Fennie Huynh

Inspired by the podcast I listened to for the climate action event from Intersectional Environmentalist, I wanted to inform myself on making more sustainable purchases and also want to find out if it is possible to lower the prices for quality pieces. It was brought up that sometimes more sustainable clothing items are simply not affordable for many. As for me, I made significantly fewer purchases this entire year due to the pandemic and don’t know if going forward, I should invest in quality pieces or simply just go to the thrift store for second-hand clothes. I mostly did not buy because I felt like I was not going anywhere and this makes me realize how much the social aspect such as following trends plays a role in people’s spending patterns. I feel like thrifting is the most environmentally friendly option, before making new purchases. I also feel like many more brands throw out the word “sustainable” without their actions delivering. There are currently many fast-fashion online shops like Shein or Fashion Nova and these brands are selling their clothes at extremely cheap prices and most likely do not have worker-friendly environments or wages. From the learn more tab, I learned that there are 7 categories that are considered “sustainable fashion”: made-to-order items, high quality, fair and ethical, repair, redesign and upcycle, donated, and secondhand and vintage. Through the MoneyCrashers website, I learned that cheap clothing, including polyester, costs much more energy to make and uses toxic chemicals. This makes me question if it uses more energy to produce, why is the cost so cheap? Some greener materials include linen, hemp, bamboo, and organic wool. This list has made me realize I probably don’t own ANY clothing made from these materials. In the near future, I don’t see myself investing in sustainable pieces that are at a high price because I’m still a student. However, future down the line, I do want to purchase more quality items and have timeless pieces that will stay in my closet for many years and even decades. As for the reflection question, and at the top of my mind, expression can come from how you wear your hair or your music taste! Creativity definitely does not have to stem from only clothing and it can also include any form of artwork and other hobbies, one of mine being dancing! The website also mentions online selling platforms are also a more sustainable way for clothes to get a second home. I have been selling clothes that no longer fit me or items that I no longer need online through an app called Mercari for 5 years! The aim for me through this app is just to declutter; I’m not selling items to profit and in fact most of the time I’m “losing money” from the initial price I bought the piece for. I am attaching a picture of my online shop/profile! Over 5 years, I have only sold about 50 items because once again, I just want to minimize instead of profit!

The pandemic this entire year conveniently helped me with this EcoChallenge because I didn’t have to commute to campus. I actually didn’t have my own car either for the first two years of college and carpooled with my aunt; she went to work and I went to school. Carpooling is absolutely better than driving alone, but driving is still choosing convenience. I could have made the choice to bus, which would have taken prior planning and more commute time, however, I knew a friend who regularly bussed to campus. However, on the way home from school, I tend to bus to my aunt’s workplace to meet her there, before we head off home together. As for riding public transit, sometimes I feel like I need to be more alert with my surroundings and belongings if I am traveling alone. I would say this does not discourage me from using the bus and I think it’s actually a nice experience because I engage in friendly conversations with strangers at the bus stop and on the bus. It is most likely that I will not see these people again but I have had memorable conversations with elders in my native language. I think Vietnamese elders tend to like to chatter and I do love speaking with them. This is in contrast with driving because my aunt and I don’t always have topics to discuss and we drown out the silence with radio shows like GhostBusters. As for biking, during the few times that I have done so, I enjoyed it and usually do this with friends. I treat this as a workout sometimes and we don’t have anywhere important to head to like work or school. However, my mindset has changed and if I could have done things differently I would have incorporated more biking to campus. Lastly as for walking or running, this is something I did almost daily in high school as a cross country and track runner. While this is for the sport, I usually run the same paths and have engaged with other runners shouting encouragements while passing by. During this quarter, I did not find myself leaving the house often and had no destination to walk to, except for leisurely walks around my apartment complex. I do think this EcoChallenge and just the timing of the pandemic, made me utilize the car less and I want to keep it this way in the future. I do not plan on bringing a car down to Los Angeles next year and anticipate that I will be on my feet the majority of the time! I have heard that UCLA is a hilly campus and this makes biking difficult but I plan to walk, run, or bus to campus from my apartment. I am glad that walking, running, or biking is good for my physical/mental health, for the environment by reducing emissions, and for the economy (from the ABC article). It does make sense that more walking pedestrians will stop by businesses and shop. I am attaching a picture of a short biking trip I did with my friend this quarter around my neighborhood. I tracked my workout using the app Runkeeper!

I enjoy vegetarian or vegan meals sometimes but do not practice it full time and do not have any other dietary restrictions. I do eat salmon occasionally and was afraid of what I would have discovered through this EcoChallenge. Searching on their website, there is an in-depth search base of the types of seafood that includes how the species was farmed and what body of water it is located in. Clicking on one of the options to avoid, the reasons are due to the scores of 10 categories and the most stand out ones are the presence of pathogens, parasite interactions, chemical use, and the number of eggs to support their population. Moving on to the article, salmons are the indicators for environmental health in the waters and they are also known as a keystone species. However, being a keystone species means they play a crucial role in the ecosystem, yet if they are also an indicator species, it makes this system easily disturbed because the salmon population can decline if there is a large enough change in the environment. Another point the article made is that salmon are high in demand in human diets because of their vitamins and omega. With the amount of demand that salmon have to withstand, I am surprised their species is as resilient as it is and continues to thrive today. Regarding California’s state advisory, it seems like residents are able to fish a variety of species EXCEPT for the black bass species, brown trout, and the common carp in the lakes and reservoirs. There does not seem to be an explanation for the reasons. I feel like I will not go out of my way to capture fish to eat and it is not an essential part of my diet. Fish is still an animal product and green, plant-based alternatives would still be much better for the environment. In the future when preparing my own meals next year that use fish, I do think this is a great website to use to check on the 10 factors that make up the overall score. I am curious to know about the exact climate costs for eating fish, even if it is a great nutrient source. 

My only impression of thermostats would be that they are like devices to maintain homeostasis for your home and besides that, I haven’t dove into their purpose of special functions. The Drawdown article talked about how smart thermostats are able to save a huge amount of energy consumption due to their temperature sensor. I have realized while the thermostat my family has currently is not exactly “smart” because it is not able to sense the movement of people in the house. However, I feel like a thermostat that is unable to do this is still able to be energy efficient as long as we can program it to the preferred temperatures. I am still unsure about how necessary it is for thermostats to “learn” our habits because for me personally, wanting to turn on the heater or cooler varies day by day and even hour by hour because of the outside weather. Another feature is having remote control over your thermostat and I do agree with this feature as you are able to control it for a pet or your child at home who is unable to adjust the temperatures themselves. I also think seeing your usage will be eye-opening as well. I started this EcoChallenge without understanding what a “smart thermostat” is and I am still unsure if it is worth the price because I feel like my family does not use the system heater or cooler as often as portable heaters or coolers for separate rooms. I feel like my current thermostat suits mine and my family’s needs currency because it is programmable to the desired range of temperatures we want to remain in. I feel like this is something I will suggest to change for my grandparent’s house as they tend to use this system more often than a portable cooler or heater. Hopefully, it will be easier for them to use since it’s with the click of a button on your mobile device and hopefully it will reduce energy consumption with the “learning your habits” function. I will possibly update this challenge with a new image but for now, my thermostat, the Honeywell Pro series

, has only 1 of the smart functions and that is enough for me and my family.

I’ve been participating in paperless mail such as statements since I’ve opened my financial accounts and I’ve also not opted into mailing subscriptions for a while. I’ve also attempted to do this for my parent’s account as well. This was done out of convenience which is different from other sustainable actions. Usually, convenience makes people not choose the green choice such as choosing the convenience of driving over making the effort to walk a couple of blocks. However, I find that managing my payments 100% online streamlines the process, there is no need to keep track of checks, or cash in envelopes, and it is most of the time faster processing of the payments. Applying this to other aspects of my life, I have started to really minimize the paper I used this year, from using an iPad to take all of my handwritten notes and reading my books there too. I would prefer email receipts and find myself using the Notes app on my phone instead of writing reminders on a notepad. The Drawdown article showed me that the amount of paper worldwide actually contributes to a significant amount of emissions and the process of recycling is mostly difficult. The Washington Post article mentions the most popular types of junk mail however, I do not get catalogs, charity donation mail requests, contests, or coupons. Regarding the reflection question, I find myself wanting to downsize the rest of my belongings further such as sorting clothes I don’t need and donating to getting rid of old schoolwork from high school that I still kept. The last biggest category of items that I consider myself hoarding are skincare products. I would say that my purchases have tapered off during the pandemic and this year also made me realize it is absolutely unnecessary to be having more than one product for one step of my routine. This pandemic has also made me wear sunscreen less, no longer daily like before, and as a result, most of my sunscreens have expired before finishing them up. I am still trying to find ways to repurpose them somehow. Instead of all of these material items mentioned and it is cliche but I want to prioritize my lived experience more and my own mental health. To me this is going to look like traveling and keeping digital pictures. Attached is a picture of my emails notifying my bank statement availability and it's contributing to less paper waste in landfills.

 

I’ve mentioned this climate action event in a past challenge however the documentary “Kiss the Ground” also mentioned synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and I learned its origin, its role in industrial agriculture, and negative effects on human health. To recap, essentially pesticides came into production during the war due to wanting to produce a larger number of crops. It even evolved to become the poison used in the gas chamber of the Holocaust. More specifically, glyphosate or the brand RoundUp is currently being sprayed on field crops, and after the chemical has done its harm in the soil and destroying the microorganisms, it is migrating into our waterways and entering our bodies, making its way into human breast milk and crossing the blood-brain barrier. The documentary hints there is not a large number of farmers who are making an effort to ditch these synthetic nitrogen fertilizers due to the large dependency of their crops to grow in the presence of the drug. Furthermore, after doing some research I’ve learned that this position is not only contributing to the 3% of the emissions, it’s also requiring a lot of money to manufacture it in the first place. I’m still able to do my part in this issue and it is to find out if my local farms and markets are growing their crops using carbon-friendly techniques such as having a variety of crops and no machine disturbance so that microorganisms can thrive. Adding on to what I can do, this question from the film has made me realize I am making a difference, “Instead of waiting for it to be shipped around the world to me, what can I put in my own backyard that I can do myself?” In my EcoChallenge post for Building Resilience, I mention a few low-maintenance crops that I am able to grow and eat, without going through the hurdles of transportation to a farmer’s market or produce packaging for example. I am unsure if the United States have changed their direction regarding the 4% annual goal of putting carbon into the soil, but farming and agriculture definitely involves politics and a global approach rather than just simply shifting my single support towards regenerative agriculture. Going back to the reflection question, environmental quality does play a significant role because it encompasses not only the immediate soil and land around me, but air, and every aspect is interconnected. As mentioned earlier, if one part of the system fails, it will impact human health and at this point, as a community, we would suffer from the consequences. 

A couple of weeks ago, I booked a flight from San Jose to Los Angeles in order to apartment hunt and go on unit tours for the next school year. This is about 308 miles and my round trip would be 616 miles. I didn’t have a reliable vehicle that could handle hundreds of miles of driving and thought that flying would simplify the trip and eliminate the hassle. However, the news article had made me realize I was greatly mistaken and that flying is most definitely the worse option out of the two. This challenge also encouraged me to purchase a carbon offset for my round trip in an attempt to reduce my carbon dioxide emissions and my receipt claims I have contributed to offsetting 1,000 air miles. One of the projects The Good Traveler has on their website is to capture methane and combust landfill gases. However, I am curious to know what exactly my offset contributes to as it was much cheaper than I expected. I’ve only flown on an airplane 3 times prior to this next planned one, and I will try my best to reconsider my alternative methods of travel before resorting to air travel again. The large-scale emission of greenhouse gases is an aspect I mentioned in my essays because it is related to the depletion of the ozone layer and overall pollution. In the Yale article, this quote does make me hesitant about how our projects will compare to numerical values in the billions, “... Petsonk still expects annual emissions of CO2 from international aviation to be 7.8 billion tons higher in 2040 than today.” This prediction would mean our current efforts such as carbon offsets are not nearly enough in reducing the number of emissions we generate. Also considering that planes are utilized in shipping products worldwide, traveling is not the only contributor to emissions but it is with simply the click of an order button. If not stricter air guidelines in the future, I hope there is a shift towards local sellers and fewer large corporates that are utilizing manufacturers overseas. Regarding my future, I hope to settle down in an area for the most part and do not want to fly frequently. 

I actually am not too familiar with the term “micro wind” and decided to take this challenge as an opportunity to learn more. Starting off with the article, “Reno Site Offers Comparison Shopping for Home Wind Turbines,” I am amazed at the product of home turbines itself because I haven’t heard of the idea or seen them before, and because one turbine can charge a car battery even though the name includes the word “micro.” What jumps out at me from the article is the integration and involvement of government, law, and funding, reminding me that climate change is interconnected with politics. It makes sense as it does cost a great deal of money to produce one microturbine already, and yet Reno or Nevada in general is planning to be the first ones to show other states how it’s done. From the Drawdown article, I learned about the significant reduction in greenhouse emissions that micro turbines are capable of and the ways electricity could be generated. In the “Small Wind Guidebook,” wind is a great resource if my location is optimal, which unfortunately it is not because I currently live in an apartment. However in my future home, this is a resource I will look into if needed, after already reducing my electricity usage. I currently live in San Jose and feel like wind turbines would be more suitable if I end up moving to an area closer to the shorelines like San Francisco where there would be more wind and less city obstruction. I feel like my current city does not provide for many opportunities to have micro turbines installed, however a place could be high up in the power lines or on top of taller buildings due to no urban obstruction. The article mentions the option to install a turbine on your own if you are familiar with the equipment and functions. I am currently taking Physics 5C this quarter and it’s interesting to see how the small turbines generate direct current and would need a converter into alternating current. After testing values into an energy payback Excel, I discovered that the average wind speed is one of the most important values for the price of a turbine to pay off. In an area like mine where there average wind speed is on the lower side, for example 4 m/s, it will take longer than 30 years to pay off the turbine. At this point, it’s about considering whether or not the electricity generated by the turbine is worth the cost in a ideal timeframe. 

I am surprised but also happy to learn that an action as simple as mindful eating is one of the Ecochallenges and I do agree it is important to nurture our bodies. On the individual level, this action enables us to not only eat slower and eat just enough until we are full, but being intentional and deliberate with our food choices contributes to a healthier gut and body. Exploring the resources, I have realized there are greater impacts to mindful eating if we do this as a collective, such as significantly reducing the amount of food wasted, and this includes reducing the resources used in its production such as water and physical labor. Mindful eating and eating in silence is something I practice as a part of my religion and it is something I am more reminded of when I attended my local temple weekly, prior to the pandemic. From the Harvard Health Blog, “mindfulness includes noticing the colors, smells, flavors, and textures of your food” and to me, mindfulness is also about being appreciative of the food we eat and how it serves to nurture our bodies. However, at home, I don’t always eat in silence and fill this time to converse with my parents or friends while still fueling my body. 

This healing and resting aspect is also mentioned in one of the podcasts I listened to for the climate action event and the speaker, an activist, talks about how rest is a powerful act of resistance and we deserve to rest. While this branches slightly away from eating, it is still about getting back your energy in order to be refreshed and continue to fight for environmental justice. I also wanted to bring up how she mentioned, “as much as it is about the people and the planet, it’s also about personal sustainability and that can take the form of financial sustainability, health...” This is an empowering viewpoint to me because I did not consider how my own well-being should be prioritized and even seen on the same level as sustainability. On one hand, there is a green component in reducing food waste but eating in itself is a way to refuel to keep fighting for sustainability.

Food waste is a climate change issue I also talk about in my essays and I was inspired by again, the film “Kiss the Ground” because I learned how beneficial composting food is for the soil and less waste ends up in the landfills. 

For me, meal times are when I get to step away from my screen with this online learning this year so it has not been a problem for me to engage in this challenge. I’m including some images of the meals I’ve eaten in the comments.

After watching the movie “Kiss the Ground”, I was inspired to learn more about the impacts of regenerative agriculture. I was not familiar with this topic and had always associated farming with the tilling machines and pesticide spraying trailers only to learn that it is actually terrible and what is called industrial farming. Through Charles’ TED Talk, I’ve gained a more holistic picture of how farming is interconnected with the health of the planet. He explains that there are 5 main cycles: solar function, water cycle, soil nutrient cycle, dynamic ecosystem communities, and a human-social connection. Farming may be only a part of the soil and nutrient cycle, but damage to it will bring about damage to all the other cycles. In the industrial agricultural world, this means reducing biodiversity, manufacturing processed foods/sugars that destroy our health, and the use of pesticides that are making their way into groundwater, in human breast milk, and crossing the blood-brain barrier. Charles mentioned this is connected with the rise in mental and physical diseases, and the movie Kiss the Ground mentioned its correlation to cancer, ADD, and other birth defects. Going into the movie and YouTube, I was not prepared for how a technique of farming can be now endangering human health and animals. 

To combat industrial agriculture, we need regenerative agriculture and it is essentially about having no mechanical disturbance (no tiling), having more diversity in the soil (many variety of crops), incorporating compost and animal grazing (for rich and healthy soil), and lastly, having trees that will anchor the soil. All 4 of these methods contribute to the goal of pulling carbon down into the soil, and out of the atmosphere. And eventually, it will fuel a positive virtuous cycle, for example contributing to more plant growth, more rainfall, and furthermore, reduce emissions, reverse deforestation, and so on. Regarding the reflection question, I now feel so much more inclined to support and do what I can towards regenerative agriculture. I don’t want a money hungry, cooperation and government that pushes industrial agriculture to be the reason why we no longer have farmlands that can support crops in the future. As a collective, we should care about this problem on the farming side, the land will become dirt and dust, contributing to dust storms, deserts, On the other side, it will impact the food we produce, buy, eat, and therefore impact our well being. 

While regenerative agriculture is a large-scale practice, one way where I felt like I contributed are eating some healthy greens grown at home and my grandma’s house. This is an image of my apartment’s community garden that started during this pandemic. A small section of soil was given to any unit that wanted to plant and when needed, I just go outside with a pair of scissors and cut off some green onions or mint for soup or other Vietnamese dishes. The soil is not being disturbed and our variety of crops is the opposite of the monoculture that industrial agriculture promotes. I feel like on an individual level, we can all make more informed choices with the produce we buy and overall just consuming healthy foods.