Grace Garvey

Over the past few weeks, doing the Eco-Challenge, I have really reflected on how the addition of these daily challenges has impacted my life. These challenges have not required major shifts in my behavior, rather small intentional actions or shifts in my previous habits. I think that in reflecting on my relationship with the environment, I realized that I have allowed myself to ignore small detrimental behaviors for the sake of convenience. Some of these behaviors are small, for example, utilizing plastic bags when I forget my reusable ones at the store, or leaving the lights on when I leave a room for a short time, but they can add up. In her 2019 article “Never gonna give you up: how plastic seduced America” Susan Strasser explains that when plastic entered the mainstream markets “The new materials offered freedom from attention, care and responsibility for material things.” I think that this Eco-Challenge showed me that I was carrying a similar blasé attitude towards my environmental impact. Additionally, many of the daily challenges added something positive to my day, encouraging my interaction with nature and the people around me. In McGrath’s book introduction, “The Gathering Storm” she describes that an activist described the natural food movement as “not telling people what to do. It’s bringing something to people that can change their lives, and that they can do easily” (McGrath, 2019, p.12). I think that the Eco-Challenge encourages a similar attitude, easy shifts that can accomplish real lifestyle changes. In reflecting on my experience with the Eco-Challenge many of the tasks were easy to implement but had significant impact on my daily life.

Many of the food and waste daily and one time challenges have direct ties to the “organic foods” movement and to how we dispose of our waste. The push for organic foods often stemmed from a want of environmentally friendly food options that did not conform to the mass-produced corporate agribusinesses practices that dominate our food system. Many of the challenges within food push for interaction with local farmers, eating organic foods, or evening educating oneself on food systems and complexes. In terms of the challenges in the waste category, there are similar options to reflect on one’s daily waste output, to educate oneself about local waste management options, and to lessen one’s waste output by utilizing reusable products rather than disposable ones. These actions are all interconnected through community and environmental impact. As author, Pam Reynolds asserts, “Our actions can and do have a profound effect on our collective well-being. But we must take action beyond bringing reusable bags to the grocery store.”(Reynolds, 2024). It is important for us to remember that the small changes we make add up and create an example for those around us, but we must not stop there. By engaging in our community, we can push past the challenges to work together to accomplish real change.

References:

McGrath, M. (2019). Introduction: The Gathering Storm Baby Boomers and Their Discontent. In Food for Dissent (pp. 1–14). University of Massachusetts Press; JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvpbnpbk.5

Reynolds, P. (2024, March 18). The Truth About Carbon Footprints. Conservation Law Foundation. https://www.clf.org/blog/the-truth-about-carbon-footprints/

Strasser, S. (2019, June 21). Never gonna give you up: How plastic seduced America. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/history-of-america-love-affair-with-plastic

Tracking my purchases every day requires me to go through and input things on a spreadsheet which sometimes feels like an additional assignment for one of my management classes and going for walks can sometimes be tough to motivate myself for when it is particularly cold outside. I do not think that there are any specific barriers to me making these changes permanent, but rather just holding myself personally accountable. These lifestyle changes will take intentional action and discipline for me to keep up with them, but the more I do them, the more routine and comfortable they feel.

Having gone through the past two weeks of the Eco Challenge, I would say that I am willing to make these lifestyle changes permanent. I think that most of these daily challenges will become second nature the longer I do them for. Additionally, after reading the Healthline article “8 Health Benefits of Getting Back to Nature and Spending Time Outside”, the health benefits of going outside are further motivation to continually add walking to my daily routine. Improved sleep and mental restoration are two of the benefits from this article that I think would generally improve my overall quality of life and happiness. When I reflect on tracking my purchases, I know that it would be unrealistic to try to live an intensely minimalist lifestyle as Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus from the Netflix documentary do. Their documentary alongside tracking my purchases as a daily eco challenge has made me reflect on whether or not the objects I surround myself with really bring me happiness or serve a purpose for me. I have been much more intentional about what and why I am purchasing. This is a lifestyle change I intend to make permanent as I think that in the long run, it will not only lessen my carbon footprint and save me money but will also make me a happier and more grounded person.

I find the daily challenges that I have chosen for the nature and simplicity categories very exciting. I think that dedicating time to walking outside every day has already encouraged me to consider not only where I spend my time but also how I get around the community. The few times I have gone downtown with friends over the past couple of days, I have pushed for us to walk instead of drive like we sometimes do. It is such a simple adjustment to walk the short distance and yet prioritizing walking as part of the daily routine for the EcoChallenge pushed me to also realize that I did not need to use my car. For simplicity, I chose to track my purchases. I am excited about this as I have already seen an impact on the way I am cognizant of what I buy. I set up a spreadsheet that allows me to track and classify my purchases. Having to decide and mark down whether something is a ‘need to have’ or a ‘nice to have’ purchase has made me really think about my consumption habits. Already, both of the daily challenges I have taken on have encouraged me to reflect on my actions in terms of consumption and how I am moving about my community.

I think that many of the actions that would have the most impact on my ecological footprint have to do with waste and energy. Unfortunately, I think that many of the energy actions are limited by us living in dorms that determine where and what kind of energy options are available to us. This leaves many of the educational and advocacy options for challenges, which have the potential to have really significant impacts if we can push for and enact change on larger scales.

All of the options in the EcoChallenge can have impacts on the community and the political, social, and economic drivers if we choose to utilize these actions as points for reflection, education, and inspiration. While many might not have a direct impact on some of these drivers, such as spending time outside, if we take these challenges seriously, reflecting on our actions and engaging with our community through them, we can have very real effects on these communities.