Emily Haas

Although it is becoming more difficult to keep up with all of my daily and one time challenges, and I sometimes am not able to complete all of my daily challenges each day, I have noticed that I am more environmentally conscious than I have ever been. Just learning about the different actions, I can do to reduce my ecological footprint, and reading the different resources listed on the Eco Challenge website have helped me to make more sustainable decisions and actions. The daily challenges I chose for this past week were conserve toilet water and drive less. The one-time challenges I chose were learn about renewable energy and sign up to vote. I struggled a lot with the drive less challenge because I live downtown and most of my friend’s live in the apartments so I drive a lot to the apartments. However, a few days this week, instead of driving to the apartments, I decided to leave a few minutes earlier and walk. I actually really enjoyed walking instead of driving and thought it helped to clear my mind and put me in a good mood, especially when it was sunny outside. I was surprised by how much of an impact walking over driving had on my day, as it not only improved my mood, but also made me feel better because I was walking more and getting more exercise. The conserve toilet water daily action was also challenging. I actually did not even realize how much water is used when you flush the toilet, so just learning about those statistics under the resources listed for that action opened my eyes to the different ways I can conserve water daily. However, I was to really able to do this challenge following their recommendations listed under the resources because the main recommendation is to not flush the toilet after every time you use it. As I share a bathroom with other people, that is currently not something I can do. However, having this as a daily challenge has made me more aware of the water I unconscious waste every day, such as when I brush my teeth or wash dishes, and has made more conservative of the water I use in general. The one-time challenge of learning about renewable energy resources was surprising and interesting to learn about. I didn’t realize how many renewable energy sources are available in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has several available sources of renewable energy, which include solar, geothermal, wind, hydropower and biomass. I did not realize that geothermal energy was even an option in Pennsylvania, so it was interesting to find out that that is an available renewable energy resource, even though geothermal electricity is currently not a practical option in Pennsylvania. The one-time challenge of registering to vote in Pennsylvania was an action I would have done regardless of the Eco Challenge, but having it be part of my Eco Challenge actions made me more aware of how much politics influences environmental policy and how important it is to vote for leaders who will prioritize sustainability. 

The main barriers I face in making these daily lifestyle changes permanent are time, the weather, and living with other people. In terms of driving less, walking biking really is more time consuming, and although I can definitely make more time to walk instead of drive more often, sometimes it is just more convenient to drive, such as when it is raining or snowing. Additionally, I really am not a cold weather person and although I am really enjoying walking more now, I know that once it starts to get colder outside, I probably won’t walk as much as I am now, especially if the ground is icy. I also do not like to walk alone at night, so if I know I am going to be at the apartments until late at night, even though I go over during the day, I will probably drive there so that I don’t have to walk home at night later. In terms of conserving toilet water, I would definitely try to conserve toilet water more if I lived alone, but while I am still at Bucknell, I probably will not be able to recommended actions listed under the resources.  

I am probably less willing to make these lifestyle changes permanent just because I think there are more barriers I face in being able to do them every day. However, I do want to make more efforts to drive less and hope to continue this action. 

The daily challenges I tried over the past week were practice gratitude for Earth (nature) and reduce refined sugar (health). The one-time challenge I tried was try a new way to prep (food). The daily challenges I chose for week 2 were more wellness-focused than sustainability-focused. The categories I chose from were nature, health, and food. Although these challenges are not necessarily directly related to the environment, trying them this past week made me more aware of how many aspects of my life indirectly affect the environment. For example, reducing the amount or refined sugar I ate this week made me more aware of what kind of food I am putting into my body and how it is sourced. The packaged foods I eat not only produce most of the waste I generate (which I discovered from my personal waste audit), but are also the source of most of the refined sugar in my diet. Reducing the refined sugar, I consume everyday consequently reduces the amount of packaged foods I am consuming, which not only causes me to purchase and eat more whole, organic foods, such as fruits and vegetables, but also reduces the amount of waste I am producing. For example, a few nights this week, I opted for frozen grapes and bananas for dessert, rather than packaged chocolate, and for a snack I chose to eat carrots instead of packaged popcorn. I have also noticed that eating less refined sugar has made me feel more energized throughout the day and makes me feel better. For the second daily challenge I tried this past week, I realized that practicing gratitude for the Earth is an action I kind of do already, as I really love nature and spending time outside. But having that specific challenge be part of my daily actions made me more conscious of appreciating nature and it made me feel more connected to nature and more grateful. I was surprised by how being consciously in nature and being aware of my surroundings for even just 20 minutes a day made me feel so much more relaxed and improved my mood. Finally, I really enjoyed trying the one-time challenge of trying a new way to food prep. I always want to cook more at school, but never make the time to do it. Choosing this challenge forced me to meal prep and cook, and I really enjoyed it. It made me more conscious of what I was putting into my body and also made me aware of the waste I produced while I was cooking. I actually even composted some of my vegetable food scraps! 
 
There are several barriers I face in being able to permanently reduce the amount refined sugars I eat every day. Refined sugars are in so many of the packaged foods I eat and packaged foods are often convenient and easy when I do not have enough time to cook. A lot of the snacks I eat are packaged foods, such as pretzels or cookies, which both contain refined sugars. For the challenge practicing gratitude for nature, the main barrier I face is the weather. I really hate cold weather so when it starts getting colder outside, I will probably spend less time outdoors.For the one time challenge of finding a new way to prep, it is sometimes difficult to make time to meal prep and cook during the week when I also have homework assignments to do at the same time, so time is a barrier I face in making meal prepping a permanent lifestyle change. 
 
I think I am willing to make the challenges I tried this week permanent lifestyle changes. I think they are all doable and I also think I will benefit from them a lot if I try to incorporate them into my life. The resources listed for reduce refined sugars outlines several easy ways to cut back on sugar, some of which I had never throughout of before. One suggestion was to avoid sauces with lots of sugar. I realized that I don’t really consider sauces as part of a meal and therefore don’t really consider they’re calorie content that much. However, a lot of sauces are loaded with sugar, which then adds unscary, empty calories to your diet. For example, a single tablespoon serving of ketchup may contain 4 grams of sugar. An easy alternative to this is to purchase sauces that have no added sugar. Obviously, I won’t be able to completely stop eating refined sugars, but I am willing to work towards permanently reducing the amount I am eating every day and being more aware of how much sugar is in different foods. I am also willing to make practicing gratitude for nature a permanent lifestyle change. I have already started doing my work outside to get more time outdoors every day and I really enjoy it. I hope to continue to think of different ways I can spend more time outdoors. I think meal prepping will be more difficult to make a permanent lifestyle change while I am still in school and don’t have my own kitchen, but I hope to incorporate this action into my life more after I graduate. 

The daily challenges I tried over the past week were meditation (simplicity) and skip the straw (waste). The one-time challenge I tried was a personal waste audit (waste). I really enjoyed the meditation challenge and was actually able to keep up with that challenge almost every day (I think I skipped one day). I have always wanted to incorporate meditation into my daily routine. I have tried it in the past, but have never made the commitment to sticking with it on a daily basis. After a week of practicing meditation for at least five minutes each day, I really do think it has had an impact on my personal wellbeing. After meditating, I feel more relaxed, calm, and refreshed. I have been meditating either at night or when I feel stressed and I have noticed that meditating actually makes me feel more motivated to do my work. It has been helping to clear my mind and create more space for productivity. The skip the straw challenge was not as difficult because I realized that I do not really use straws that often. I got iced coffee twice this week and the first time I forgot to bring a reusable straw so I accepted the plastic one, but the second time I refused the plastic straw and used a reusable one instead. This is not really a daily challenge for me, however, because most days I am not using a straw. It has made me more conscientious about making sure I have reusable straws in my car or in my backpack so that I am not tempted to accept a plastic straw. The personal waste audit was probably the most surprising challenge I tried. It was really eye-opening to see how much trash I produce in a day. I like to think of myself as environmentally-conscious and over the years I have made various efforts to reduce my waste, however, the amount of waste I unconsciously produce each day was disturbing. I realized that most of my waste comes from food packaging. I have been cooking for myself a lot this semester and all of the food I buy comes in plastic packaging which adds up over time. 

            The barriers I face in making these lifestyle changes permanent are primarily time and money. I would love to keep up with the meditation challenge every day, however, I know that sometimes I will be lazy about it and not put int the time to meditate, even if just for a short time. The barriers I face in skipping the straw are forgetting to bring reusable straws with me which I plan to fix by keeping reusable straws in my car and backpack. The personal waste audit will probably be the sot costly change because since a lot of my waste was from food packaging, one way to reduce my waste would be to shop a farmer’s markets more often or buy food in bulk. However, sometimes these options are more expensive, especially shopping at a farmer’s market, so making an effort to reduce my waste will probably cost more money. 

            Based on the resources I read for the challenge I chose and personal experience, I think I am willing to make these lifestyle changes permanent. The resources listed for meditation highlights that setting aside time for formal meditation is essential in setting a routine, getting comfortable with the practice, and sticking with it. It also emphasizes that even just a few minutes a day can make a big difference. I truly believe that even just five minutes today can have profound effects, and so I think I am committed to putting aside five minutes a day for meditation, and hopefully this number will increase over time. I am also committed to saying no to plastic straws. The resources tab also suggested encouraging others to reject plastic straws, such as when you’re eating out. I think this will be more of a challenge to incorporate into my life, but I am willing to try it. The resources listed under personal waste audit highlights identifying areas of excess waste, which I found to be food packaging, and then making a conscious effort to reduce this waste. Although I said I thought that this would be the most costly lifestyle change, the resources lists many ways in which that is not the case. In some cases, it may be more expensive to reduce food packaging waste, but there are a lot of inexpensive ways to do this as well. Under the resources tab, there is a list called 25 Easy and Simple Ways to Reduce Landfill Waste. Many of the suggestions on this list involve cost-free alternatives, such as meal planning and using food scraps. I am willing to incorporate many of the suggestions from the list into my life.