2018 People's Ecochallenge

October 3 - October 24, 2018

Jason Stiffler

"I'm not on any particular mission. Mostly I'll just be consuming less -- and possibly grumbling like a curmudgeon with an irony problem."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
994 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

70

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

4.0

lightbulbs

replaced
UP TO

176

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

360

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

1.0

energy audit

conducted
UP TO

105

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

3.0

locally sourced meals

consumed
UP TO

21

pounds of paper

have been saved

Jason's actions

Energy

Turn it off

I will keep lights, electronics, and appliances turned off when not using them.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Plant an Herb Garden

I will plant an herb garden in my home, workplace, or dorm room.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Adjust the Thermostat

I will adjust my thermostat down 2 degrees from usual when I use the heat, and up 2 degrees when I use air conditioning.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Choose Two-Sided Printing

I will save up to .21 lbs (.09 kg) of paper each day by switching from one-sided printing to two-sided.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Buy From a Farmers Market

I will purchase produce and meat from a local farmers market or food co-op.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Exercise Daily

Exercise is a great stress blaster! I will exercise for 5 minute(s) each day.

COMPLETED 21
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

Choose LED Bulbs

I will replace 4 incandescent lightbulb(s) with Energy Star-certified LED bulbs, saving up to $14 per fixture per year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Replace Manual Thermostats

I will replace manual thermostats with programmable ones.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Nature

Leave No Trace

I will practice the seven principles of Leave No Trace when doing nature activities alone or with family and friends.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Water

Install a Toilet Tank Bank

I will reduce the amount of water flushed and save up to 11 gallons (41 L) of water each day by installing a toilet tank bank.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Learn More about Food Deserts

I will spend 180 minutes learning about food deserts and find out how I can advocate for healthy and fresh food in my region.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Support Native Communities

I will use the resource links provided and spend 180 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

Energy

Online Energy Audit

I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Join a Local CSA

I will sign up for a local CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture).

COMPLETED
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?

Jason Stiffler 10/24/2018 6:18 PM
Had fun doing the Eco thing with every one. See you all back here next year!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

Dependable fresh food, better prices (cutting out carbon-heavy supply chain and grocery stores), supporting local farmers and building resilient communities are just a few benefits of local food systems. Which of these benefits (or others not listed here) inspire you the most?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 11:56 AM
The Reflection Question asks: "Which benefits of my CSA inspire me the most?"

Ever since joining the Imperfect Produce CSA, I've enjoyed having misshapen fruits and vegetables delivered to my home. The convenience is nice, but I guess what I find most inspiring is knowing that all this unusual-looking food used to be donated to food banks, but is now giving middle class people like me an opportunity to congratulate ourselves, even as what was a donated food source becomes a profit-generating commodity. It just goes to show, this capitalism thing can really work, if we just all try a little harder.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy

What most interested or surprised you about your own energy footprint?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 11:50 AM
The Reflection Question asks: "What most surprised you about your own energy footprint?"

It's strange. I answered a bunch of multiple-choice questions with limited and radically oversimplified answers, and the results turned out not to match my living circumstances in any meaningful way. It was almost as though I was unable to learn anything specific about my home, just by answering a few questions on a generic web questionnaire. I'm sure none of us could possibly have seen that coming.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

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?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 11:42 AM
The Reflection Question quotes Winona LaDuke, and then asks: "Why is balance important to sustainability?

I find that the sustainability of our multicultural nation is often dependent upon balance. For example, consider what happens when environmental contests quote famous Native Americans out of context, in ways that reduce the cultural complexity of Native Nations down to a simplistic caricature -- one that conveniently resembles mainstream white, middle-class environmental ideals. In such situations, I find it hard to sustain a balanced tone in my answers to reflection questions.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Water

Name some of the human activities impacting the health of water systems, both locally (your watershed) and globally (freshwater and oceans). What can you do to improve the health of water systems?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 11:06 AM
Well, we could stop trying to sell all the pristine Cascades snow melt to Nestle. There's a downside, of course, because water is far less dangerous to the community when it's safely trapped in a billion tiny plastic bottles, where it can't get out and hurt us. But sometimes we have to sacrifice for the good of nature.

Read More
- Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 5:52 PM
  Well said, Christy -- and well done!
  
  Read More
- Christy Zeringue 10/23/2018 3:17 PM
  Nestle wants more than just snow melt. They want to take spring water bring fed into a fish hatchery that is used to raise Salmon and Chinook and trade that water with Cascade Locks municipal water. In order to do this, Nestle has to change the Oregon state legislative law which states that no free-flowing water can be traded, bought, or sold. The water is the property of all Oregonians. I have been fighting this for over ten years now. STOP NESTLE!
  
  Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste

Choosing two-sided printing can be an easy adjustment on your computer settings. How can you help others make this same switch? Can it be encouraged company wide?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 11:03 AM
One easy solution would be to install signs in all the offices that say "leave your printer settings alone: they're already set to two-sided printing." I really believe that if more people weren't maliciously re-setting the printers to one-sided printing for no discernible reason, there would be a lot more two-sided printing going on around here.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature

Educator Stephanie Kaza advises her students to focus on what they care about most when addressing the enormity of ecological problems. Is there a specific area you feel particularly called to work on?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 11:02 AM
I'm super worried about global warming, so I'm starting an initiative to install air conditioners in Tryon Creek Park to make sure the environment stays the right temperature. It's, you know, a calling.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health

What are the implications of access to nutritious food for a community?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 11:00 AM
Generally, it implies that the neighborhood has lots of disposable income, and is likely to attract swarms of Zupans and New Seasons to come harvest all that low-hanging cash.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health

How can you incorporate other personal values (like quality time with friends or spending time in nature) into your exercise routine?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 10:59 AM
I've invited all my neighbors over to watch me use my stationary recumbent bicycle. It turns out to be comedy gold, what with all the crying and swearing, and we're thinking about taking in the road -- vaudeville style!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

What is one food choice that you make, or could make, that would do more good and less harm?
Jason Stiffler 10/23/2018 10:57 AM
I should really be eating a lot more quinoa. Right now, the native peoples of Peru still have a tiny amount of it left in their country. I figure if I work super hard at it, I can solve that for them.

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