Jack Quigley

Adding to my existing Eco-Challenge tasks I choose to take on health, writing down three things that I am grateful for, and a water issue, taking a 5-minute shower.  While it was not difficult to do these tasks on their own, it was difficult with all of the other tasks combined.  I think that I need to do a better job of organizing my day and motivating myself to complete all of these tasks.  For this next week, because we are going to adding even more challenges I think that I am going to make a list of my challenges every day and I will have to cross off the challenges when they’re completed.  I’ve found for school work crossing things off of a list is a very good way of staying organized and it is also very satisfying to cross things off.  With that said my first challenge of writing down 3 things that I am grateful for.  I found this exercise to be very short and rushed the first time I did it, but throughout the week it really spurred my mind to think about what I was grateful for.  The challenge suggested that I send an email telling someone I was grateful for them, but I sent a text message to my parents instead because an email just feels weird.   Regardless I enjoyed telling my parents I was grateful for all they’ve done for me, and I also had a great conversation with my grandfather and told him I was grateful for him.  My next challenge this week was taking shorter showers, specifically 5-minute showers.  I started out just being quicker about my showers in general then I started to keep my phone right outside and timing them giving me a 30-second warning when I would have to end my shower.  I’ve never been a long shower person, so this really wasn’t a challenge and it’s not like I forget to take a shower so this one was pretty easy.  I think that I can easily make a shorter shower a part of my lifestyle going forward, and for the grateful exercise I think I could make a modified version of it part of my lifestyle going forward.  After reading the article on ECODAD, I read about the benefits of taking shorter showers, and it gave me ideas for the future with regard to low flow showerheads and a shower timer that I think I am going to invest in.  After this class, I think it would be unrealistic for me to say that I am going to do some of these activities each and every day, but it could be a Sunday routine to reconnect with a family member or to give someone a call and tell them that I am grateful for them.  I read the article by Miller on the “Benefits of Practicing Gratitude According to Science,” and learned that from an individual standpoint I will have, “better physical health, better sleep, [and] more satisfaction with life,” and it will also strengthen relationships which are great reasons to continue this habit.

 

For my first one-time challenge, I did some more research on my local waste site, the Lycoming County Dump.  With the pandemic going on I learned that a vulnerable group of people were the trash haulers because the virus is capable of living on trash and recycling putting the trash haulers at risk.  I also read how the Lycoming Dump services 6 other counties, so this is a large group of people in Central PA that are all putting a single group of people at risk if they do not properly bag their trash.  My other one-time challenge was to research renewable energy in my area.  I choose to look closely at the DC area and learned that the city planned on reaching 50% renewable energy by 2032 and carbon neutral by 2050.  They are going to achieve this bold goal by investing heavily in solar and wind energy, specifically utilizing offshore wind in the Atlantic. 

Not only did I continue to complete (or at least attempt) my week 1 daily challenge – walk instead of drive + eat one meatless meal a day – but I also added the challenges of meditating and exercising daily.  For the meditation challenge, I have always wanted to get into the habit of meditating every day but have never taken the first step of actually committing to a routine.  It is not that I am afraid of meditating, but more of a thought in the back of my head that I am super busy and could be finishing up work, writing emails, or applying to jobs.  I’m not going sit here and tell you that my life changed and I’m a diehard meditator, I still have to force myself to do it in the morning.  I still have the initial thought before I meditate about how I need to get work done or how I could be spending my time better.  However, at the moment and after I meditate I will say I felt my headspace clear and relax.  I’m not sure exactly how to describe, but I understand why so many people meditate.  That said, I still am in the early stages and have to force myself to do it each time.  I look forward to the day when it comes naturally to me and becomes ingrained in my daily routine.  The next daily challenge that I added was to exercise daily, more specifically I choose 30 minutes.  I found this daily challenge to be fairly easy to achieve since I have gotten in a habit of going on runs 2 to 3 times a week lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours and then go to the gym if the run was on the shorter side.  It was on the other days where I got more creative.  Since all my classes are on zoom I would spend some days on my computer for a majority of the day and all the sitting at my desk started to take a toll on my back, so I decided to break up tasks by doing 10 minutes of abs or a quick cycle of push-ups.  While these ‘breaks’ never lasted very long, I would end up doing close to an hour of core or pushups.  The result of taking quick breaks was the feeling of productivity because on a day where I wouldn’t usually work out I had been active.  Also, breaking up the monotony of sitting at a computer made me feel more productive in terms of my school work so it was a win-win.  I think that both of these activities can very realistically be added to a daily routine going forward in my life because of the short time commitment each day as well as the benefits both mentally and physically.  The only barrier that I face is losing momentum and losing that habit of doing it daily.  For my one-time challenge, I hosted a viewing party of a documentary for 3 other friends.  These 3 other friends happen to be my roommates and I would’ve loved to have more, but COVID says otherwise.  We watched a documentary on Netflix called “13th” which focuses on racial inequality in the United States, specifically focusing on how the prison system is disproportionately filled with African Americans.  This documentary was eye-opening and a must-watch for anyone who hasn’t seen it, and it upon watching it I had a fantastic discussion with my roommates who brought up points that I had not thought of.  I think the beauty of watching a documentary is the discussion after with peers who may have interpreted things slightly differently from how you perceived it.

 

After doing some research on the Eco-Challenge website, I read the article, “Moving Your Body Is Good for Your Mind,” and here it confirmed my initial thoughts on the benefits of exercising.  In the article, it is stated that daily, “exercise improves brain function, structure, and connectivity.  These brain improvements are directly linked to improved learning, memory, and cognitive function” (Bergland).  All of these positive ‘side effects’ for lack of a better word, show me that this is important and will most definitely be a habit of mine going forward in life.  I read the Times article, “How to Meditate,” and found it to be very useful because the first few times I meditated I was thinking; Am I doing this right? How should I be breathing? How do I clear my headspace?  After a while I realized I was not meditating, instead, I was worried about how to meditate which I think defeats the purpose.  I found that a lot of the things I was struggling with were explained in detail to perfection and offered a solution to how I can meditate better in the future.  I also am starting to use the guided meditation clips to help focus my meditating in the hopes of creating a habit that I can continue going forward because I feel, just like exercising, meditation is great for the mind and body and can be part of my routine going forward.

The first week of my Campus Eco-Challenge I thought it was a really fun way to push myself out of my comfort zone and trying new things.  What surprised me was little I used my car over the last 7 days.  Before (as in the first week or so) I would be lazy and drive from the gateways uphill to get food and drive back.  However, after choosing the task of walking instead of driving I changed my habit immediately and only got in my car once this past week.  I found my 1-mile walk three times a day was a great way to get out of my room and relax and clear my mind.  Having all four classes online coups me up in my room and I do work there too, so having a short walk to break up class or study sessions was a nice change of pace.  Another challenge that I took on is having at least one meatless meal a day and I found that to be difficult at first because it seemed out of my hands.  However, after talking to my chef, she was glad to help and make me a special meal once a day so that I can take on this challenge.  For my one-time challenge, I choose to explore a path in nature and I choose to run along the rail trail.  I have gone on runs on back roads in the area, but somehow never ran along the rail trail.  Exploring this area so close to Bucknell was a blast and I loved seeing locals on bikes and going for walks, but my favorite was a ‘refueling station’ were runners or bikes could get a cold energy drink or food and the individual who set them out relied on the kindness of strangers to put some money in a jar for the item.  

 

            Seeing that I already do not eat red meat, I thought that changing one meal a day would be easy, but even the slightest change in diet has an effect.  Going meatless for just one meal has forced me to think about what meatless protein I need to eat that will do a good job at replacing chicken.  I think a barrier to going meatless is that sometimes the price of fresh produce and vegetables can be an issue compared to the cheap nature of chicken.  After reading the ‘read more’ section on the plant-based diet, it spoke about meat substitutes.  “Project Drawdown ranks a plant-based diet as the fourth most powerful strategy for slowing and eventually reversing climate change” (Nobel-Goodman, Plant Rich Diet).  This point made in Nobel-Goodman’s piece on meat substitutes really energized me about the topic and my own personal choice to eat less meat.  My initial concerns about the change in my diet were about finding good substitutes and knowing that plant-based diets are an integral part of slowing climate change it made me want to make this lifestyle change permanent.  The piece on Oslo and their aspirations for a car-free or reduced future motivated me to continue using my car less and only getting in it when necessary.  Reading about the walk-friendly and bike-friendly city structure made me think about where I see myself in 10 years and how I would love to live in a city that has goals and values that align closely with my own.