Melissa Cruz

Eco Challenge 6 - For this weeks eco-challenge I decided to walk to and from work from my apartment complex. The walk is roughly 2 miles along NW Portland and Tomm Mcall waterfront. Some of the challenges/cons of my walk are the busy streets on Naito that I have to cross, and the rain that I encountered (which were most days). On a personal level the positives of this walk include the views of the Willamette River, the lit pathways along the water, and access to the Max If ever changed my mind. On a environmental level I reduced emissions and traffic congestion. Walking this route also allowed me to see how our mixed transportation infrastructure works between pedestrian paths, public transit, and road crossings.

For this week’s Eco-Challenge I decided to focus on reducing my water usage through kitchen practices. Since I’ve been meal prepping more frequently, I decided to steam my vegetables rather than boiling them. I have also been washing my fruits and vegetables in a bowl rather than a sink to minimize water consumption. Planning for one pan/pot meals has also been added to my weekly planning, it’s simpler, faster and more efficient. Also, as a student I always find myself in a rush and thaw frozen food in a bowl of water or run it under water. This week I decided to thaw it in the fridge overnight and that ended up working out for the best.

This week I decided to reduce my food waste by planning my portions in advance and meal prepping. I decided to roast multiple vegetables/sausage at once to use less energy on one sheet of pan rather than cooking multiple several meals. I chose seasonal vegetables to reduce my contribution to transportation and storage needs. I also stored my meals in reusable containers rather than my regular one-time plastic containers and went on to save my scraps in the freezer and used them when I was craving soup as well, something I've never done/would've thought to do with the remaining scraps. However, there were some scraps I did not end up using, I learned that some Farmer markets will accept the compost so that is an option for my next prep.