Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge

Heather Macleod

Team FUCO

"To connect and empower my friends & family, my church, my students, & neighbors to stop climate change!"

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,149 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

330

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

145

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

225

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

3.3

pounds of paper

have been saved

Heather's actions

Transportation

Stay on the Ground

Telepresence, High-Speed Rail

Instead of traveling by plane, I will find an alternative way to accomplish the goals of an upcoming trip (i.e. telepresence, vacation locally).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

5 minute showers - saving water saves electricity

Remember the California drought? And we all got so good at taking 5 minute showers? It turns out we were saving electricity as well, because it takes large amounts of electricity to pump water around. I will take one 5 minute shower a day - or skip a shower some days.

COMPLETED 40
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Sinks

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

Tropical Forest Restoration

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME 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

Electricity

Learn More about Wave and Tidal Energy

Ocean Power

I will spend at least 60 minutes learning more about the energy generation potential of wave and tidal energy.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Find a Local Climate-Friendly Supermarket

Refrigerant Management

I will explore the interactive map in the links below to find a supermarket that does not use HFC refrigerants near my home.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Go Paperless

Recycled Paper

I will reduce the amount of paper mail that I receive by 0.11lbs (0.05kg) a day or 3.3lbs (1.6kg) a month by opting into paperless billing, ending unwanted subscriptions and opting out of junk mail.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

buy an induction stovetop

Methane is a greenhouse gas that warms that climate more than Co2. Yet most of use methane gas for cooking, which not only warms the climate but fouls the air in your home. A 2-burner induction stovetop costs about $200 (Drinkpod has one for about $129 before tax) and it may fit on top of your gas burners so you can use it even if you can't replace your whole stove.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Install A Toilet Tank Bank

Low-Flow Fixtures

I will reduce the amount of water flushed and save up to 11 gallons (41 L) of water a day or 330 gallons (1,230 L) a month by installing a toilet tank bank.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 10 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

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

Industry

Research Cement Alternatives

Alternative Cement

I will spend at least 45 minutes researching cement alternatives that reduce the carbon footprint of concrete.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 38
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

Heather Macleod 7/25/2021 7:14 PM
Ack, the challenge was just refreshed, but I"M not refreshed yet. In a few weeks I'll have some time to browse - and once church goes back in person, I can bring the laptop to coffee hour and invite people to browse. (screen in Wendte hall? or in a smaller room?)

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings

How can your region/household prepare for changing water situations in order to become more resilient?
Heather Macleod 5/30/2021 7:18 AM
OK - I couldn't stand the thought of buying something, so I just filled a quart container full of water and put it in the toilet tank to displace some of the water. And the toilet flushes fine - so I think that's a good low tech fix that pretty much everyone in my region could use. We also don't flush when we pee, because we are in a drought.

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- Jeffrey Melcher 9/04/2021 7:33 PM
  low tech, high efficiency!
  
  Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity

What did you learn about wave and tidal energy? How do they compare to other energy sources?
Heather Macleod 5/30/2021 7:16 AM
Wave and tidal energy have a lot of problems, it seems - if you build big concrete dam-like structures, silt accumulates, and there are a lot of problems with building. I had hoped this might be the solution to the duck-shaped curve of times that solar energy is not avalable, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe offshore wind is the solution for those times that solar is not available.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

How does knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates empower you to make better decisions?
Heather Macleod 4/26/2021 9:14 PM
I read the part about food waste first & I wondered why food rots in the fields. It didn't say, so I went to the Drawdown book which is more comprehensive. I learned that food rots in the fields because of our economic systems - that if food prices are too low for it to be worth harvesting, it rots. Or it people don't have money to pay for it, it doesn't get sold & rots. The problem is our economic system doesn't prioritize everyone eating. It doesn't prioritize distributing food to eveyone who needs it. So food rots when people are hungry, because if the food can't be used to make money it gets trashed. Food has become a commodity, not a source of nourishment for people who need it. That sucks.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity

What are your tricks to make your shower quick?
Heather Macleod 4/23/2021 7:49 PM
I turn off the shower while I lather up my hair. I need to remember to get a bucket so I can use the water for my garden.

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Heather Macleod 4/20/2021 7:01 AM
I feel impatient, Sometimes I want POINTS and I can tell there are things that make a difference here, but the biggest things either haven't happened yet or they're not on the points chart. For example, I've done research and found 3 good recycled paper sources with websites and prices - and I'm going to post that on the church listserve, and maybe Nextdoor.com. (Hmmm.....and maybe get that info to a school district or summer school teachers I work with??)

And I'm figuring out how to do a refrigerant scavenger hunt for families, where we go to different grocery stores and take photos of the refrigerator cases, and get them on the map of refrigerants.

And I want to schedule a couple meetings of people from church to coordinate information and a zoom checkback on how the challenge is going - not everyone needs to do all the learning things, we can share the info. ( paper is an example. _

And then there are the things not on the chart - I wrote a letter to the editor about setbacks for gasoline pumps and I made a phone call to the head of the committee that could pass that. And I was part of the Earth Day service in church.

So the truth is, it's going well, but my keys have been lost for 56 hours and I need to start rustling up work for June - so there are the other parts of life to attend to as well.

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Heather Macleod 4/16/2021 8:31 AM
so far I have been logging my food waste - discovered that I shouldn't buy the fast food meal for my godson because he doesn't eat the fries if they're cold - just get the sandwich. So that's saving waste AND money. And finding that eating the shrivelled red pepper tasted good actually, and the lentil soup I thought would be too old was just fine.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry

How close is the nearest climate-friendly supermarket to your home? How could you encourage local supermarket to reduce or phase out their use of HFC refrigerants?
Heather Macleod 4/07/2021 5:43 PM
Whole Foods on Albany (Gilman), Walnut Creek, Dublin, Concord all have transcritical Co2 cooling systems. So does Target in Sausalito. So the question is: Why not Oakland and Marin and Ashby Ave. Whole Foods? (and Fresno, and all the other ones) Why not Target in Alameda and San Leandro and Albany? And who or what is Aldi - they have a lot of good systems across the country. Makes sense to start by finding out how the good ones got it - and have them talk to the other ones??

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- Heather Macleod 4/14/2021 11:53 AM
  I have an idea: What if we had a scavenger hunt where 1-4 teams went around town (in electric cars, perhaps) and took photos of the labels inside grocery store refrigerators?? I think we might be able to update the map with info on each grocery store. That would give us information to start a campaign to get more stores to follow Aldi's lead!
  
  Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry

Good job on choosing recycled paper! How can you take your action a step further?
Heather Macleod 4/07/2021 5:17 PM
I could let other people know that Staples has 100% recycled paper, while OfficeMax only has 30% recycled paper. I could write Office Max and tell them we want 100% recycled paper. I could get a lot of people to write Office Max, or start a petition. I could check that the magazines I read are printed on recycled paper and write them letters if they're not.

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Heather Macleod 4/01/2021 12:24 PM
I signed up to keep a food log, and I was perusing the frig, considering the stew that was a week old, ready to throw it in the compost, and I thought - well, how does it smell? And it smelled fine. And it tasted fine. All because I knew I had reducing food waste on my list!

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