Final Post:
The Drawdown EcoChallenge undoubtedly had its place in the Sustainability-in-Action course and was a good stepping stone for further research on the subject. I appreciated the fact that certain actions provided reliable websites and resources to guide us in our learning process. The number of actions available for us to choose from (along with their wide variety) made it easy to evaluate our habits and lifestyle and make changes accordingly. While the COVID-19 pandemic made certain actions impossible to carry out, it did not limit our ability to make important, sustainable changes. I would highly recommend giving this assignment to future classes and I am sure some influential community initiatives could stem from this project after the pandemic. I believe promoting this activity for Vanier in general would be worthwhile, because many students are interested in environmental issues and could find a lot of use out of a bank of suggestions and information on how to help the health of our planet.

On a personal level, this assignment greatly contributed to my well-being. It motivated me to make better food choices and be more mindful of what I consume and where it comes from. I learned about balance and the importance of critically looking at your eating habits to assess the areas where change is truly necessary. For example, some heavily processed vegan foods I purchased sometimes were not necessarily more sustainable than responsibly produced animal products. Moreover, it is very important to acknowledge that every small step we take towards a more sustainable future matters. While a whole lifestyle change might seem overwhelming at first, the creation of new habits often triggers an entire chain of events and also inspires those around us to reevaluate their own. I am most proud of my consistency in maintaining small changes. For example, I have remained mindful of my diet, consumption, home improvement and exercise habits throughout this semester and intend on continuing on this path.

While I was consistent in performing sustainable actions in my daily life, I would have liked to improve my organization skills when it came to reporting them for this assignment. I did not always write posts about what I was up to because I sometimes had trouble adhering to a precise schedule and structuring this semester-long project. A couple more of "checkpoint" deadlines would have been useful to me.

Overall, participating in the Drawdown EcoChallenge was very beneficial to my physical and psychological health and I am proud to have taken concrete actions to help the environment as opposed to only passively learning about sustainability.

Final ecochallenge post

   I enjoyed the eco-challenge participation and found that it was a wonderful experience. I found that the eco-challenge participation was a good way of keeping track of progress for the final project and a good way for teachers to see how well students are progressing in terms of the final project and give them feedback. This activity allowed me to make note of any necessary information and what it was I was actually researching for the topic of my final project. It also allowed me to get a better understanding of my topic in further detail. It would probably be more difficult to come up with ideas and thoughts for the project without this activity. Furthermore, I felt that this was a useful tool for many students, including myself. It allowed us to make note of any important information that would be included in the term project. I think that this activity should be promoted for other classes including other universal complementary courses. I was proud of many actions I did for the eco-challenge participation. One of them was when I put the leftovers from a large meal away in order to preserve the food item and save it from expiring, like the one shown in the photo. Along the way, I experienced several challenges and obstacles that prevent my progress for my project. One example was when I had made a large meal and a portion of had to be thrown away simply because we forgot to preserve it. Although, this was disappointing, I kept trying my best to make sure tha most of what was leftover was properly stored and perished. I think that this activity was a fun experience and should be more included in other classes like this one and not only Vanier in general. I also think that this class would be have been a better experience if we were actually in class rather than virtually. I think that this class was meant to be in person and would been more fun had it been at the college. If COVID-19 never happened, then we would all be able to participate more sustainably and work together to become more sustainable as a group.

Look at all this leftover food that would have been wasted if not preserved!!!

I believe this Ecochallenge was very nice and had it's place in the sustainability class. It kind of forced us to do our part in being more aware of what we are doing each day. I think this challenge got us all out of our confort zone since we wouldn't have done these actions if hadn't been exposed to them. This is definitely something I could recommend doing with other classes even if they aren't related to sustainability. For this challenge, I was particularly happy with my reduction in pollution by either using my bike as a main source of transportation or even lowering my electricity usage. This has really helped me see for myself how great of a change I can make by only following a few small steps. I will surely continue some of these actions even without the challenge when this course ends.

Throughout my participation in this Eco challenge, I've become increasingly aware of the impacts the community i live in and i can have on the environment and the earth itself.  I learned that our impacts will determine how sustainable life can be for the future generations coming years after us, so it's in our best interest to take action, whether by participating in large scale activities or changing something small in your daily lifestyle. Any acts that demonstrate changing for the better will ultimately be a stepping stole to achieving a life that can be sustainable for all. 
With that said, as much as these challenges can be beneficial, I found it was very intriguing learning and participating in them. All the time i spent learning helped me to brighten my knowledge of the many issues present in different  communities and the techniques used to reduce the impact or remove the issue as a whole. With the time i spent taking action in the challenges that challenged me to change something minor in my daily life, has been very effective because i was not only able to positively impact my community but i was able to positively impact the way i feel physically and emotionally. As some final thoughts, i found this eco challenge very amusing and enjoyable to participate for the reasons of having the ability to change certain things i do for the greater good. Furthermore,  i will most likely implement some of the challenges I've done to my daily lifestyle because of how beneficial it has been for the environment and myself. 

During the pandemic, I also going out to restaurants, bars, and other public places . I definitely did not want to risk my health for during a disatrous time. 

This pandemic was really a tough situation for all of us and we have struggled to overcome the situation for a long time. I also found this virus a depressing and sad time for everyone in the world.