Katherine Jordak

Hi Katherine,

Thank you for sharing this information from the CDC! I will be honest with you and say that in the past, I used to buy/consume many Trader Joe’s frozen meals. The fact that Trader Joe’s products are so convenient and easy to prepare has always made them so enticing to me. This quarter, I decided that I wanted to start eating healthier, go on more walks, and incorporate more whole foods into my diet. I realized that eating lots of processed foods, compounded with the fact that I was getting less exercise during quarantine, was taking a negative toll on my physical health. I also agree with you when you mention that you obtain more energy from eating fruits and vegetables compared to processed foods. This was another huge reason why I decided to stop purchasing the processed, frozen meals from Trader Joe’s. 

Regarding the cost efficiency of buying more fruits and vegetables (compared to consistently buying processed products), I have also found that it is extremely helpful to freeze some of my fruits. Of course, fruits expire more quickly than something like a bag of potato chips would, so to prevent my money from going to waste, I like to freeze my berries and bananas. I don’t buy the already-frozen and packaged fruits because they tend to be more expensive, and they utilize more plastic with their packaging. I find that the texture of frozen fruit also works a lot better when making smoothies! When you use frozen fruit, you don’t need to add ice to the blender. 

Another benefit of consuming more fruits and vegetables that you mention is reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that we emit into our atmosphere. Many people are not aware of the appropriate portion sizes of different food groups that should constitute our daily meals. For instance, according to Vox, if we still choose to consume red meats, only one serving should be consumed per week at most. I used to think that meat was absolutely necessary to obtain a sufficient amount of protein, but I’ve learned that it is possible to obtain protein from other sources. These sources include legumes and nuts. I will say that it is a bit more difficult for me to rely on these sources since I am allergic to many legumes and nuts, but I still try to cut down on meat for at least one meal per day and for one entire day per week (Meatless Mondays). I find that when I purchase more whole foods (like fruits and vegetables), I generate less food waste than when I purchase frozen meals. This is because I have more control over how large I want my portion sizes to be. As such, I can accordingly decide how much fruit and vegetables to include in my dishes. Unlike frozen meals, where you typically have to cook the entire package at once, I can store the rest of my ingredients to make other diverse dishes that I will not get tired of. 

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2019/1/23/18185446/climate-change-planet-based-diet-lancet-eat-commission 

Hello Katherine,

This is amazing! I'm sure that the Nepali women would be really grateful for your contribution. The eco-challenge that I did was to raise funds to support educating women and girls around the world. Thus, our challenges are interconnecting. I think that you completely nailed it in terms of addressing gender equality and climate change. As women get more educated, the less likely they are to have children. Thus we can stunt population growth by educating more women. By having fewer people in the world, there will be less usage of resources such as electricity, food, transportation, etc. I think it's very admirable that you are choosing to alleviate the health disparity within women. Many women don't have access to reproductive and menstrual products due to monetary limitations. Your donation will go a long way! As Charlotte said, a lot of these menstrual products end up in the landfill over time in which these products are not easily disposed of. It may lead to environmental issues as it can also pollute and poison our Earth. I wonder what technological innovations will come about that can help us circumvent this? I don't ever remember seeing innovations in menstrual products. Maybe it is because I haven't been paying close attention but it seems that menstrual products have stayed the same for as long as I could remember. Participating in disadvantaged community clubs at UCLA, this specific health disparity for some something that I rarely see brought up. Usually, it is things like diabetes or heart disease but I think that reproductive health is just as important! I am definitely going to push for more representation in my clubs for reproductive health. This way, I can contribute to the education of more women locally and help curb population growth that way. Really great job! Keep up the good work

Hi Katherine and Charlotte!

Charlotte,I really liked how you brought up the fact that single use menstrual hygiene products contribute large amounts of waste to our already overflowing landfills. I’ve been a part of GlobeMed at UCLA since my freshman year and we work with the Mpoma HIV Aids Initiative and Johnson Nkosi Elementary School in south central Uganda. Each year, three members of our organization go to Uganda for the summer in order to work with the Mpoma team and find ways to improve our projects. We realized that many young girls dropped out of school when they started their period. They often didn’t have places to dispose of their pads and felt embarrassed. Thus, we started the Sanitary Pad Project. Last year, we fundraised money to buy reusable pads for the girls at the school through a company called AFRIpads. They use sustainable materials and each of the pads lasts for around a year. We’ve found that less girls are dropping out of school after receiving the menstrual hygiene kits! So kudos to you Katherine for contributing to this incredible initiative! 

We also lead menstrual hygiene workshops with the students at Johnson Nksosi each summer. We work with all genders, and not just girls in order to reduce the stigma/ misconceptions about menstruation. I think this is very important because just talking to girls about periods is not enough. We need everyone to understand and destigmatize menstruation! It starts with having open conversations and that’s exactly what we encourage the kids at the school to do. We happily answer any questions or concerns they may have. We explain the biology of menstruation as well as the stigma, abuse, and shame many girls in Uganda have to face due to their periods. Through this project, we hope that more girls continue in school and don’t feel ashamed of their period. We hope that people stop stigmatizing menstruation and understand that it’s just another biological process. 

Additionally, I recently saw the documentary Period. End of Sentence, which follows women in a village outside of New Delhi, India. It is incredibly moving and thought provoking! I highly recommend you guys check it out when you have a chance! 

Hi Katherine! This is really dope, and reading through what you learned was pretty eye-opening. I never really thought about it that way, the fact that more education for women means fewer children, which gradually reduces lots of co2 from the atmosphere! We definitely have a problem on this planet with overpopulation and not only will more education solve this problem, but it will also give us the resources and the education needed as a society to solve all of the issues that are pressing us at the moment that for some reason we just can't seem to solve. I was thinking of doing something similar in raising awareness for women's issues. I was thinking of setting up a film screening as one of the cards says here, as we know that these issues are of incredible importance to our current society. Overall kudos to you!

Hi Katherine! Thanks for donating a menstrual hygiene kit. I'm sure that it will be very impactful for Nepali women in need. I feel very strongly about access to menstrual health because I think it's just so important in all aspects of society, health, and the environment. 

Having access, as you said, allows menstruators to get the education they need to become more empowered and to be able to make informed decisions about family planning. I'm reminded by your post, that the existence of each human being is contributing to climate change. Just by being alive, we inevitably use resources and cause damage, no matter how much we try to minimize it. This underscores the importance of education which can help women all over the world to make family choices that are economically and environmentally informed. 

I just wanted to mention also, that "period poverty" is also present in the United States, and it's often not talked about because of the stigma surrounding menstruation. Period poverty refers to lack of education or lack of access to menstrual hygiene. Products simply cost a lot of money and not everyone can afford it. Can you believe that MONEY is such a huge barrier to wellness and health? This is a huge public health battle. 

But menstruation is also in some ways a climate battle. Literally, tons and tons of single-use pads and tampons end up in the dumpster every year. These things will not degrade in our lifetime. I'm really excited about creative solutions that are becoming more popular and mainstream. For example, reusable menstrual cups, period underwear, washable pads can be a more sustainable solution for many menstruators--both financially and environmentally. 

Hey Katherine! I also did this eco challenge and I calculated my carbon footprint as well as one of my close friend’s carbon footprint. Like you, I was really shocked at how large my carbon footprint is. I don’t fly a lot, I usually only fly every few years for a major trip or vacation but I do drive a lot which I think was part of the reason my footprint was so large. I also have a good amount of meat and dairy in my diet which probable played a big part in things as well. I thought it was interesting that we kind of have opposite habits. You seem to fly a lot while I fly very little and I eat a good amount of meat and dairy while you are nearly vegan. Given that both of our carbon footprints were pretty high I think that shows there needs to be a lot less of both of these factors to have a sustainable carbon footprint. I like that you already thought of so many alternatives to traveling by plane and that you even got your boyfriend in it on as well. Many of the alternatives you brought up are actually not very inconveniencing which makes the motivation to want to make these changes a lot easier. I also thought it was really cool that you and friends are almost fully vegan, which I really applaud you guys for because it can be so tempting to eat a lot of meat and dairy, especially for me. This actually inspired me to look further into my eating habits and find sustainable alternatives to eating dairy and meat. I recently started drinking almond milk and I found it to be much more enjoyable than dairy milk which made me wish I had turned to this alternative sooner. Nevertheless, all of this just goes to show that it’s definitely possible to make changes toward living a more sustainable lifestyle. But, it starts with education and knowing more about the specific parts of your life that contribute the most to carbon emissions and climate change is a great first step in the right direction.

Hello Katherine,

I as well did this challenge as I was curious what my friend's carbon emissions were. Similar to you, my friend and I was surprised to see how high our carbon emissions were. Small things add up here and there and it ends up being a large carbon footprint. I'm sure that your footprint was drastically lowered by the fact that you and your roommates are basically vegan. That diet is something I am curious about as I want to know how it would affect me as well as my carbon emissions. I guess what I learned from your comparison is that flying and vehicles is the most evil! It doesn't matter if youre vegan, the carbon emissions from vehicles and flights outweigh the benefits of being vegan. I was surprised that your boyfriend did not have a lower footprint than you. In fact, his carbon footprint is amazing! The average is I think around 4 tons and your boyfriend is way below that. I wonder way that is. That is crazy considering that he is not vegan. I really liked all of the suggestions that you and your boyfriend came up with to reduce your carbon footprint. As we can see from your emission comparison, it seems that vehicles and plans have a tremendous effect on carbon emissions so the only logical thing to do is to find alternatives. I think for sure traveling and walking are amazing ways to minimize that carbon footprint. Walking is very fun and relaxing and I feel like it is a good way to get away from school and to just restress. Something that I was brought to my attention when doing this is the impact of being conscious of your footprint. It seems that once your carbon foot print is known, it became way more tangible, and thus, you know how much of a negative effect you have on the earth. As a result, because of the tangibility, one is motivated to take action and reduce their carbon footprint. You seem to have had that same reaction! You were shocked by the amount of footprint you got and thus was brainstorming ways to decrease it. That sense of urgency once you know is I think what is vital towards creating a greener Earth. Imagine what the world would be like if everyone just knew exactly how much CO2 they are emitting into the air just from their daily activities. I think the impact is so great that even corporate CEOs would stop in their tracks and think about their actions. How can we get more people to be conscious of their carbon footprint?

Yes, flying drastically increases your carbon footprint.  I'm a big fan of train travel- yes much slower, but you get to see so much of the country & so much more comfortable than flying.  When you need to fly (and having family on the other side of the country makes it hard to avoid), purchase carbon credits. 

When calculating my carbon footprint I realized how drastically it went down when I inputted that my family never flies, so thats definitely the biggest factor in why your carbon footprint is much higher than your boyfriends. Honestly, it's unfortunate that you have to fly home and it's something out of your control, but I really like the idea that you said about possibly lowering this by flying less, but I'm sorry that you have to fly home in the first place. I know thats something hard to control while also caring for our environment. On top of that I'm extremely impressed with your boyfriends carbon footprint amount, it's probably the lowest I've seen yet!

I forgot to add a picture. Here I am including a picture of the type of fish I actually eat most often. I am excited to learn that this fish has a low environmental impact! 

Running is also my exercise of choice! And I definitely walk around UCLA a lot. It makes me a little upset to see pretty much constant construction to make better roads for cars, yet the sidewalks are bumpy and left unrepaired for pedestrians. Priorities, right?
 It's definitely a tripping hazard during running too. I actually avoid running in the evening for this very reason.