Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge

Chase Castillo-Fousek

High Noon Loons

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
290 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

99

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

12

more servings

of fruits and vegetables
UP TO

19

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

6.0

zero-waste meals

consumed
UP TO

1.0

tree

planted
UP TO

19

minutes

spent outdoors

Chase'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 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

More Fruits And Veggies

I will eat a heart healthy diet by adding 2 cups of fruits and vegetables each day to achieve at least 4 cups per day.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

Conservation Agriculture, Regenerative Annual Cropping

I will spend at least 60 minutes learning about the need for more regenerative agriculture.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Zero-waste Cooking

Reduced Food Waste

I will cook 3 meal(s) with zero-waste each day

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Support Organic Growing Methods

Nutrient Management

I will buy organic cotton and foods grown without the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Composting

Composting, Reduced Food Waste

I will start a compost bin where I live.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Eat Mindfully

I will eat all of my meals without distractions, e.g., phone, computer, TV, or newspaper.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Sinks

Learn More about Silvopasture

Silvopasture

I will spend at least 60 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Plant Trees

Temperate Forest Restoration

I will plant 1 tree(s) in my community, public parks, or backyard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Research Peatlands

Peatland Protection and Rewetting

I will spend 60 minutes researching the environmental benefits of peatlands and what is being done around the world to conserve and restore them.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Explore My Area

Sometimes protecting nature requires feeling connected to nature. I will invest 60 minutes in exploring and appreciating a natural area in my region, whether a forest, wetland, coastal area, or somewhere else.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 19 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?

Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/29/2023 1:21 PM

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- Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/29/2023 1:46 PM
  
  The rest of my mindfulness, and Dailey challenges surrounding food and eating more plant based options. It can be hard to do this campus, but if anything I will try and go for beans and rice to mix it up every now and then.
  
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- Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/29/2023 1:23 PM
  
  I forgot to post these and other photos I'm look for at the moment but each represent me collecting my food waste and composting, being mindful of what I am eating, eating more plant based items, saving my food getting more instead of throwing it out.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Smaller Portions

While dishing food out, we tend to load our plates with more than we need. Using smaller plates helps to mitigate this. Aside from the environmental benefits, what other benefits might come from eating/serving smaller portions?

Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/29/2023 1:13 PM

What I have been doing so far is that whenever I eat at the DC I usually go for the smaller plates and fill them up with whatever I feel is necessary with fruits and veggies. I feel the health benefits but the environmental ones as well; eating smaller portions and regularly eating plant-based meals allows me to reduce food waste and not only that with more people doing this, we as a collective help reduce the water consumption it takes for certain foods, such as beef. Did you know it takes around 1,800 + gallons of water to produce one pound of beef!?!?! Compared to fruits and veggies they take way less than that, and if you still are don't to cut meat out of your diet entirely, chickens take up way less water usage than beef does. It ranges around 500 gallons, which is still a lot but if you are trying to make that transition I definitely recommend incorporating animals that take up way less land and water usage in transitioning to more plant-based meals.
https://waterfootprint.org/resources/Report-48-WaterFootprint-AnimalProducts-Vol1.pdf
Here's more information regarding some of this info :).

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks Plant Trees

How is planting trees good for your mental, physical, and spiritual health?

Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/26/2023 9:22 PM

I planted an an avacod seed in a recycled tin can that I'm using and it's sprouting a little and I plan on putting in my backyard when it's sprouted more :).

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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?

Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/18/2023 11:23 PM

I watched this John Oliver segment to get me started about information regarding expiration dates and food waste and it went over a lot regarding how we pick out certain foods and even how there can be brands that had the same date sent out to be sold tp have different expiration dates even though they were packaged at the same time.

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- Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/19/2023 4:21 PM
  
  Just a heads up it has satire lol
  
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- Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/19/2023 4:20 PM
  
  Yeah, I think this was the video
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8xwLWb0lLY
  
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- Jojo Cook 4/19/2023 3:50 PM
  
  Can you share the link to that? It sounds interesting!
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Composting

Producing food that goes uneaten squanders many resources—seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labor, financial capital. Which of these kinds of waste most motivates you to change your behavior regarding food waste? Why?

Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/18/2023 11:16 PM

The main motivator for reducing less waste is just knowing the cataclysmic scale food waste has in correlation to climate change, and using food scraps in a proper way is an easy fix so it's motivating. I currently have a jar with compostables that I am needing to drop off in either the DC or Library's composting bins.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Eat Mindfully

Mindful eating is healthier for us than eating with distractions. How does your eating experience differ when practicing mindfulness?

Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/18/2023 11:13 PM

Lately I have been looking for some sort of stimulation while doing something whether it be listening to music, watching a video, or texting, I look for some outlet while I am doing something such as eating my meals. Lately I have been more aware of being aware of my surroundings and not succumbing to this habit.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use More Fruits And Veggies

How does eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat positively affect yourself, other people, and our planet?

Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/18/2023 11:11 PM

Eating more fruits and veggies generally makes me feel less bloated and groggy; I feel way more energized and feel great knowing the small scale action does have a rippling impact as I continue doing this.

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Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/06/2023 5:50 PM
- Food waste reduction: I have made more of an effort to eat smarter; whenever I go to the dining commons on campus and I can’t finish a meal, I store it in a bin given by the campus and eat it later.
- Portion sizing: This also ties in with the reduction in food waste, I have made an effort to grab smaller plates and if I am hungry I will go get more.
- Mindfulness: I usually have music on or a show in the background whenever I am eating but decided to take a pause and take in my surroundings and take my time eating and it feels great and different. I often thought about the process it most likely took for the food to reach me and that gave me a lot of appreciation.
- Composting: I have a composting bin back at my house but I didn’t know too much about what steps needed to be taken when recycling food back into the soil. After learning more from the class and a bit of advice from my mother, we now have a compost bin suitable for waste reduction.
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- Chase Castillo-Fousek 4/06/2023 5:51 PM
  
  Most of my current tasks are surrounding food waste reduction, mindfulness, and portion sizing. **
  
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