Ecochallenge.org

Campus Ecochallenge

Genyss Duncan

ENST 246: Spring 2022

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,318 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

323

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

2.0

hours

volunteered
UP TO

1.0

documentary

watched
UP TO

136

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

1,426

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

31

conversations

with people
UP TO

130

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

77

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

560

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

8.0

people

helped

Genyss's actions

Community

Talk To My Friends and Classmates

I will decide which social or environmental issue in my community is most important to me and tell 1 friends and/or classmates each day about the issue.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Power Down the Computer

I will power down my computer and monitor when not using it for more than 2 hours, saving up to (1.1) lbs of CO2 each day that I do this.

COMPLETED 28
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Learn About Renewable Energy

I will spend 15 minutes learning more about renewable energy alternatives (i.e. solar, wind, biomass) in my region.

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 14
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Support Pollution Reduction

I will spend at least 10 minutes learning about water and air quality issues in my area, how they are impacting human and environmental health, and how I can help.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Help Others

I will offer to help 1 person(s) who are in need each day.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Volunteer in my Community

I will volunteer 2 hour(s) in my community during the challenge.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Watch a Documentary about Food Sovereignty

I will watch 1 documentary(ies) about food sovereignty: the right of local peoples to control their own food systems including markets, ecological resources, food cultures and production methods.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

RESEARCH LOCAL WASTE SITES

I will spend 10 minutes finding out where landfills and/or toxic waste sites are situated in my region and which communities are most impacted by these sites.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Stay on the Ground

Instead of traveling by plane, I will find an alternative way to accomplish the goals of an upcoming trip (i.e. telepresence, vacation locally).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Water

5-Minute Showers

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

COMPLETED 28
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Learn More and Advocate

Access to public transportation is a social justice issue! I will learn about the need for public transportation in my community and tell 1 friends or classmates each day about the issue.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Meditate

I will meditate or create a moment of silence for 5 minute(s) each day to reflect on things important to me.

COMPLETED 35
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Carry my Trash

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

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Enjoy the Sunrise/Sunset

I will enjoy the sunrise and/or sunset each day.

COMPLETED 35
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Core Values

We may find more meaning and joy in life when our actions are aligned with our personal values. I will determine what my top 3-5 core values are so that I can better align my actions with them.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Engage In Active Listening

I will practice actively listening to a friend, family member, co-worker, acquaintance, or someone who I may disagree with in at least 1 conversations.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 3 meatless meal(s) and/or 2 vegan meal(s) each day this week.

COMPLETED 14
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?

Genyss Duncan 2/18/2022 8:35 PM

Again, this week was more difficult than the last week, as there were more challenges and more difficult challenges. For my one time challenges, I chose to research local waste facilities and stay on the ground. I found researching the landfill that Lewisburg uses interesting, as I learned about things like landfill gas, which is being used as an energy source (https://www.lyco.org/Departments/Resource-Management-Services/Landfill). For the stay on the ground challenge, I decided to go with a friend to Pittsburgh for spring break instead of flying home to California. I was both surprised and not surprised at how much the “CO2 saved” counter on my impact page for the EcoChallenge increased from this. I knew that flying produces a lot of CO2, but I do not think I quite realized just how much my trips to and from home actually emitted (approximately 700 pounds of CO2 per trip, according to the EcoChallenge website).
For one of my daily challenges, I chose to learn more and advocate about public transit. I chose this one because I do not have a car on campus, so I walk everywhere. This made most of the other transportation challenges irrelevant. Every day, I have either talked to or texted someone about public transportation in Lewisburg. Overall, I found it interesting how different the conversations I had were. With some people, I got no response, or they asked if this was for my environmental activism class. However, there were others that actually wanted to know more and asked about specific things like the intersection between food insecurity, national supply chains, and accessibility of public transportation. While this challenge has been fairly easy to do – with the only real barrier being the time it takes to research and talk to people – I do not think that I will continue with it beyond this challenge. Part of the reason for this is that it will get a bit tedious to do every day, and after 21 days of it, it will be difficult to keep track of who I have talked to and who I have not. However, I will keep in mind the issues that lack of or inaccessible public transportation pose in terms of things like social justice and food insecurity. I may also do some research on these issues for other locations, like my hometown. Additionally, I related to this challenge because I have experienced some of the issues with public transportation in Lewisburg. One of the sources I read talked about how buses can take six times as long as cars to get where you need to go (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cant-get-there-think-publ_b_782280). I remember last year, there were several occasions where I walked an hour from campus and an hour back for things like turning in my ballot before election day (as I was not sure I would be able to get out of class to vote), and getting both of my COVID vaccinations. During these excursions, I definitely noticed the lack of sidewalks in some areas, as well as the fact that bus services provided by Bucknell would have taken longer than walking, if they were provided at all. Based on this experience, as well as my newfound knowledge about how public transportation disproportionately impacts people of color, I will continue to pay attention to public transportation issues wherever I go (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cant-get-there-think-publ_b_782280).
For my other daily challenge, I decided to carry my trash around. In order to do this without having to carry massive amounts of trash around, I decided to reduce as much of my trash production as possible. Most of my trash comes from food containers that I get from The Bison, so I decided to stop eating there and get all of my food from Bostwick. However, I only have 5 swipes a week, so I have been going to Bostwick for lunch and bringing reusable containers to take other food for dinners and meals on the weekend. This has significantly reduced my trash production, as I can still easily fit all of the trash that I have produced this week in my backpack. However, I have still produced some trash, as there were times where I would forget that a muffin had a wrapper, or automatically grab disposable chopsticks before thinking about the trash that they produce. Again, I do not think that I will continue this challenge beyond the scope of this unit, as I do not currently have easy access to a kitchen and rely entirely on campus dining for food. This has meant that my already limited food options have become even more limited. Additionally, (this may be a little TMI), I am worried about what will happen if/when I get my period during this unit. I have switched to using a menstrual cup, but I often still have to use a pad on the first couple of nights while I sleep. If I do have to use any non-reusable period products, I will have to draw the line at carrying used pads around, as that would be unsanitary. This challenge was based off of a 30 day challenge that a man took where he carried his trash around (https://www.robgreenfield.org/trashme/). Because this was started by a man, he clearly did not have to account for things like having a period. I think that this is an interesting example of how some forms of environmental activism may not be compatible with things like one’s sex, as well as how some forms of environmental activism may interact with societal taboos (like talking openly about periods). Thus, I will not be implementing this challenge permanently due to the many barriers (and general hassle) of carrying my trash around.

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- Andrew Stuhl 2/22/2022 5:47 AM
  
  Genyss, thank you for this honest, thorough journal. I hear you on the sidewalks in our town -- Lewisburg, for as small as it is, is really not pedestrian friendly. I am part of a group in town (called Walk it! Bike it! Lewisburg) that has been working to address this. There are two developments coming to town/campus that may help - 1) a link between campus and the rail trail thru Hufnagle Park downtown and 2) a 4 mile walking loop around campus that also connects to Linntown thru the sports fields across rt 15. Also I just want to appreciate you for your honesty about the "Carry Your Trash" challenge's total blindspot about having a period and having to dispose of period products. That makes total sense and it is definitely not TMI - it is a fact of life for a huge percentage of the students in our class.
  
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Genyss Duncan 2/12/2022 2:11 PM

This week was certainly more difficult than the last week, which makes sense because there were more challenges to do. Additionally, the challenges that were added this week from water and energy were more difficult than the ones from simplicity and nature. My two new daily challenges were taking five minute showers and turning my computer off if I was not using it for more than two hours, and my new one time challenge was learning about renewable energy. For the five minute showers, I was surprised because I found it much easier to stick to the five minutes than I expected to. In the past, I have had a tendency to take longer showers, especially because I have long hair that can take more than a few minutes to wash. The first five minute shower was probably the worst, as I did not quite get all of the conditioner rinsed out of my hair in time, but since then I have been able to get through everything in five minutes without too much struggle. I think that it might be difficult to take a five minute shower all the time, as there could be instances where I am especially dirty and my hair is especially knotted (e.g. after hiking, when it has been very windy, etc.). However, on an average day I think that this is something I could actually implement. Additionally, I found that taking shorter showers has helped me get to bed earlier, meaning that I am getting at least a little bit more sleep. Furthermore, as someone from a region that is essentially in a constant drought, conserving water is something that I should strive to be better about, especially at home. Reducing the amount of time I take to shower may not make a massive difference, but it can at least make a little bit of a difference, especially considering that the average American household uses 27 gallons of water per day for showering (https://www.watercalculator.org/footprint/indoor-water-use-at-home/).
For the turning the computer off challenge, I initially thought that it would be very difficult to do. During the day, I spend a lot of time on the computer sending emails, reading, doing homework, studying, and watching Netflix, so I have not been turning off my computer during the day. However, I have been turning it off overnight, as that is often the only time that I am not on my computer for more than two hours. For the first couple days, I found it very annoying and time consuming, as completely shutting down my computer meant that all of my windows and tabs closed out. I found it tedious to have to reopen these windows and tabs every morning so I could pick up where I had left off with my work from the previous day. However, after a couple days of this, I figured there must be some way to prevent my windows and tabs from getting entirely closed out when I shut my computer down. Consequently, I looked it up, and I did find a setting in my browser that I could change so all of my windows and tabs open back up exactly as they were before shutting the computer down. Although I still have to deal with signing back into Moodle with Duo, this makes the challenge much more manageable. Before I figured out how to change this setting, I did not think I would be able to implement this into my everyday life because of how inconvenient it was to have to reopen everything every morning. However, now that I have changed the setting, I think I will continue to do this beyond the scope of the EcoChallenge. Additionally, knowing that powering down the computer saves more energy than just closing the laptop has helped convince me to keep up with this practice after the challenge ends (https://sciencing.com/turning-off-monitor-save-energy-2847.html).
As for the one-time challenge, I found it interesting to learn about the wind and solar initiatives in Pennsylvania. For instance, I did not know that Pennsylvania has enough potential for wind energy to produce enough electricity “to meet the annual electricity needs of over 1 million households” (https://www.pennfuture.org/clean-energy). Additionally, for those that produce their own energy with, for example, solar panels, there is a fight about prices for those that make excess energy that they want to sell back to utility companies – some argue that the utility companies should pay retail price, whereas others argue that they should not pay more than wholesale price (https://www.pennfuture.org/Blog-Item-Defending-Net-Metering-in-Pennsylvania). This was not something that I had considered as being an issue with the clean and renewable energy movement, or for people who want to install their own solar panels. In the future, as I start to gain more autonomy over where my energy comes from, I will do more research into my renewable options.

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Genyss Duncan 2/04/2022 8:48 PM

I felt like this week was not too difficult for me, as I chose the meditation, enjoying the sunrise/sunset, and core values challenges. Overall, I enjoyed the challenges that I chose for this week, as they generally forced me to stop whatever I was doing and just exist for a few minutes every day. I found the core values one-time challenge interesting as it made me pare down all of the things that I care about into three to five words (https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/your-personal-values.html). I found this difficult, as I tend to be wordy, and I care about a lot of different things. However, when I really looked at it, I found that most of the things that I care about can be categorized by honesty, compassion, and respect. Honestly, I was surprised that so many things can be described by three simple words. However, in doing this exercise, I gained better insight into how simple life can be when considered at its roots. Furthermore, in the future, I will do my best to remember these values and reflect upon whether my actions represent these values or not. For the daily challenges, I particularly enjoyed the sunrise/sunset challenge because it gave me a better sense of time. Because the sunrise and sunset are at slightly different times each day, I always had to look up when they would be and pay attention so that I would not miss them. I feel like I often get so engrossed in whatever I am working on that I lose track of time. Sometimes when I think that it is mid-afternoon, I look up from my computer or textbook and realize that it is dark outside. By being forced to keep track of the sunrise and sunset, I was better able to realize when it was getting late. Although I have not noticed this effect yet, I think it will be interesting to see if keeping track of the sunrise and sunset entrains my circadian rhythm to natural light and dark cycles. Although I have enjoyed this practice, I do not think I will continue it beyond the scope of this unit, as having to check to see what time the sunrise and sunset will be every day gets a bit tedious. Additionally, I am not a morning person, so getting up for the sunrise can be somewhat painful.
I also generally enjoyed the meditation challenge, as it also forced me to stop and take a break every day. However, I have not gotten into a good habit of meditating at a certain time every day. Hopefully as the weeks progress, I will establish a more regular schedule for when I choose to meditate. According to “How to Meditate,” practicing every day is an important part of learning to meditate, so I think getting into a more regular habit will help (https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-meditate). Additionally, I did find meditating difficult at some points, as it was hard to focus and be present without my mind wandering and thinking about everything that I needed to be working on. However, I found it surprising that the article did not advise strongly against letting your mind wander during meditation, or strongly for emptying your mind, as these were ideas that I had previously associated with meditation (https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-meditate). In the future, I think I will continue to find it difficult to make this part of my daily routine, as I find it hard to set aside the time to practice. I would like to make this a permanent lifestyle change, especially for the increased ability to be “‘awake, present, and openhearted’” in all parts of life, not just while I am meditating (https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-meditate). However, knowing myself and how difficult I find it to take a break, I have my doubts that I will actually continue this practice beyond this unit. On the other hand, perhaps I will get into a better habit of meditating at a specified time of day as this unit progresses, and I will be able to continue this practice after the challenges end.

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