Ecochallenge.org

Campus Ecochallenge

Arwyn Smalley

SMU 2021 EcoChallenge

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
515 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.0

advocacy action

completed
UP TO

1.0

community event

hosted or attended
UP TO

2.0

hours

volunteered
UP TO

12

locally sourced meals

consumed
UP TO

18

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

100

miles

not traveled by car
UP TO

1,215

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

690

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

16

organic meals

consumed
UP TO

145

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

18

whole food meals

consumed

Arwyn's actions

Food

Join a Local CSA

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

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Building Resilience

Join An Outdoor Project

I will join an outdoor restoration project in my community while observing best practices in my region for not spreading COVID-19.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Neighborhood clean-up

There's a lot of litter in my neighborhood -- and in many neighborhoods. If we each clean up our own neighborhood, pretty soon they will all be clean! This prevents waste from contaminating our local environment, including getting into our rivers, lakes, and oceans.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Work from Home

I will work from home 6 day(s) to avoid my commute's carbon output.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Nature

Practice Gratitude for Earth

I will spend 10 minute(s) per day outside, practicing gratitude (prayer, meditation, journaling, etc.) for Earth and my natural surroundings.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Go for a Daily Walk

I will take a 60-minute walk outside each day.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Whole Food Lifestyle

I will enjoy 2 meal(s) each day free of processed foods.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Locally-Sourced Meals

I will source 1 meal(s) each day from local producers.

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Choose Organic Ingredients

I will enjoy 1 meal(s) cooked with organic ingredients each day.

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 2 meatless meal(s) and/or 0 vegan meal(s) each day this week.

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Joyful Movement

I will spend 30 minutes doing an activity where I'm both moving my body and enjoying myself.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Eliminate Toxic Plastics

I will avoid buying toxic plastics - including polycarbonate, polystyrene and polyvinyl - and instead replace them with durable non-plastic options.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Exercise Daily

Exercise is a great stress blaster! I will exercise for 60 minute(s) each day.

COMPLETED 7
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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Work from Home

It takes the average worker in the United States 26 minutes to travel to work. One way to fix long commutes would be to make cities more affordable. An even simpler option: promote the use of telework. How have you used technology to replace in-person meetings or work this year?

Arwyn Smalley 4/23/2021 9:11 PM

This year I did a lot of remote work, but I don't like it nearly as well as in-person teaching. I also have a hard time focusing when I'm at home, but that's probably in part because my whole family has been home, too. I think there are a lot of jobs where telework makes a whole lot of sense, though. Any jobs that are mainly technology based -- like my friends who do coding and website usability. There's no reason for them to have a commute. I feel a lot of guilt about my commute (50 miles each way). My commute is this long because of the two-body problem: my spouse works in a different city than I do. I don't have a solution.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature Practice Gratitude for Earth

Kathleen Dean Moore says that a sense of gratitude leads to a sense of moral obligation. Do you agree? How can we cultivate a sense of gratitude as individuals, and as a society?

Arwyn Smalley 4/23/2021 9:08 PM

I just attending Robin Wall Kimmerer's lecture in Seattle (on the 21st), and she encourages gratitude towards earthly gifts as a different way of looking at "natural resources." I agree that gratitude helps us feel moral obligation. I think one way we can encourage the sense of gratitude is by talking about it, and teaching our children. If we normalize it to our children and in our social group, then maybe we have a chance of encouraging this sense of gratitude in a higher percentage of the population.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Action Track: Building Resilience Join An Outdoor Project

How well do you know the area you stay in -- whether your hometown or your campus community? In what ways is a deep knowledge of your surroundings -- known as a 'sense of place' -- important to you?

Arwyn Smalley 4/23/2021 9:05 PM

I know my area quite well. I grew up here, and I spent a lot of time walking around my neighborhood with my mom. I didn't get a driver's license until I was almost 19, so I did a lot of walking. There used to be more convenient stores here -- there was a grocery store in my neighborhood when I was growing up, but now it's gone. I like knowing the area and feeling connected to this place, but I also feel like I can't truly claim to be a native here, because I'm not from an indigenous tribe. But my grandparents lived here, and my parents were born here, and I was born here and have returned here as an adult. I try to connect to my place here in the ways that Robin Wall Kimmerer describes -- I'm trying to become naturalized to this area, the way a non-native but non-invasive plant becomes naturalized. I'm trying to become "indigenous to place" as she describes it. I really like that sentiment, and aspire to it, but I'm not sure I understand all of the implications yet.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Join a Local CSA

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) inspires you the most?

Arwyn Smalley 4/23/2021 7:17 AM

I love supporting my local farmers, decreasing the fuel spent and the time food spends traveling from the farm to my table, and eating fresh food in season. As I have spent more time focusing on fresh food in season, I find that my body often craves what's in season. This time of year I'm really into salads, but by fall I'm more into a hearty roasted squash, or baked potato. It seems to work out.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health Eliminate Toxic Plastics

What single-use items (e.g. straws, coffee cups, vegetable bags, plastic bags) do you regularly use? What could be substituted instead?

Arwyn Smalley 4/20/2021 9:38 PM

I'm good with avoiding straws and coffee cups, and I bring my own grocery bags when I shop, but I really struggle with vegetable/bulk bags. When possible, I try to just go without. But when I have an item with a lot of pieces in it, like grapes or small cucumbers, I don't feel like I have a choice. When it's not a pandemic I bring large yogurt tubs to put my bulk stuff in, but right now...I'm not sure if I have a lot of options. What do you use?

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health Joyful Movement

What's your favorite activity(ies) in which you experience joy while being active and moving?

Arwyn Smalley 4/18/2021 4:54 PM

In earlier days, I used to do bellydance with friends twice a week. Since the pandemic, I haven't done any dance. This time of year, though, it's easy to be outside in the sunshine, listening to birds singing and calling, and seeing all the plants growing. These things bring me joy while I'm outside moving.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Whole Food Lifestyle

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 assertion?

Arwyn Smalley 4/16/2021 11:17 PM

Michael Pollan has a good point, and I generally agree with him about food. His point is that we can improve or maintain our health by putting healthy food into our bodies. So rather than paying a doctor to try to fix our bodies after they've been damaged, let's maintain them by eating food that helps keep us healthy. It's an investment in ourselves to feed ourselves with good food.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature Go for a Daily Walk

How do you experience your neighborhood or city differently when walking instead of driving?

Arwyn Smalley 4/16/2021 11:14 PM

I like to see what people have growing in their yards - especially this time of year. But I also see a lot of litter, which is sad. On the other hand, I feel like I am starting to recognize more of my neighbors, which I like.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Reduce Animal Products

Why do people in richer countries eat more meat than people in other places? How does eating more meat affect our planet and other people?

Arwyn Smalley 4/15/2021 9:19 PM

I guess people in richer countries probably have more access to meat. Eating meat is a perfectly OK thing to do within reason, but it's important to be aware of where your meat comes from. When I can, I try to choose ethically raised and harvested meat sources. It's not always possible, so I cut myself slack, but I try to do it when I can.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Choose Organic Ingredients

Many people say that “you can’t feed the world with just organic food.” How would you respond to that statement?

Arwyn Smalley 4/15/2021 1:48 PM

That might be true, but you can definitely feed a *lot* of the world with organic food, and organic practices renew the soil, which means it can be more productive. Using organic practices is sustainable, whereas using chemical fertilizers and pesticides is not. We can only feed the world -- long term -- if we use sustainable practices for agriculture, and everything else.

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