Erin Sabotta

Mass Audubon Climate Action

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
326 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

36

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

60

minutes

spent learning

Erin's actions

Land Use

Buy Bamboo

Bamboo Production

When they are available, I will purchase products made from bamboo instead of wood, plastic, or metal.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings and Cities

Tour a Green Roof

Green and Cool Roofs

I will set up a visit or a virtual tour of a green roof in my city, and ask about the codes and process for installing a green roof.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

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 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 3 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Women and Girls

Research Businesses Owned by Women, POC, or Immigrants

Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders

I will spend 30 minutes each day researching businesses owned by women, people of color, or immigrants that I can support when shopping.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Recycle Everything I Can

Recycling

Contamination prevents what is recyclable from being recycled. I will research and recycle all materials that are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community, making sure to not contaminate recyclables with non-recyclables.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Keep Track of Wasted Food

An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. Where would you rather use this money?

Erin Sabotta 4/04/2020 1:32 PM

I'm pretty good about not throwing away food, but it's even more important now that we're under quarantine to make sure we're prioritizing the fresh foods and not wasting anything. I've been trying to get more creative with food scraps (saving the liquid from a jar of tomatoes to cook with later, freezing carrot tops to use in a future smoothie) and composting what I can't use (the bottoms of mushroom stems that I sometimes have to cut off; moldy blueberries in the package I just received that day; use coffee grounds). I need to look more closely at saving/freezing onion and carrot peels, pepper tops etc and using them to make a vegetable stock.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

How does knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates empower you to make better decisions?

Erin Sabotta 4/04/2020 1:28 PM

I already knew a little bit about the differences between best by/sell by/use by (and how to tell if something actually has gone off), but it was interesting to learn that those six digit numbers I sometimes see on packaging (like 001-031) are Julian calendar dates for when the item was packaged. WTH?!?

A nice thing about not eating meat, dairy, or eggs is that the type of mold you get on fruits and vegetables is much less likely to kill you.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials Recycle Everything I Can

How could you incorporate other "R's" -- reduce, reuse, refuse, repair, repurpose, etc. -- into your lifestyle? How does considering implementing these "R's" make you feel?

Erin Sabotta 4/03/2020 1:23 PM

My local recycling facility is very good about educating/communicating what can and can't be recycled and how to dispose of different types of materials. I'm going to continue making an effort to buy products in the most recyclable materials possible (aluminum, glass) or unpackaged, and to work on the Refuse part of the Rs

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Use Buy Bamboo

Are bamboo alternatives readily available in your community? If not, what are other sustainable alternatives?

Erin Sabotta 4/03/2020 1:21 PM

They're hard to find without special ordering, which brings on other problems (transportation, packaging etc). I'm going to make sure Iook out for bamboo alternatives in the places I already shop (physical retail stores) and to replace things I might already buy online, like bamboo toilet paper

Read More
- Rishya Narayanan 4/06/2020 7:10 AM
  
  Let me know if you have any store recommendations!
  
  Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Reduce Animal Products

Why do people in richer countries eat more meat than people in other places? How does eating more meat affect our bodies, our planet, and other people?

Erin Sabotta 4/02/2020 11:58 AM

Where to even start on this. I've read Dr Greger's How Not To Die and all the studies he references on NutritionFacts.org, and checked out the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, and eliminating animal products from my diet appears to be the #1 way to improve my own health, lessen my environmental impact, and show compassion for other creatures. And I can achieve all of those outcomes by changing that one small part of my life.

Read More