"The climate crisis is is a crisis that not many people talk about enough. We are watching the crisis every day, yet we don't do anything about it. I want to learn more about how I can live a more sustainable life. I also want to encourage those around me to show them what lies in our future if we don't change our daily habits. "
POINTS TOTAL
0
TODAY
0
THIS WEEK
457
TOTAL
participant impact
UP TO
98
minutes
spent exercising
UP TO
155
minutes
being mindful
UP TO
17
more servings
of fruits and vegetables
UP TO
30
minutes
spent outdoors
Aileen's actions
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 1
DAILY ACTION
Industry
Choose Recycled Paper
Recycled Paper
I will plan ahead to only use paper products made from post-consumer recycled paper for my home or office.
COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Action Track: Healing & Renewal
Eat Mindfully
I will eat all of my meals without distractions, e.g., phone, computer, TV, or newspaper.
COMPLETED 6
DAILY ACTIONS
Industry
Recycle Everything I Can
Recycling
Contamination prevents what is recyclable from being recycled. I will research and recycle all materials that are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community, making sure to not contaminate recyclables with non-recyclables.
COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION
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 5
DAILY ACTIONS
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
Tend A Garden
I will tend to a garden, or prepare for one, each day using sustainable gardening practices.
COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION
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 3
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?
Today when looking in my fridge I notice some strawberries and bananas were going to waste so I decided to make a smoothie. I also decided to save the rest of the bananas and put them in the freezer and dissolve them this weekend to make a banana bread. This is trying reduce what I throw as much as I can. I have been craving a smoothie this whole week but I’ve been so busy with classes I haven’t had time to go to Jamba so this saved me money and I enjoyed it much more
Hello Aileen! Whenever I'm back home from college one of my favorite things to make with my mom is banana bread, and we always use overripe bananas. It definitely makes the banana bread softer and tastes sweeter! I think using leftover fruits in a smoothie is a great idea to reduce waste. I also love getting smoothies from Jamba but being able to use whatever ingredients you want makes the smoothie even better while also helping the environment. Plus if you have a compost, banana peels are great to add to compost bins!
Hi Aileen! Making banana bread is my go-to when I have overripe bananas that I don't want to waste. Banana-oat pancakes are also a really good option if you haven't tried to make those yet! I haven't thought of using them for smoothies, so you've inspired me to make a smoothie today with some of the frozen fruit I have.
I love to make smoothies with my older fruit too! I even find that when the bananas are a little older they are sweeter so it's definitely a good idea to make banana bread. I haven't really frozen my older fruit but that's a really good idea to extend the life of your fruits and reducing food waste.
This class has honestly taken a toll on my life. It has inspired me to create changes in my life that I never thought needed changes. Recently I've been talking with my dad of how my professor Tamar has inspired me to start a garden. This week my dad and I started a garden, which is something I a so excited about. All the wood material you see below in the image is wood that was going to be thrown away and my dad recycled it and made it into a place where we can add our plants. This was honestly so much fun and I am so excited to see them grow! I feel so old saying that but I don't care.
This class has honestly taken a toll on my life. It has inspired me to create changes in my life that I never thought needed changes. Recently I've been talking with my dad of how my professor Tamar has inspired me to start a garden. This week my dad and I started a garden, which is something I a so excited about. All the wood material you see below in the image is wood that was going to be thrown away and my dad recycled it and made it into a place where we can add our plants. This was honestly so much fun and I am so excited to see them grow! I feel so old saying that but I don't care.
I also agree with your points, this class affected how I started to care more about small things around me that could lead to bigger impacts for our environment and climate crisis. I was also doing an ecochallenge that helps me keep track of the wastes and record them, and I learned how much we throw away without us even noticing. I think starting the garden seems so exciting, especially if wood materials that would have been thrown away can be utilized to make the garden look fancier. Hope you have fun!
I agree, I think this class has really affected how I go about my day to day life and the decisions I make now that I know so much more about the climate crisis and sustainability. Starting a garden sounds really fun and rewarding! I hope you keep us updated on what you grow :)
I work at the UCLA Course Readers and in the office we are constantly throwing blank white paper away because when we fill our printers up with paper we are supposed to take off the first few pages and last few pages of the stack, I honestly don't know why but if a manager doesn't see you do this then you get in trouble, I saw that we had a few stacks of blank paper so I decided to collect the sheets of white people thrown away in our green bin and made it as a notebook for this class.
It's really cool that you made your own notebook! I also keep a stack of unused paper or paper that only has things printed on one side for studying or for taking notes. Something else that I've done before is making little paper boxes out of old paper that can't be written on anymore. They're really good for holding scraps from meals and I'm pretty sure that they're compostable, so it's a nice way to give paper a second or third life after we're done reading/writing with it.
Today I started my morning with two bananas and tangerine. I usually start every morning with a banana because it contains a lot of potassium that helps me stay focus and energized throughout the day. It also helps with my digestive issues. I also ate two tangerine for breakfast because a lot of people around me are getting sick and I know that tangerines are natural immunity boosters that can reduce the likelihood of getting sick. Starting my day with fruits instead of sugary food like cereal has made me feel much better throughout the day because I noticed when I start my day with sugary food I feel burned out as the day progress but with fruits I feel much more energized.
For the past week or so I’ve been going on daily walks just ti get my mind off of school and work. Being stuck to a desk and screen all day really drains me. It makes me feel tired so I decided to go on daily walks with my mom everyday. I enjoy these walks because I feel like I am to clear my mind and talk about my day with her. There’s days when we just want silence so instead we listen to music. These moments are so pure and peaceful. I enjoy Mother Nature and her beauty. With my daily walks I don’t feel as tired, instead I feel like it helps me feel energized and motivated. I also suffer from insomnia and often times I have to take sleeping pills or gummies to go to sleep however, I’ve noticed that it wasn’t needed because I felt much more tired. The daily walks could play apart of this because I am doing more activities to get my body tired and not only my brain.
Hi Aileen! I love your post because I can totally relate. Most times when I catch up with my mom or dad over the phone I take walks around campus and it's so peaceful. The nice thing about UCLA is that there is a lot of greenery and beautiful landscapes (especially the botanical garden). Just the other day I went for a walk and checked my step count afterwards to see I walked 5000 steps in the single outing! Daily walks really are so enjoyable and beneficial for your health.
This is a picture I took yesterday at the Westwood Farmers Market. I didn’t grab much but a small batch of strawberries. I enjoyed my time here looking at all the seasonal fruits, they are look so yummy and appetizing. I used to go a lot to Farmers Market when I was smaller but as I started to grow up I noticed that there were moving farther. I want to start going more often because the vegetables and fruits are organic and don’t contain pesticides like the ones in my local markets. The vegetables and fruits also last longer.
Hi Aileen this is a great picture! I've also been wanting to go to a Farmer's Market to purchase my vegetables and fruits here in Westwood. Not only would I be able to support our local farmers, but I'd consume much more organic products and avoid the large amounts of plastic packaging that a lot of the fruits I purchase within the grocery stores come in. I've also noticed that oftentimes the strawberries and other fruits I purchase tend to go bad quickly and sometimes won't even last an entire week, so I wouldn't doubt that the much more organic products last longer.
Hi Aileen, the fruits and veggies at the Farmer's Market look really good! I've been wanting to go the Farmer's Market because I also heard that they might have a composting bin (although it's been a while since I've read about it, so I could be totally wrong!). Whether they have one or not, I think the Farmer's Market is a great way to support local farmers. The most important part about getting the fruits and veggies is to benefit your own health, so I feel encouraged! It's also great that they last longer because I sometimes have trouble with my fruits and veggies going to poor condition in my fridge.
Here is my dinner plate from last night. Sundays are my days to catch up on homework, notes and study. Especially with week 5 being the most stressful week with midterms and writing projects being due. My mom made this delicious dinner with so many yummy vegetables. During dinner time we always practice eating mindfully by putting our phones away and staying away from watching Tv. Because of this I look forward to dinner because it is a time to just enjoy each others presence and talk about our lives. It is so peaceful and nice to have mindful dinners with my family because we really value a family time and the wonderful food that’s put on the table.
I am a commuter and I take the bus every now and then when I do not carpool with a friend. I enjoy taking the bus sometimes. During the bus ride I take the time to study and catch up on reading for any of my classes. When I am not doing that I just listen to music and look at the window it makes my mind feel at peace and gives me time to reflect on life. Taking public transportation is an environmentally better because they reduce the amount of gas burned. According to the AMLI blog I’ve learned that buses reduce the amount of gas burned by up to 4.2 billion gallons per year. Which is incredible because it helps people get to their destination while also reducing the carbon emissions.
I’ve been tempted to buy myself a new school bag but over the weekend I went to my local thrift store (Salvation Army) and I found this cute bag that I have been wanting for a while now but didn’t buy because I’ve been tight on money. When I saw it, I just knew it was a sign. It was at a much more affordable price as well. As young adolescents we tend to over buy things that aren’t necessary and over-consume these products that end up in the trash. About 82 pounds of textile waste is thrown away on average per person. This is an incredible fact that was mention in the documentary, “The True Cost” . Shopping second hand has a positive impact on the environment. For instance, it prevents from fewer things being thrown away. I have always shopped second hand and until now I am learning more reasons as to why it is better to shop second hand .
