I will eat all of my meals without distractions, e.g., phone, computer, TV, or newspaper.
COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION
Industry
Reduce Single-Use Disposables
Bioplastics
I will avoid buying and using 1 single-use plastics and instead replace them with durable options.
COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION
Electricity
Invite a friend to calculate the carbon footprint of their household
Individual actions are important, but people and organizations working together can make a real impact. I will share a carbon calculator with a friend and invite them to calculate the carbon footprint of their household.
UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
Learn about Local Indigenous Practices
Indigenous Peoples' Forest Tenure
I will spend at least 20 minutes learning how local indigenous tribes are caring for the land by participating in a training, workshop, or presentation.
UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
Reduce Animal Products
Plant-Rich Diets
I will enjoy 1 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.
COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS
Action Track: Healing & Renewal
More Fruits And Veggies
I will eat a heart healthy diet by adding 2 cups of fruits and vegetables each day to achieve at least 4 cups per day.
COMPLETED 0
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
Transportation
Go for a Daily Walk
Walkable Cities
I will take a walk for 60 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.
COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION
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
TransportationGo for a Daily Walk
What have you noticed on your daily walks? What have you enjoyed? What infrastructure changes could make your walks more enjoyable or possible?
I have always loved to walk, but by taking on this challenge, it forced me to do walk every day. This is something I typically enjoy. There have been days where I am either just super tired or stressed and I dread my walk, but once I am outside, it always puts me in a better mood. Overall, what I have noticed is that, taking breaks to go on a walk makes me a more productive and happier person. I love walking around UCLA because campus is so beautiful and pedestrian friendly, but most other parts of LA that are walking distance is not as nice. Sometimes I get bored of campus and want to walk elsewhere, but most places have busy roads that I don't feel safe walking on. I hope that cities begin incorporating more walking and biking routes along roads to make it safe for pedestrians. Something else that I liked about this challenge was that it also challenged me to run my errands without a car and with walking instead. Most commonly, when I haven't walked enough in one day but I still need to get groceries, I will prioritizing walking to the grocery store. I love doing this because it gives me exercise while still being productive. Also, I have started reaching out to friends to see if they wanted to walk with me. This might be my favorite use of my time because, as I have mentioned before, just walking alone makes me happy. When I use it also as a way to socialize with my friends, its always a great time. Attached is a photo of my roommate and I as we head to the gorcery store together!
I completely agree with sometimes dreading walking places until I get outside and realize how refreshening and eye opening it is. Not only does going for walks wake me up, it puts me in such a better mood as the sun and fresh air make me realize how lucky I am to live where I live. I often find myself in my room all day just working on school, but have recently realized, like you mentioned, that taking breaks to go outside and go on walks actually makes me more productive with my work.
This year I have done a lot of exploring of the UCLA campus. As I am a freshman and have never experienced class in person, I really enjoyed my experiences walking around campus and feeling for a second like everything is normal. I also would give myself self guided tours and try to get a better grip on where certain classes and buildings are so I am better prepared when school I back in person.
Since taking this class, I have tried to have less distractions on my walks so that I can really appreciate the nature around me. I used to always listen to music or call a friend or family member when walking, but I have gained a lot more respect and understanding for nature through really appreciating the trees, plants, and weather without distractions. Based on my research on this topic, Mind.org noted that nature can increase confidence and self esteem. Personally for me, I believe these are two things that I have improved through this school year, and I believe that being more in-tune to both my body and our environment have helped in this.
One thing I really appreciate about LA is how even though it's a huge city that is extremely busy and full of infrastructure, there are hiking paths near campus that make me feel like I am away from everything. I recently went for a hike at Mandeville Canyon, about 10 minutes from campus. The hike was amazing and I felt like I was no longer in LA which was such a refreshing feeling. One thing I really appreciate about LA since moving here is the high number of people out on these hiking trails taking in nature. These experiences give me hope for suitability and for people future actions relating to the environment.
Hi Hannah! I think this is a really fun challenge that also is good for both your mental and physical health! I also love walking, but sometimes I find that I just get so busy with everything else in my life that I don’t take the time to myself to enjoy the outdoors and go for a walk. I definitely agree that UCLA is a great campus to wander through, and it’s nice that it is very pedestrian friendly because in a big city like Los Angeles, sometimes it is difficult to find good spots to walk. I also sometimes go on walks through the nearby neighborhoods in Westwood if I need a break from the hustle and bustle of campus. My family does a weekly Facetime every weekend to catch up with each other, and instead of sitting inside to do the call, I now go out for a walk, which allows me to breathe the fresh air and enjoy the amazing weather LA always has, while also catching up with my family. While I enjoy walking by myself and having some time to myself, I also enjoy walking with friends! Sometimes I’ll suggest that we go for a walk, where we can still chat, while also being outside. Over quarantine, my family and I (as I’m sure many others did) would make a habit of going on an evening walk every day, and it honestly was something I would look forward to. I always feel much better after a walk and encourage anyone to give going for walks a try!
Eating mindfully was something that I struggled with. Typically, my eating schedule is to eat small snacks throughout the day. It's unconventional, but I have found that it usually keeps my diet pretty balanced. With that, I am typically always snacking as I am working on school work. Most days, it didn't seem feasible to take a break from my school work every two hours to grab a snack / half meal. While this is how I tend to eat throughout the day, I still like to have a decent dinner. And with my dinners, I could definitely eat more mindfully. It has not been something I do every day, but occasionally. One night, my roommate wanted to cook all of us dinner. For that night, we all sat down and ate together. I noticed that in that meal, I was more in tune with how much food I needed to eat. When I eat throughout the day, I rarely feel like I have eaten too much, but I usually do after I eat my dinner. When I was eating dinner with my roommates, we ate slower and took more time to digest during the meal. More mindful eating allowed me to better understand when I had actually had enough food. Another way that I somewhat eat mindfully is when I am on a call with my S/O. This is not perfect because I'm still on my phone but since we are long distance, we can't eat together very often. This has allowed me to maintain a healthy relationship and practice mindful eating.
Hey Hannah! I really enjoyed reading about what you commented on mindful eating, as I also have been trying to practice mindful eating more recently. Eating mindfully is also something that has been difficult for me, because there are so many possible distractions and sometimes, as students, it seems like there’s not enough time in the day to truly take the time to eat a meal without multitasking. While doing this challenge, I also ate meals with my roommates and noticed how we all ate slower and realized when I was full. I think a phone call is also a somewhat decent way to eat mindfully or at the very least, not fully distracted by technology. Sometimes, I will talk on the phone with my mom as I am eating dinner, because like you, it is better than being on the phone and it allows me to connect with someone who I can’t be with in person. It is as close as we can get to eating dinner together when we are far apart, and also forces me to eat slower than I would. I think trying to continue to practice mindful eating is a way to maintain a healthy relationship with food and reduce food waste.
This Class opened my eyes to a lot of plastics that I was unnecessarily using. One source of plastic that I need to get better at avoiding is plastic grocery bags and plastic bags for fruits and vegetables. A lot of times, I go for a spontaneous walk and then end up at the grocery store to grab a few items that I need. When I do that, I often forget my reusable bags. This is something I need to get better at avoiding. When I do plan to go to the grocery store, I always make sure I have my bags. Other ways that I have reduced my plastic is using metal straws and my Hydroflask. This is something that I have done for a while but it makes a big difference. Plastic water bottles are not only just plastic but are also wrapped in plastic. The use of them creates so much unnecessary waste. One last thing that I want to mention is the use of plastic coffee cups. Sometimes I do crave a coffee made by my local coffee shop or even just Starbucks or Dunkin. I know that Starbucks has reusable cups that you can give to them and they put your coffee in, but most other coffee places don't. First, using my reusable coffee cup would be a great way for me to limit my plastic waste. Second, I would like to somehow make it more common for all coffee shops. Attached is an image of my grocery run with my reusable bags
Hi Hannah! First of all, congrats on taking on this action! Reducing our single-use plastic use, especially when it is plastic derived from fossil fuels, can really go a long way. I really feel you on sometimes ending up at the grocery store (or target) and not having any reusable bags. Luckily, it typically happened to be when I was on my way home from work or school, so I usually had a backpack! However, being deliberate in when you go on large grocery runs does help reduce the instances where you have to pay for their plastic bags. Like you, I use reusable things such as a Hydroflask, beeswax wraps, and straws. Great thinking on bringing a reusable coffee cup to shops that take them! While I don't typically purchase my coffee from shops, I will make sure to bring my own cups when I do.
An action that I recently completed was learning about bioplastics and sharing how to dispose of them to some friends! Bioplastic is a great alternative material in single-use plastics because unlike plastic derived from fossil fuels, bioplastics degrade safely and without any unknown long-term effects on the environment. As more packaging shifts into using this material, it may be easier to reduce your impact on plastic pollution!
Through the carbon footprint calculator, I calculated that with the 4 people living in my apartment, our carbon footprint is 4.19 tons of CO2 every month. The average carbon footprint for a US household is 4 tons of CO2. I was honestly pretty surprised that our carbon footprint is as high as it is, given that 3/4 of us are vegetarian and I eat limited meat and no dairy. This really goes to show that even if some aspects of ones life is fairly sustainable, other non-sustainable actions can still have a major affect on their carbon footprint. I believe that our major source of our carbon emissions comes from air-travel. Two of my roommates are international, and before the pandemic, they would fly home 1 time per year. My other roommate is from Nor Cal, so she drives home occasionally. I am from the east coast and, in all honesty, I probably fly a little too much, which is something I could change. Instead of taking multiple trips home, I could spend a couple weeks home 1 time per year. Another thing that we could limit is our car usage. I personally have begun walking to Westwood over driving, but I haven't really talked to my roommate about how even short trips can affect the carbon emissions. One last thing I would like to look into is electricity type. Living in an apartment, I don't think we get the option to choose a more sustainable energy source, but once I get a house of my own, that will be something I prioritize.
Hi Hannah. I have been seen a couple posts with for this challenge, and I am really curious about what my own carbon footprint would be. It is interesting that you note that some of your actions can still have a major affect on your carbon footprint despite other sustainable things your apartment does. For me, I immediately frame this as the non-sustainable actions counteracting the sustainable actions, and this way of thinking can be very demotivating. A helpful way to reframe this thinking is to acknowledge that my carbon footprint would be EVEN larger if I were not already doing some sustainable actions.
I feel like traveling is such a hard thing to figure out how to do sustainably. I am also from the east coast, so I fly home several times a year. This flying probably really adds up towards my carbon footprint, so I'm a little afraid to calculate it. I read somewhere that you can by carbon offsets when you fly. It might even be another one of these ecochallenges. You could look into doing that if you plan on flying several times a year.
Why I am here: I enrolled in 100W because it was recommended by many of my peers. They didn't give me many details about the class other than that it was a fun class and that the prof was fun. As someone who spent there whole UCLA career terrified of the writing II requirement, hearing that the prof was good was something I really valued. What I didn't realize that within just one week of taking this course, it would quickly become my favorite class that I am enrolled in (even over my major classes, which I typically find super interesting). I remember in my freshman high school ecology class learning about climate change and having the fear of rising waters submerging my beloved New York City being active in the back of my mind for about a year. Since then, I was always concerned with the climate crisis, but I never did research of my own. This class has brought back a lot of my major fears in regards to what my future environment will look like, but at the same time, it has brought me reassurance that it is not late to make a difference in my actions. I want to start making changes in my life that are more sustainable options. I am starting now so that when I do eventually settle down wherever I end up after undergrad, the transition to zero waste as smooth as possible. Growing up, I spent all of my summers outside. I would go to the beach with my family, play sports, like soccer, with my friends, and just play in the park across my house. I can about the climate crisis because I can't imagine my life without getting to spend all my spare time in the outdoors. I have attached a photo from the trip that I took this past summer to Acadia National Park. For some reason this trip opened my eyes to how much I really did value nature.
