Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge

Julian Diodati

VANIER Sustainability-in-Action

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
796 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

650

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

30

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

1.0

documentary

watched
UP TO

345

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

5.0

lightbulbs

replaced

Julian's actions

Transportation

Test Drive an Electric Bike

Electric Bicycles

I will test drive an electric bike at a local distributor to see if it makes sense to use one in place of my car, or to extend the area I can cover by bike.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Go for a Daily Walk

Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 60 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Justice for the Whole Community

Learn about the Legacy of Redlining

Multiple Solutions

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning about the legacy of redlining and how city planning and environmental justice issues are interconnected.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Justice for the Whole Community

Improve a Bus Stop

Public Transit

I will improve a bus stop in my neighborhood by posting the stop schedule, adding seating or shelter, adding art or flowers, picking up litter, or implementing some other small improvement.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Learn about the Need for Family Planning

Health and Education

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning more about the need for family planning globally.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Explore Other Transportation Solutions

All Transportation Solutions

I will spend at least 25 minutes researching other Drawdown Transportation Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Watch a Video about Methane Digesters

Methane Digesters

I will watch a video about methane digesters (also commonly known as anaerobic digesters).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Explore Other Electricity Solutions

All Electricity Solutions

I will spend at least 25 minutes researching other Drawdown Electricity Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Research the Climate Impact of Refrigerants

Refrigerant Management

I will spend 60 minute(s) learning about the climate impact of refrigerants and what climate-friendly refrigerants are by using the links below.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Learn More about Wave and Tidal Energy

Ocean Power

I will spend at least 90 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of wave and tidal energy.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Learn about 'Green Gentrification'

Multiple Solutions

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning about green gentrification and how it relates to city planning for climate action.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

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 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Smart Seafood Choices

Ocean Farming

I will visit seafoodwatch.org or download the app and commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Choose LED Bulbs

LED Lighting

I will replace 5 incandescent lightbulb(s) with Energy Star-certified LED bulbs, saving up to $14 per fixture per year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME 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

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 2 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 15
DAILY ACTIONS

Buildings

Explore Other Buildings Solutions

All Buildings Solutions

I will spend at least 20 minutes researching other Drawdown Buildings Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Learn about Biochar

Biochar Production

I will spend 15 minute(s) learning about biochar and how it can help sequester carbon.

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?

Julian Diodati 11/28/2020 2:00 PM

I have just finalized by last EcoChallenge weekly post before the end of the 85 days of this challenge. I feel as if I am ready to now give proper feedback towards this experience. Initially, I always thought this would be an afterthought and I would only ever contribute to this every Sunday when I would have to make my weekly post. However, this is actually not how these last 81 days and counting have been going. I have been motivated every week to fulfill my actions and to research as many topics about sustainability as I could’ve. I found it fascinating to learn about how to truly help the world, especially considering how the world could really use some help right about now. I got to the limit of my actions last week, but that didn’t stop me from being creative and to start creating new ways to make a difference around my own neighborhood no matter how small this difference was. For me, this challenge gave me a motivation to actually make a difference and I hope others can say the same in this class. This challenge should definitely be promoted year after year and not only for this class, but it should be available for every class at Vanier College because most people will never have the opportunity to take a sustainability class even though they might want to contribute to making the world a better place in their own way. Honestly, I was most proud about the actions that involved me making a difference in my neighborhood like cleaning up a bus stop or putting sheets of environmentally friendly covers onto yards before the snow fell to help with all the trash that would pile up after it melts in the spring. I would like to have improved on the quality on information I researched, because I never knew exactly what I was doing, so a critique that I would give to this challenge would be to make it a little more interactive. In conclusion, I am very happy I got the chance to participate in this challenge and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

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Julian Diodati 11/28/2020 1:26 PM

This week, it has been a great week because of the fact that I helped setup sheets of environmentally friendly covers on top of the yards in our neighbourhood. This means that after the snow melts, all of the rocks and trash that was in or on the snow of the yards will not melt into the grass which means that the yards will me healthier. Also, the rocks and trash will be collected and sent over to a resevoir qhere they reuse rocks and plastic to create products that are sold in hardware stores like bags of soil or bags of rocks. The plastic will be reused as best as possible aswell.

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Julian Diodati 11/22/2020 12:25 PM

For this week, I continued my actions although I have not been able to take on many new ones. I am continuing to eat meatless meals and it has been a normality for me for awhile now. This weekend has been very productive as I have been contributing towards sustainable projects around my neighbor to clean up all the trash before the snows cover it up. Also, my plant identification project has been going well as I am now creating designs for differents kinds of leafs and how to identify them.

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Julian Diodati 11/15/2020 1:05 PM

This week was less productive than I wanted. I had a substantial amount of school stuff to do all week whcih hindered my ability to properly contribute to my actions and to do much of anything else involving a sustainability movement. However, I helped as much as I can with my actions in contributing to walking and to replacing my foods in my house with more sustainable ingredients. I also shopped at a made-in-canada store in montreal that only sell products that have been ethically made inside of our country.

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Julian Diodati 11/08/2020 2:27 PM

This week, I have been able to complete more and more of my actions. I have selected some of my actions in concordence with my gym class, since i need to run/walk in both of these classes so why not kill two birds with one stone. I selected a daily walk as an action, as an example of what I mean. For the rest I have learned about the legacy of redlining and how much of a foul idea it is and how it is still in play today even though it isnt legal. I have known about redlining for awhile but I was always interested in its origins. I completed all my other actions, however they were all less interesting that I had hoped.

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Julian Diodati 11/01/2020 12:19 PM

This week, it has been getting colder outside and I have been completing my actions as best as I could. I have been completing my walks with my dog which further randomizes where I go because sometimes I let him pick the direction. I have been eating 2 plant based meals per day and have learned much about readlining and how it has not gone awaw but has just been renamed and mixed into other topics. My nearest bus stop has also been improved and I even decorated it for halloween with some of my friends with nature friendly products.

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Julian Diodati 10/24/2020 2:41 PM

This week, I have started small taks such as improving the most used bus stop next to my house. I have also been researching plant identidication for my project. Also this week was warmer than anticipated so I have been completing my walks and have also been visiting my neighbouring farms to help out with the end of season harvest, inventory and pumpkin picking event organisation. I have also productively started upgrading my power extensions in my house to the most eco friendly and energy preseving power extensions that I was able to find at the hardware store.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings Learn about 'Green Gentrification'

Cities and towns need to plan for climate change. How can your city or town make its climate action plans equitable and socially just?

Julian Diodati 10/13/2020 1:04 PM

this has bee n great because it has given me insight on green gentrification and will contribute to my final project that involves plant identification

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks Forest-Friendly Foods 2

How difficult or easy was it to change your diet?

Julian Diodati 10/11/2020 4:16 PM

This has had an actually affect on my life and members of my family gave even started gaining interest in this ecochallenge.

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Julian Diodati 10/11/2020 4:15 PM

Week of october 1st to october 10th: I have been able to do much of my research actions this week. I have watched some documentaries on the pork industry and have done some research on Chloro-Fluorocarbon and their effect on the greenhouse effect. Also, one of my actions have been to stop using certain types of oils in our cooking that are proven to harm the environment and now my family are asking me about my change and we have had multiple conversations about this ecochallenge and some of them might even sign up on their own. The other actions such as going for walks have been good too since they coincide nicely with my gym class. Finally, I have really enjoyed some of the other actions such as trying out electrical bikes, something that I never wouldve done if not for this ecochallenge.

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