Cara Rubin

Daily Challenge post 3/3: For my final day of the challenge, I ate 3 full meals that were vegetarian. I've found it more difficult to find vegan options as I've never tried veganism before and had no experience. It's also been challenging as I live in the dorms, and with only one kitchen in the entire building, it's difficult to find a time to cook when it isn't busy. I've utilized the dining halls more, but their main vegetarian/vegan option is salad, which I didn't want to eat for 3 meals a day. Trying vegetarianism and veganism has shown me that our campus options for alternative diets are lacking. When I go to the POD shop, it seems that the only options are a salad or a peanut butter jelly sandwich.  I've enjoyed this challenge overall, but it has definitely taught me to take notice of the alternative options that are being offered!

Daily challenge post 2/3: Overall, my challenge is going well. However I am finding it difficult to break out of my habits. For example, tonight I ate at Chipotle and my instinct was to order chicken, as this is what I normally order. Luckily I caught myself, and asked for extra beans and skipped the meat. This has happened multiple times as I'm used to my old ordering habits. I'm trying to catch myself more often, but I have made this mistake a few times! 

Daily challenge post 1/3: My daily challenge has been going well so far! Throughout this challenge, I've noticed how much meat is present in our everyday lives. For example, when I buy a caesar salad, chicken is usually already pre-added to the salad, and it's difficult to find options where meat isn't a hidden ingredient. I've been checking ingredient labels more frequently as sometimes there are a lot of additives that I don't want to consume while completing this challenge!

Post for my one-time challenge (the picture shows the podcast with the checkmark at the top to show that it's been played): To complete this challenge I listened to the Planet Money "Sell Me Your Climate Bombs" episode from September 2020. The podcast talked about R12 refrigerant, which was previously used in things such as refrigerators, car air conditioners, etc. It was banned by the EPA years ago due to its detrimental effects on the environment, but the canisters are still present today. The podcast hosts nicknamed it the 'invisible threat' as people don't realize that this gas is still a critical concern as "refrigerants are up to 10,000 times more potent than CO2 gas". The interviewed couple has spent the last few years collecting small containers of refrigerants to destroy, and have been destroying up to 250,000 tons per year. This is an issue that I had never even heard of or considered before, but these refrigerants are essentially ticking time bombs that are affecting our earth more than we know.