Scarlett Fearing

For my transportation eco challenge, I decided to take the bus to my grocery store this week instead of getting my groceries delivered. I usually take the bus once a month to get my groceries and have them delivered when I need other things that would be hard for me to carry back with me because I don't own a car. I take the bus almost every day already when I'm going to and from work, but taking the bus to get groceries is a bit more difficult to me. I am not the kind of person who enjoys grocery shopping and usually I have to buy way more than I can carry back with me to my home, so it has become a habit for me to get my groceries delivered. But this week, I took the bus and bought all the basic things that I know I would need and what I know I would be able to carry back home with me. I found that it is a lot cheaper for me to buy groceries this way, and I would like to do it more often. This way, no car is involved with me buying my groceries at all, so it is a more sustainable option as well.

This week for my community eco challenge, I decided to sign up for a cob/ natural building workshop in Gresham which I am going to on Wednesday. Before signing up, I didn't really know much about cob workshops, but I talked to my dad a bit about them. I found out that when he was in college he created his degree in sustainable design and development, which focused on natural building methods. He told me that he used to volunteer for cob workshops and helped build structures out of natural materials such as clay, sand, and straw. He also said that it is a great way for people to connect to their community because he got to know the natural building community and made friends while taking these workshop courses. I am excited for this upcoming experience because this will not only help me be more involved with my community, but it will also teach me a lot about building structures that are sustainable to our environment.

For my water challenge this week, I decided to try taking a five minute shower. I will admit, this was a bit of a challenge for me because the water pressure at my apartment is already pretty low, so taking a quick shower is already kind of difficult. I was able to complete this task by quickly doing my usual shower routine, but I don't know if I would be able to stick with this challenge in the future. I think that I can easily take 7-8 minute showers, though, and I plan on shortening my usual time in the shower in the future.

This week, I decided to listen to a podcast about food as my eco challenge. The podcast I listened to was titled "The Ethical Dairy David Finlay- What is Ethical Dairy?" by Food For You and the Planet. The episode I listened to focused on The Ethical Dairy, which is a organic dairy farm that allows calves to stay with their mothers, promotes animal welfare, and drastically reduces their greenhouse gas emissions compared to other dairy farms. This farm was founded by David Finlay who talks about how animals were raised prior to the industrial era of dairy farms, and how there used to be much smaller farms and smaller herds of cows only producing dairy for local populations. I learned about how the farm uses techniques to reduce carbon emissions by taking on a more natural approach and not using any synthetic fertilizers. Finlay also talks about how he reduces stress in the cows and finds that cows grow twice as fast and produce more milk by keeping them with their mothers longer. This podcast was very rewarding for me to listen to, because it connected to ideas we have learned this week about sustainable farming, how it reduces greenhouse gases, and its benefits. It was also interesting to listen to someone who has first-hand experience working on a farm that employs this approach to dairy farming.