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October 3 - October 24, 2018
Veronika Vazhnik's avatar

Veronika Vazhnik

EcoINL

"Environmental awareness and action - and we are half-way to success!"

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 1,638 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    1.0
    community event
    hosted or attended
  • UP TO
    1.0
    waste audit
    conducted
  • UP TO
    1,308
    pounds of CO2
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    60
    conversations
    with people
  • UP TO
    8.0
    public officials or leaders
    contacted
  • UP TO
    715
    gallons of water
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    90
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    1.0
    energy audit
    conducted
  • UP TO
    63
    locally sourced meals
    consumed

Veronika's actions

Water

5-Minute Showers

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

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Water

Install a Low-Flow Showerhead

I will save up to 15 gallons (56 L) of water a day by installing a low-flow showerhead.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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

Nature

Support Local Pollinators

At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators to produce fruit. I will spend 30 minutes researching which plants support local native pollinators and plant some in my yard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Personal Waste Audit

I will collect all of my unrecyclable, non-compostable trash to raise my awareness of how much I send to the landfill.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Avoid refined sugar

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

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Locally-Sourced Meals

I will source 3 meal(s) each day from local producers.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

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

Energy

Upgrade My Windows

I will upgrade the windows or weatherstripping in my home or office to reduce air leaks and save on energy costs.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Support Resilient Powergrids

A community can be brought to its knees without dependable power, often affecting the most vulnerable. I will write 1 letter(s) or email(s) each day to a public official or company to advocate for a more resilient power grid (e.g. microgrids, solar+storage)

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Transportation

Choose a Carbon Offset

If buying a plane ticket, I will also buy a carbon offset.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Advocate for Greener Vehicles

I will spend at least 30 minutes assessing the vehicles used by my company or college and advocate for a purchasing policy focused on fuel-efficient vehicles.

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

Community

Host a House Party

I will host a house party with 60 friends and/or colleagues to watch a movie or present a guest speaker on an environmental issue that matters to me.

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?


  • Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/25/2018 7:44 AM
    I cannot believe the challenge is over! But I can see a new one - keeping up the work that we started during the last 3 weeks! 

    Great job, EcoINL team and all the participants across the world! It is amazing to see the impact that we can have by changing our habits. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Water Install a Low-Flow Showerhead
    How can your region/household prepare for changing water situations in order to become more resilient?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/23/2018 3:25 PM
    Just today I learned that my community (Idaho Falls) will finally install water meters in the foreseeable future. That means that there will be more motivation for the households to be conscious how much water is used inside the house and in the yard. 
  • 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?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/23/2018 3:24 PM
    Moving beyond 5-minute showers I could try and regulate the temperature of the water. Just like with the washing machine, I could train myself to colder water, or at least do contrast showers which are great for your immunity. By having a lower water temperature, I will save energy for heating the water.  
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste Personal Waste Audit
    Why is it so difficult to understand the impacts our purchases and waste have on other people, animals, and places? How might your experience with this challenge impact your future consumption and choices?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/22/2018 2:18 PM
    It is often difficult to see the impact of our choices for purchases and waste because it is out of sight. Only though art-projects like the photos of birds that died because they ate plastic instead of fish that we start shaking up our consciousness. It is also that we don't always see the better choices - for example, there are some great snacks like Cliff  or Laerabar bars. Well, great from only one side - their ingredients and production. They still have a lot of packaging - how do we avoid it? I guess, by making more at home. That requires time and effort which again creates a new barrier. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Transportation Advocate for Greener Vehicles
    Reducing (or eliminating) exhaust emissions and improving public health are two benefits of green vehicles. What other motivators inspire you to consider switching to a more fuel-efficient vehicle?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/22/2018 2:10 PM
    An obvious benefit to fuel-efficient vehicles is saving money on fuel. Living in a state with some of the highest fuel prices in the country (although, of course, nowhere compatible with European prices), your fuel use makes a big difference. For example, with the Prius I get 40-50 miles/gallon which means I have to pay half what most cars would require in fuel cost. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Nature Support Local Pollinators
    Why is it important to take care of pollinators?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/22/2018 2:08 PM
    Pollinators are one of the keystone organisms that keep our planet running - if there are no pollinators, there will be close to no food: very few vegetables vegetables, very few grains, no fruit. Unless, of course, we make jobs for human-pollinators, but imagine how expensive our food would become? 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Health Audit Toxic Cleaning Products in my Home
    To what extent do you believe that environmental factors contribute to your own health or issues with health?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/22/2018 2:06 PM
    Environmental factors tremendously impact individual and public health. Just think of the terrifying impact of air pollution. Not only does it affect the physical health, but so many environmental components affect our psychological health. Similarly disturbing effects can be traced to the disrupted food chains that lead to unhealthy diets and nutrient-deficient products, that inevitably create an epidemic. 

  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Health Avoid refined sugar
    Before you started this challenge, did you think you were 'addicted' to sugar? How do you feel now?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/22/2018 1:59 PM
    I did not or do not feel like I am addicted to sugar. What I am addicted to is free food from meetings, and let's face it - most always those are treats with refined sugar. I still have to try to train my discipline about the treats. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Locally-Sourced Meals
    If you were to only eat what is in season locally, what would be the hardest for you to give up?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/22/2018 1:57 PM
    Grains! Although historically grains have been the type of food that you can store well and eat locally, nowadays it is difficult to find local grains. That is the challenge I faced in my challenged - it is straightforward how to find vegetable of dairy; but most beans, wheat, barley etc. - those products that are grown in Idaho - go to large mills and I could not find any store in town that would supply the produce locally. 
    Local CSAs focus on vegetables - and understandably so, but that means that inevitably I have to search for produce outside of the 100-mile radius. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Energy Upgrade My Windows
    How does improving your home's energy efficiency help you better live out your values?

    Veronika Vazhnik's avatar
    Veronika Vazhnik 10/22/2018 1:54 PM
    One of my values is to limit my waste - be that from cooking, from water use, and energy-vise. If I do not improve my home's energy efficiency, it is the same as producing carbon footprint for nothing - it does not even help me.