Elizabeth Naze

For our community Eco Challenge I chose to make sure I was registered to vote. I actually already knew I was registered since I have been since I turned 18 but I took advantage of this challenge to sit down with the voters ballets we just recently got and take the time to do research into everything on the ballet. My dad is an educator and I have to say that the PPS Union's pamphlet guide to voting has a lot of interesting information on candidates and reforms although I like to cross check it with my own research too.
Happy voting everyone !! This is an opportunity to see your vote make an impact.

For this weeks ecochallenge I chose to do ride-sharing! At my job I close the place 5 days a week. I have about 3 other people that I constantly close with which means we're pretty close at this point. This week I reached out to my coworkers to see if they wanted a ride to and from work so that we cut down on the amount of people driving to work. It was really fun! My coworker Eva and I are pretty tight and we had a lot of fun hanging out and getting food together before work, and she appreciated the ride. This is a change that I can see myself doing consistently into the future.

For this weeks ecochallenge I chose the Water specific "5 minute shower" challenge. This is a nice way to save water although this challenge seemed easier on the outset. I'm already pretty quick when it comes to showering since I grew up having to split hot water between five family members but five minutes is a lot quicker than you think! My showers are normally about 10-15 minutes maybe a little longer if I need to wash my hair. I tried putting on a song that was about five minutes long instead of a timer and I was surprised by how quick it was. I don't know if I could do this forever but I can definitely do it for a week.

This week for my ecochallenge I chose to cook & eat 1 organic meal a day! For this challenge I chose a dish that I'm already familiar with, Japanese curry. I picked out organic carrots, potatoes and I chose tofu instead of chicken for the protein. Thanks to making a big batch, I was able to eat this curry throughout the week which helped me save money and do something positive to combat the negative issues with our food industry which is more focused on quick, easy and wasteful instead of the alternative.

For my eco challenge this week I decided to switch to washing my clothes with cold water instead of hot to cut down on C02. I noticed it takes a bit longer with my washing machine when I use cold water, but as long as I start it early enough then it's not a problem! I wish I had an area to air dry my clothes as well but I don't have a good spot for a clothesline. I wonder if there are other alternatives to a drying machine that are good for the environment.

This week we are talking about waste. I decided to choose the "go paperless" challenge and change the options for my insurance to go completely paperless as well as not getting physical receipts but instead electronic ones when I go shopping.

This challenge had me thinking of things on a bigger scale, places that use paper en masse like schools, hospitals and offices. This article from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/05/11/the-sustainable-impact-of-a-paperless-office/?sh=2ea6b36b1095 talks about the consumer demand for more sustainability and accountability from corporations and how it can benefit the environment and the corporation to go paperless. There's a really big push for corporations to take environmentally friendly measures seriously because it's backed by the consumers dollars. This is an important reminder of how important it is to remember who you give your money to.