerant native plants in place of big swaths of grass yards, low-flow toilets or composting toilets in every home and business, and incentives to support local and sustainable produce production. Decreases in eating water-intensive agricultural products would also be a good direction (choose hazelnuts instead of almonds, or only less or no servings of meat each week).

While the city is slowly implementing most of these kinds of changes, I think home owners need help implementing these changes at a faster pace (tax incentives for replacing old toilets and water-intensive lawns, for example).

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste Compost Food Waste

New to composting? Be sure to check out the action resource links to learn tips and more about it. As you transition from throwing food away to composting, what do you notice about how much you are tossing? Do you know how your compost will be used and the benefits it has on the environment?

Carly Koura 10/03/2018 10:38 PM

Today I began saving my food scraps for compost, and I was surprised how quickly things add up! For instance, a banana peel, an apple core, an orange rind, and stems from a head of kale take up more space in the trash bin than I was aware of. Because I don't have an actual composting bin for plant-nutrient conversion yet, I'm saving everything in a container in the fridge (so as not to attract little flies) until I have something more permanent figured out. I'm excited to see where this goes!

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