Campus Ecochallenge

Ecochallenge.org

Campus Ecochallenge

Logan's points

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
132 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

5.0

locally sourced meals

consumed
UP TO

0.8

pounds

food waste prevented
UP TO

1.8

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

240

minutes

not spent in front of a screen
UP TO

14

disposable cups

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

42

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

240

minutes

spent outdoors

Logan's actions

Waste

Use a Reusable Mug

I will avoid sending 1 disposable cups to the landfill each day by using a reusable mug.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Turn Off Lights and Electronics

I will keep lights, electronics, and appliances turned off when not using them.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Adjust the Thermostat

I will adjust my thermostat down 2 degrees from usual when I use the heat, and up 2 degrees when I use air conditioning.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Buy From a Farmers Market

I will try to shop at a farmers market or food co-op, if one is accessible, to support local farmers and businesses. By doing so, I may be able to learn more about who produces the food I eat and goods I buy.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Declutter My Living Space

I will declutter, clean, and donate or recycle unneeded items in my dorm room, apartment, or home to create a more peaceful and organized living space.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Plan Meals for the Week

I will reduce food waste and save money by planning a weekly menu, only buying the ingredients I need.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Nature

Spend Time Outside

I will replace 20 minutes per day typically spent inside (computer time, watching television, etc.) with quality time outside.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

Logan Hay 3/10/2026 10:19 AM

For this week's focus on nature, I spent a lot of time on walks around natural areas for my project. I feel like I was really able to focus on nature as I kept my phone off so I could be able to focus on taking photos. Observing the wildlife in these areas also is somewhat of a way to relieve stress. Through this, I was able to go to a lot of new areas that I haven't been to before in the Portland area which was nice to be able to expand that.

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- Amy Minato 3/10/2026 1:07 PM
  
  turning off the phone really helps!
  
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Logan Hay 3/02/2026 11:21 PM

This week with consumerism, I feel like I didn't really improve. I was planning to spend less all week but things just kept popping up that were unavoidable for me to buy at the current moment. I overall need to work on this and plan to in the future. Currently I am working on my consumer foot-print by using it in local areas that matter more than a big corporation, like shops or small restaurants. I have for the most part avoided any big business restraints for the last 3 weeks or 4 weeks, eating only at small business if I go out to eat. It's been pretty easy as there are so many small restaurants around every corner that are really good, it allows you to branch out and avoid sending money to places like McDonalds. I'll try to keep up with reducing the amount I consume, it's just hard to manage price currently as a full-time student only working part-time.

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- Amy Minato 3/04/2026 5:53 PM
  
  portland is an easy place to eat local for sure!
  
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Logan Hay 2/22/2026 9:07 PM

For the transportation sustainability action this week, I decided to walk more/as much as I could instead of driving. I already frequently walk but it encouraged me to walk more for things I wouldn't have before, like going to the grocery store because it was a 35ish minute walk one way and it's been raining. I'm not sure how much less I drove but I feel like I often already do this so I'm not sure if it changed much. Unintentionally, my girlfriends car was in the shop so when we did have to drive we ended up carpooling a lot more or just making all of the trips we need in one trip instead of spreading them out throughout the day. Limiting it to one car definitely cut down our overall car time total and helped us also walk more for our tasks.

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- Amy Minato 2/23/2026 1:41 PM
  
  might be a good idea to invest in an umbrella walking in Portland!
  
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Logan Hay 2/16/2026 4:09 PM

This week, I feel like I didn't do much to focus on community as I had an incredibly busy week. The most I did to interact with my community was working. Aside from this, I meet a cool person while taking photos of part of the city that was also a photographer and I talked with him for a while. Along with this, I bought a lot of things from local businesses this week due to valentine's, which was good to get out and be able to talk with people at those shops. I feel like I haven't done much else other than covering a coworkers shift to help them in an unfortunate time in their life, but I don't know if that really counts.

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- Amy Minato 2/23/2026 1:12 PM
  
  taking photos seem like it would be a good way to meet folks.
  
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Logan Hay 2/09/2026 9:20 PM

This week I decided to try to cut down my shower times for the water topic. I used to take ten plus minute showers, but I have been able to bring that down to about six minute showers this week. I'm not sure if I can improve my time any more although I already think this change is beneficial to lowering my water use. I have also been reducing the amount of laundry loads I do a week from two loads to one, which also helps me wear more of my clothes that I wasn't wearing.

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- Amy Minato 2/12/2026 3:48 PM
  
  it can be fun to find forgotten clothes and wear them again
  
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Logan Hay 2/01/2026 10:39 PM

For this week's eco challenge, I did all of my shopping for dinner meals at the farmers market on Saturday as an effort to try to locally source my food. Doing this was kinda helpful as I typically buy groceries day of the meal, resulting in waste as I have to buy larger quantities for a single meal. This made me need to put more thought into the meals I was making as I was getting things for the whole week and didn't want to have a ton of waste. Through this, I ate less meat than I normally would have as there wasn't a lot of meat at the farmers market. This did give me the chance to try a lot of recipes I've been meaning to make but never get around to. I also ended up eating a lot of the vegetables I bought there for snacks so I didn't really buy any thing to snack on this week.

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- Amy Minato 2/05/2026 12:53 PM
  
  which market did you go to? we are lucky to have farmer's markets year round in Portland!
  
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- Aspen Farmer 2/01/2026 11:33 PM
  
  That is so cool that you did your shopping at the farmers market! You also reduced your meat intake, and you probably reduced your waste because you aren't buying packaged snacks. That is awesome!
  
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Logan Hay 1/26/2026 10:12 AM

This week I decided to work on keeping my thermostat off and turning lights off that are not needed. I was mainly starting with not using the thermostat which was pretty easy as I have south facing windows and my apartment collects a lot of heat. Through this though, I realized I was also leaving lights on that I didn’t need. Since my kitchen and living room are connected, I found my self leaving my kitchen lights on when I also had my living room lights on. All throughout the week I have been checking myself on this making sure I only have a set of lights on if I really need it. When it’s colder in my apartment, like at night, I have just been grabbing an extra blanket to stay warm.

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- Amy Minato 2/01/2026 11:06 AM
  
  studies show that sleeping in colder rooms is better for you anyway!
  
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- Jessica Edmiston 1/27/2026 8:51 AM
  
  Logan,
  I have some friends in various locales, who experience brownouts and blackouts due to storms. And my father, god bless him, used to work a security gig where he was sitting in the desert cold all night in his car and would run his car for the full shift to stay warm.
  Well, I was having none of that! So while I stopped over on my way to CA at some point from NOLA, I passed on one of my puffer blankets for him to wrap around his legs to retain the heat he was otherwise loosing.
  That was during covid - now my Dad has more and fancier puffer blankets than my little thinsulate bundles - but at least when their heater went out, I knew that he had enough blankets to keep him warm.
  The penultimate warmth retainer that I use, especially when I'm hammocking in winter (yes, it can be done - just make sure you're very aware when planning. One word "underquilt" on the outside!!! genuine lifesaver) is to make sure I've strapped my wool blanket to my pack. It doesn't fold down, it doesn't compress, but if it's going to be anywhere below 40 at night, it's my very best friend, as I layer my blankets, it goes on top to keep the wind and the cold out while I'm nesting in fleece and puffer blankets inside, with an underquilt on the outside bottom of my hammock, the key is putting it outside of your hammock so you don't compress it and make it useless!
  
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Logan Hay 1/18/2026 8:25 PM

For the eco challenge this week, I decided on taking a mug to the coffee shop and to work. The main focus of this was just to reduce the waste of the paper cups I create almost everyday. I think it went well for the most part, I only forgot my mug once this week and it definitely made a noticeable impact, at least in the amount of trash in my own garbage. I found it pretty easy to do so I will probably keep this up at least for the time being. Along with this, I brought a tub to the grocery store when I bought some granola in bulk to not end up with another plastic bag. I feel like this is another thing I'll probably keep doing as I just normally pour the granola into a jar once I am home anyways.

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- Logan Hay 1/26/2026 10:07 AM
  
  You can fill it at new seasons if you have a plastic container or glass jar. There’s options on the register for it at self check out!
  
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- Amy Minato 1/19/2026 4:43 PM
  
  what store lets you fill your own granola container? that's awesome. granola is also really easy to make
  
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