Roy Song

I think this has more to do with availability of meat-based diets in richer countries because there are a lot of requirements for meat production, including land, feeding animals, processing them, and many more. Because there is more availability for meat, more people tend to eat them also because it is typically perceived as more enjoyable meal options, or "fancy" meals which people in richer countries will tend to want to enjoy. While eating meat is good if done in moderate amount, meat consumption has been shown to affect our bodies, planet, and other people negatively in numerous ways. One is that it could increase the likelihood of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, and many more that introduce significant risks for our health. Although it might not show at young ages, it has been shown that a lot of meat consumption can lead to these effects by numerous studies. It also harms our planet in numerous ways. As said above, with all the land, processing, and feeding animals required for meat production, producing and consuming meat lead to carbon emissions, destroying of the land, etc that promote climate crisis, which is bad for our planet and everyone living inside. With all this in mind, I have been trying to decrease the amount of meat-based meals in my diet, and it has been productive in many ways. It not only has been healthy options but also it made my meals to be a lot more enjoyable as I didn't realize before that there were so many enriching flavors and a variety of food to enjoy that are not meat-based. It seems important that everyone attempts to regulate their meat consumption at least to a certain level, not only to save the planet but also to live healthier lives.

Transportation choices can largely affect my engagement with my community. While driving, it is often easy to get too focused on the driving itself (which is of course necessary to not get into accidents) and fail to appreciate the community or landscape around us. This gets a little better when we are riding a bus or using public transportation because we don't have to focus as much on the driving itself and we can simply look out the window to appreciate the scenery. Then, biking or walking adds another layer to this engagement with my community around me because we can feel, smell, see, and really immerse ourselves into the environments near us. As I have been trying to walk or bike more and more than driving, I also began to appreciate things that I haven't before, which has been enjoyable experiences that motivates me to keep walking more and help save the planet.

Through this ecochallenge, I have been able to practice mindfulness and eat my meals without distractions like phone, or TV. It helped me realize how enriching eating experiences can be and how much more appreciative we can be with the eating process if we start eating without distractions. As an example, I was at a restaurant today, and I ate without looking at my phone or a TV nearby, and there were two main takeaways. One was that I was able to enjoy the conversations more with people that I ate food with, allowing me to engage in more fun, fulfilling conversations and interactions. The other was that I would think about things that I would usually be too distracted to think about, such as how the plate of food in front of me was made, what it contains, its impact on environment, how I would have done it differently, and many more. The time that would usually go by without these fulfilling experiences would have just gone by if I were to be distracted with other things. Furthermore, I would usually eat without considering my pace but I was able to slow down my eating speed and pace myself because I had time to think that even though I am hungry, I shouldn't eat too fast because it is not good for my health. Also, I thought about how I should have ordered less oily foods and less meat-based menu because it is not good for both myself and the environment, which I will try to incorporate in my future menu choices. I plan to keep continuing practicing mindfulness when I eat my meals because practicing mindfulness helps both my physical health and mental processes when it comes to eating, while also allowing me for more fulfilling experiences.

During Drawdown Ecochallenge, I have been keeping daily logs of food throwaway every time I eat or cook. I realized that there are a lot of throwaway foods than I imagined, and I was surprised to see how much they totaled out to be after a few days and then a few weeks. I tried to minimize the throwaways as I progressed with my logs, and it has been showing constant progress.

Given this experience, the numbers above are not very surprising because I feel that a lot of people contribute to food throwaways without them even knowing how much they do it or if they even know it is a serious problem. To answer the question, there are a lot of things I would do with the money that I could potentially save from wasting less food. It can be buying nice bicycles or skateboards to ride to places instead of cars. I can also donate the money to environmental non-profiits or NGOs to help protect our world. All in all, food waste makes us to waste money that could be rather well-spent elsewhere, and it also harms the environment that will harm us more and more as time goes on. Mainly, like said above, I think the money should rather be used to help make our environment better that is already being harmed by everyone's food wastes.

I have been trying to spend more time outdoors and appreciate Westwood more. Spending outdoors definitely helps enhance the sense of place because you can feel all the nature first-hand with all the senses: winds brushing the hair, how trees or grasses feel or smell, how beautiful the flowers are, how amazing to hear birds chirp, etc. Through our sensations, we can gain deeper knowledge and start to appreciate how beautiful and magnificent our surroundings are, and this can be achieved through spending more time outdoors and feeling them ourselves. I felt that it also helps me to relieve stress after a long day when I just go out to appreciate beautiful sceneries and nice atmosphere of the neighborhood I live in.

On an individual-level, eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat has been shown to contribute to our health. Eating lots of meat leads to many health complications, especially the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases or hypertension due to saturated fat. Eating fruits and vegetables introduce vitamins, fibers, antioxidants, and many more that help us stay healthier and live a better lifestyle.

It also helps other people and planet on a wider scale in many ways. First of all, the amount of pressure on lands and forests needed to produce meat will decrease significantly. We use them to produce what we feed to the animals that we later process to become meat, and consuming less meat contributes to the health of the planet and the people within.