Natalia Quintanilla

Community Team

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
749 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

12

plastic straws

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

57

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

11

disposable cups

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

1.0

public official or leader

contacted
UP TO

9.0

whole food meals

consumed
UP TO

60

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

14

meatless or vegan meals

consumed

Natalia's actions

Waste

Use a Reusable Mug

I will avoid sending 1 disposable cup(s) to the landfill each day by using a reusable mug.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Whole Foods Diet

I will enjoy 1 meal(s) each day free of processed foods.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

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.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Avoid refined sugar

I will adopt a diet free of refined sugars, which eliminates sweetened beverages, candy, and processed foods.

COMPLETED 15
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Forage for My Food

I will use the 'Learn More' resources below to find where I can forage for my own food locally.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Express My Support

I will find out who in my state makes decisions that impact the environment and express my support for more environmental actions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 1 meatless meal(s) and/or 1 vegan meal(s) each day this week.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Skip the Straw

Plastic bags and small plastic pieces like straws are most likely to get swept into our waterways. I will keep 1 plastic straw(s) out of the landfill and ocean each day by refusing straws or using my own glass/metal straw.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Switch to Cold Water

I will switch to washing my clothes in cold water, saving up to 1,600 lbs of C02 over the course of the next year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Use an Energy Meter

I will use an energy meter to monitor my energy use and identify opportunities to save power.

UNCOMPLETED
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?

Natalia Quintanilla 10/22/2018 8:58 AM
Feeling inspired and finishing strong on the last few days of the Eco Challenge !

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

What do you think contributes to people in North America eating more meat than in other places, and what does this say about North American values and ways of living? How do we start shifting a meat-focused food culture?
Natalia Quintanilla 10/22/2018 8:55 AM
Eating meat is not only part of North America's diet, but part of their culture. What very little people realize is that beef production has consequences on global warming, wastes land that could be used to feed more people, and pollutes and wastes water among other things. Beef production has exponentially greater impacts than pork, dairy and poultry production, so even if people decided to reduce (not even cut) their beef consumption, the benefits could be tremendous.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy

How can you make your home more energy efficient?
Natalia Quintanilla 10/22/2018 8:38 AM
Living in an apartment building becomes a little more challenging to make my home more energy efficient. However, I'm lucky enough to live in an apartment which is equipped with a smart thermostat which at the least lets me adjust my set point temperatures and can be configured to stay off or under a different set point temperature when the apartment is unoccupied. In addition to that, energy efficient home products also help save energy.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

Michael Pollan states that "it is better to pay the grocer (our edit: or the farmer!) than the doctor." What are your thoughts on this?
Natalia Quintanilla 10/22/2018 8:32 AM
I agree. It is proven that adopting healthier eating habits may protect you from serious health problems. In addition to that, better habits like healthy eating and regular physical activity bring other benefits like weight management and having more energy.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

What sustainability issues are most pressing or prominent where you live?
Natalia Quintanilla 10/22/2018 8:23 AM
Chicago has been a city that for a long time has shown leadership when it comes to environmental and sustainability issues. There are however, many challenges and opportunities in areas that range from green jobs creation, transportation options, clean energy generation, water, parks and open space, health, waste management, and many others.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health

To what extent do you believe that environmental factors contribute to your own health or issues with health?
Natalia Quintanilla 10/19/2018 8:46 AM
To a great extent. Just like the food we eat, the products with chemicals we use to clean our houses, wash our clothes, or surround ourselves with, definitely have an impact to our health. Luckily, I've never been a person who suffers from allergies, but what I didn't realize is there are plenty of health issues that can be developed (respiratory, even cancer!) due to the chemicals we breathe or we're in contact with from our environment. I will definitely watch a lot closer the products I buy from now on.

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Natalia Quintanilla 10/17/2018 9:02 AM
Challenge is going great ! It keeps amazing me how far little actions can take us !

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature

Amongst the motivations for foraging are: a source of food; means of income; connecting with nature; cultural tradition; or transmitting "local ecological knowledge, and a means for stewarding local and native plant populations" (McLain et al. 2012, 13). Which of these would be your chief motivation and why?
Natalia Quintanilla 10/17/2018 8:57 AM
Definitely connecting with nature. I live in a very urban environment where we rarely notice the plants and trees around us. I wasn't familiar with the concept of foraging nor with the "Falling Fruit" map to locate the many plants and edible resources around us. I noticed there are plenty on my daily path to work and close by. This will give me a great opportunity to notice and learn more about the plants and food opportunities in my close environment.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste

How could you incorporate other "R's" -- reduce, reuse, refuse, repair, repurpose, etc. -- into your lifestyle?
Natalia Quintanilla 10/11/2018 8:42 AM
Plastic (and therefore straws) has become an important topic of discussion lately and I'm thankful there are more and more efforts to raise awareness about it. When I learned what plastic is doing to our oceans and our environment I firmly decided I would do whatever it took to avoid it, from switching to different materials but also by incorporating the other "R's", reducing, reusing, repurposing, etc. on my daily tasks.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy

What do you plan to do with the money you save from making more energy efficient choices?
Natalia Quintanilla 10/11/2018 8:33 AM
Donate it to EcoChallenge.org !

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