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Jonathan Tong's avatar

Jonathan Tong

Blue and Gold Greenies

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 187 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    295
    minutes
    spent exercising
  • UP TO
    45
    minutes
    being mindful
  • UP TO
    5.0
    miles
    not traveled by car
  • UP TO
    0.2
    pounds of CO2
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    50
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    5.0
    miles
    traveled by bus
  • UP TO
    12
    zero-waste meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    90
    minutes
    spent outdoors
  • UP TO
    3.0
    lightbulbs
    replaced

Jonathan's actions

Electricity

Choose LED Bulbs

LED Lighting

I will replace 8 incandescent lightbulb(s) with Energy Star-certified LED bulbs, saving up to $14 per fixture per year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Smart Seafood Choices

Ocean Farming

I will visit seafoodwatch.org or download the app and commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Healing & Renewal

Eat Mindfully

I will eat all of my meals without distractions, e.g., phone, computer, TV, or newspaper.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity

Calculate the carbon footprint of my household

I will calculate the carbon emissions associated with my household and consider how different lifestyle choices could reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Zero-waste Cooking

Reduced Food Waste

I will cook 3 meal(s) with zero-waste each day

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Purchase a Carbon Offset

Efficient Aviation

If I buy a plane ticket, I will purchase a carbon offset.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Use Public Transit

Public Transit

I will use public transit 1 mile(s) per day and avoid sending up to (___) lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Land Sinks

Explore My Area

Sometimes protecting nature requires feeling connected to nature. I will invest 60 minutes in exploring and appreciating a natural area in my region, whether a forest, wetland, coastal area, or somewhere else.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Learn About & Practice Sustainable Fashion

Multiple Industry Solutions

I will learn about sustainable fashion and begin trying to practice it in my own life.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Go for a Daily Walk

Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 30 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 4
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?


  • Jonathan Tong's avatar
    Jonathan Tong 6/08/2023 3:42 AM
    I've always made a good effort to recycle, but I think I've definitely improved over the last year. I try to limit the amount of single use plastics I go through, but when I do use them I always make sure the clean them and recycle. I have done this in the past when it was convenient, but lately I've started keeping any dirty plastic with me until I could return home and rinse them off. Aside from that, I've also improved my recycling habits by being a little more of stickler with my roommates and family members about recycling. Typically I wouldn't say anything, but now I actively encourage them to recycle and even move any recyclable object from the trash to the recycling bin when they don't.

    • ANDREW TRAN's avatar
      ANDREW TRAN 6/08/2023 10:39 AM
      Hi Jonathan, I feel like I have improved with recycling over the past year as well. In the past, I wouldn't really that many recyclables but I feel like in the recent year that number has gone up. It feels good to sort all of them and bring them to the recycling center and get some money for snacks.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Electricity Calculate the carbon footprint of my household
    After you determined your carbon footprint, did you see what different choices you can make in order to reduce it?

    Jonathan Tong's avatar
    Jonathan Tong 6/08/2023 3:34 AM
    I calculated the monthly carbon footprint of my family, including myself, using an online calculator that took into account how our house gets energy, how we travel, and how we eat. The biggest thing that I notice, and have noticed, that we can do is to switch to renewable energy. I've spent years urging my parents to get solar panels, but due to stubbornness and reservations about the costs of initially getting the solar panels, they have unfortunately not chosen to make the switch. Now I realize that I could be trying harder to convince them, maybe by making a full presentation about the total cost differences spread out over a long period of time. The other main thing I noticed I can change is my meat intake. I already started to cut out red meat little by little over the past couple of months, but I can start to go further. The next logical step is to cut out red meat all together, but maybe I can become pescatarian or even vegetarian eventually.

  • Jonathan Tong's avatar
    Jonathan Tong 6/08/2023 3:23 AM
    When I get new clothes I typically keep them for a very long time. For example, I have owned the shoes and pants that I wore today for the last six years each. Of course, when having clothing items for this long, they tend to get pretty beat up, which is something that I have started to notice a lot lately. While I may be able to donate some of these clothes soon, there are a lot of things that are, or soon to be, past saving. I initially thought that I would just need to throw these away, but I just learned that non-leather clothes can be recycled. In fact that are many options to do so! There is an organization called "Blue Jeans Go Green" that recycles denim, many stores take back worn out clothes so that they can be recycled, and most thrift shops also recycle.

    • TASNIA RASUL's avatar
      TASNIA RASUL 6/08/2023 8:56 AM
      Hi Jonathan,

      I really enjoyed reading your discussion about how you keep clothes out of landfills! I think the American culture of buying a new outfit for every occasion is very unsustainable and is detrimental to the environment. I love how you keep your clothes for a long time and it is a practice I try to implement myself. My wardrobe ended up being 85 percent my mom's closet or clothes I have owned since middle school. I love how you referenced the organization Blue Jeans Go Green because it made me aware of a way I can further reduce waste.

  • Jonathan Tong's avatar
    Jonathan Tong 6/08/2023 3:11 AM

    This whole quarter I've made it a goal of mine to walk as much as possible, whether that be going to a specific destination or just going on a leisurely stroll. I've found that, for one, I have become more fit. Walks that made me sweat and gasp for air ten weeks ago now seem insignificant. I've also been able to notice so many things that I didn't really see before. For example, there is a man that sells drinks and pastries outside of the Hammer museum in the mornings, there is a lot more trash on the ground than I thought, the sound of the freeway is inescapable just a few blocks over from campus, and differences in housing situations between students and residents of the surrounding areas is huge.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Land Sinks Explore My Area
    How can spending more time outdoors enhance your sense of place -- your deep knowledge of and appreciation for your surroundings?

    Jonathan Tong's avatar
    Jonathan Tong 6/08/2023 3:10 AM
    Spending time outdoors and in nature is always a great way to ground myself. I tend to get so caught up in both trivial and important things in my life, whether that be worrying about getting into medical school or debating with myself about whether or not to go to the gym. Getting outdoors and seeing that there is so much more to life than just school, for example, always seems to ease all the worries and tension I have. Furthermore, being in nature always strengthens my sense of duty to protect it, and I think that living in such an urban place makes me lose sight of the fact that there are environments that really need saving. So, finding little pockets of undisturbed land helps me stay focused in that regard too.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Action Track: Healing & Renewal Eat Mindfully
    Mindful eating is healthier for us than eating with distractions. How does your eating experience differ when practicing mindfulness?

    Jonathan Tong's avatar
    Jonathan Tong 6/08/2023 2:56 AM
    The biggest difference that I've noticed about eating without distractions is that I eat much faster. Typically I would be reading or watching something on my phone and I never really realized how much those distractions took away from the attention required for eating. Something that may usually take me 12-15 minutes to eat with distractions can take me as little as 5 minutes, which was pretty shocking to me. I also think that to a very small extent I notice the taste and texture of food more. Not that my senses are heightened by any means, but all of my focus goes into processing that sensory information when I eat mindfully. Lastly, eating without distractions always results in me observing my surroundings so much more. If I'm in my apartment I start noticing things like small marks on the wall and if I'm outside on campus I start noticing the insects crawling on tables or the hummingbirds hovering among the bushes.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Transportation Use Public Transit
    How has your access to various kinds of transportation throughout your life influenced your current attitudes about transportation and your transportation behavior?

    Jonathan Tong's avatar
    Jonathan Tong 6/08/2023 2:49 AM
    My whole life I've only really traveled by car for the most part. I've been on a handful of plane flights, but prior to this year I think I had been in a bus twice and a train maybe a couple more times than that. I grew up in the suburbs of LA where things are very spread out. The walk from my house to the nearest grocery store takes at least 30 minutes, and that's just one way. Public transportation options were also either unavailable or just really slow, so my family and everyone else I knew drove everywhere. Because of this, I've grown really dependent on driving. At one point it was almost as if trains and buses were fictional ideas because they were just so far removed from my life. Needless to say I have had the habit of taking my car anywhere and everywhere. Since the start of this quarter though I have been able to reduce my car usage a lot, only driving maybe once or twice a week!

  • Jonathan Tong's avatar
    Jonathan Tong 6/08/2023 2:10 AM
    A few times in the last month I cooked chicken thighs and saved the bones so that I, or my roommate, could use them to make soup!

    • Madison Prince's avatar
      Madison Prince 6/08/2023 7:34 AM
      It's super cool that you've started to save the bones! I have always thought that every part of the animal should be used if it's going to be used for food, and this is really a great way to do that.