Daniela Carvajal

"The climate crisis has been unfolding at a faster rate which makes me worried for my future and the future of other generations. I want to learn more about the different options there are for me to make a positive impact and live a more sustainable life. I hope to make some permanent changes in my lifestyle that will help the climate crisis we are currently facing."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
496 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

595

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

20

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

23

more servings

of fruits and vegetables
UP TO

30

minutes

spent learning

Daniela's actions

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Keep Track of Wasted Food

Reduced Food Waste

I will keep a daily log of food I throw away during Drawdown Ecochallenge, either because it went bad before I ate it, I put too much on my plate, or it was scraps from food preparation.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Industry

Practice the 5 R's

Recycling

I will Practice the "5 Rs" — refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle — to reduce my waste more than I can with just recycling alone.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Smaller Portions

Reduced Food Waste

I will use smaller plates and/or serve smaller portions when dishing out food.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Healing & Renewal

More Fruits And Veggies

I will eat a heart healthy diet by adding 3 cups of fruits and vegetables each day to achieve at least 4 cups per day.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Go for a Daily Walk

Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 30 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity

Calculate the carbon footprint of my household

I will calculate the carbon emissions associated with my household and consider how different lifestyle choices could reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 1 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Building Resilience

Forest-Friendly Foods 2

Tropical Forest Restoration

I will replace or remove the palm oil, coffee, and cocoa products in my current diet that are known to contribute to deforestation.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Keep Track of Wasted Food

An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. Where would you rather use this money?

Daniela Carvajal 6/07/2023 11:53 AM

As I was keeping track of the amount of food waste I have I started changing the meal portions I served myself. This helped me greatly reduce my food waste. Knowing that just a family of 4 spends $1500 on food they waste is very shocking to think about because my family is a family of 5 so I know that number would be much greater for my family. I am big on saving my money so that money that is wasted on food waste would most likely be saved. I know that applying to PA school can be very expensive so that money would be used for the school applications as well as the exams I have to take.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

How does knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates empower you to make better decisions?

Daniela Carvajal 6/06/2023 6:27 PM

Growing up, I was always told that once a product goes past the "best by" date it was time to throw it away best it did not work anymore. After researching the difference between these phrases, I realized that food does not really have an expiration date. The best way to tell if something has expired is by our senses. Even the "use by" date is not a definite expiration date. Instead, these phrases tell you more about the quality of the food, whether that be how fresh it is or how good the flavor could be. Knowing this information, I will think twice before throwing away a food item that is past the posted date. Instead of immediately throwing it away, I will smell it or taste it in order to reduce my food waste. I think if more people knew the meaning behind these dates then there would definitely be less food waste. I think I would also go for more products at the store that are closer to their "sell by" dates because I know not a lot of people go for them adding to the whole food waste issue.

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- Talulla Chow 6/07/2023 11:11 PM
  
  Hi Daniela! I also grew up being taught that I shouldn't eat food that is past the "best by" date. However, I found that oftentimes when I accidentally ate food past the "best by" date, the food still tasted fine and wasn't spoiled. I agree that the best way to evaluate if food is expired is to just taste or smell it. Knowing this, I also will buy foods that are closer to their "sell by" dates to reduce food waste and grocery stores throwing out perfectly good food.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry Practice the 5 R's

What are some more "R's" you could add to your daily practice to reduce your waste?

Daniela Carvajal 6/05/2023 12:59 PM

One of the R's which I rarely find myself practicing is repurposing. Once I am done with a product I buy I often find myself throwing it away instead of finding ways I could repurpose it. This lead me to research different ways we could repurpose things. I found that glass bottles are something that could be reused in a lot of ways. I'm someone who buys a lot of flowers or get gifted them and I often find myself not having a vase to put them in. I recently bought a vase for this reason, but now I'm thinking of using the glass bottles that I get from drinks at the fair or a market to put the flowers in next time. Another way I can repurpose glass bottles is by using them to hold my pencils and makeup brushes. In the past, I would buy pencil cup holders to put my pencils or makeup brushes in but I always end up losing them. I think using a glass bottle would be more efficient than buying hew holders every time.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Action Track: Building Resilience Forest-Friendly Foods 2

How difficult or easy was it to change your diet?

Daniela Carvajal 6/05/2023 12:44 PM

When it came to replacing palm oil, cocoa, and coffee in my every day diet it was only challenging when it came to replacing coffee. I do not consume any or a lot of palm oil or cocoa in my meals, so completely taking them out did not affect me. However, when I am someone who "needs" at least a cup of coffee every day to get through the day. I tried this for a week and found myself getting headaches since I was so used to having caffeine daily. I took this opportunity to try to completely stop drinking coffee or at least reduce the number of times I drink it. Instead of drinking coffee, I would drink water or make myself a fruit smoothie. Now if I want coffee, I'll limit myself to having it once or twice a week. I think this is a challenge that I am going to keep doing to replace coffee in my everyday coffee. Next time I try this I will probably do it longer than a week until it just becomes a habit not drinking coffee.

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- Lisbeth Rodriguez 6/05/2023 1:51 PM
  
  Hi! I'm glad that you found a change that you can fit into your schedule. I am like you but with cocoa. I don't drink much coffee but I do have a heck of a sweet tooth and my favorite snack is you guessed it... Chocolate. You would think that not having chocolate would be an easy fix but I have chocolate almost every day. Whether that be protein powder/shakes or chocolate treats themselves, chocolate has been integrated into my daily life as a sort of ritual after every meal. Like you, I went on a chocolate detox and have found that other nuts are great alternatives to get that bitter sweet taste I love in dark chocolate. I will by no means eliminate chocolate from my diet completely but I'm glad that we are trying to find better alternatives and are being successful in finding them for the betterment of our planet ;)
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Go for a Daily Walk

What have you noticed on your daily walks? What have you enjoyed? What infrastructure changes could make your walks more enjoyable or possible?

Daniela Carvajal 5/01/2023 4:52 PM

Last week I needed to go to Target to pick up some essentials and I realized that the nearest Target was a 20-minute walking distance. Since I was already trying to hit my target of daily 30-minute walks I decide to walk there instead of driving. In my neighborhood there are a lot of dogs, so I enjoyed seeing the different kinds of dog breeds around my neighborhood. On my walk, I noticed how many of the sidewalks are very uneven which makes them not accessible for many people, especially those in wheelchairs. I am a very big fan of discovering new coffee shops to study at. On my way back from Target I discovered a hidden new coffee shop that I had never been to before. It is only a 10-minute walk so I am very excited to go back and try it out. I enjoyed taking this walk and realized that driving to places that are within walking distance isn't necessary. I don't know how I would feel about going on these kinds of walks when it's later during the day, however, I will prioritize walking to places if they are within a reasonable walking distance.

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Daniela Carvajal 5/01/2023 4:29 PM

I have always enjoyed eating fruits and vegetables, but ever since I started dorming I found myself reaching more for snacks like chips and candy instead of fruits and vegetables. For the past few weeks whenever I went to the dining halls, I opted for a fruit as a side instead of a cookie in order to increase my serving size. I found that after eating more healthy I felt more energized and my body felt better at the end of the day. In addition to more fruits, I also tried to eat more meatless meals and I definitely felt a change in the way my body felt since my meals were less heavy. Also, for the past few weeks whenever I would go home, I found myself packing more fruits instead of packing chips and unhealthy snacks.

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Daniela Carvajal 4/29/2023 8:33 PM

Living in the dorms, I always found that the dining halls gave really big food portions. I often had to throw away a lot of the food I had left because I could not finish it all. This week whenever I would get food that I knew I couldn't finish in one sitting, I would save the food and eat it later on instead of throwing it away. Aside from reducing my food waste overall, this made me feel good because I knew I wasn't wasting food. This weekend I came home and also tried to reduce my food waste. I was more careful with how much food I served myself and how much food I made in general. This is something that I want to keep doing from now on. I still find myself throwing away some food but it is definitely not as much as I used to throw away.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity Calculate the carbon footprint of my household

After you determined your carbon footprint, did you see what different choices you can make in order to reduce it?

Daniela Carvajal 4/29/2023 7:46 PM

When determining my household carbon footprint I realized most of it came from the foods we eat and the type of transportation we take. Everyone in my family eats meat regularly, so one thing I could do to help is look up more meatless recipes and encourage my family to at least try them. The second thing that made our carbon footprint high is that we mainly drive gas cars. We tend to drive anywhere even if a place is within walking distance. To help reduce our carbon footprint, I could start walking to places that I need to go to if they are within walking distance. I tried this when I was doing my daily 30-minute walks last week. Instead of driving to Target, I decided to walk there and it wasn't bad at all.

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- Billy Ung 5/06/2023 8:54 PM
  
  Hi Daniela, I also calculated how much it would cost to offset my carbon footprint and was amazed at the amount of little things we do that contribute to climate change. I've similarly tried making conscious efforts to reduce my meat consumption and walking to places more. I think some other things to consider is your electricity usage which also plays a role in global warming as well as racking up a bill. I am admittedly guilty of leaving the lights on overnight here and there but, I have started making a habit of turning off everything before bed. This includes the lights, computers, and even kitchen appliances. I really encourage this to others too as its a simple yet effective way to go greener.
  
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