Ecochallenge.org

Campus Ecochallenge

Lucas Holden

Nature, God, and Social Justice Spring 2025

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
966 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

131

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

100

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

270

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

1,418

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

970

minutes

of additional sleep
UP TO

1.0

documentary

watched
UP TO

165

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

110

minutes

spent learning

Lucas's actions

Health

Healthy Sleep

Effectively working for sustainability requires self care! I will commit to getting 30 more minute(s) of sleep each night to achieve at least 7 hours per night.

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Enjoy the Sunrise/Sunset

I will enjoy the sunrise and/or sunset each day.

COMPLETED 18
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Exercise Daily

Exercise is a great stress blaster! I will exercise for 60 minute(s) each day.

COMPLETED 18
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Eliminate Toxic Plastics

I will avoid buying toxic plastics - including polycarbonate, polystyrene and polyvinyl - and instead replace them with durable non-plastic options.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Joyful Movement

I will spend 60 minutes doing an activity where I'm both moving my body and enjoying myself.

COMPLETED 18
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 22
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Practice Loving-Kindness Meditation

I will spend 5 minutes practicing Loving-Kindness Meditation to nurture love and compassion for myself and others.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Turn it off

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

COMPLETED 22
DAILY ACTIONS

Water

Fix Leaky Faucets

I will fix faucets or report leaky faucets to facilities that have been wasting up to 9 gallons (34 L) of water a day or 270 (1,020 L) gallons of water a month per faucet.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Support Native Communities

I will use the resource links provided below and spend 20 minutes learning about the native populations that lived in my area prior to colonization, and what I can do to support those that still exist.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Car Share

I will sign up for a car-sharing service or organize car sharing with my neighbors or classmates to cut down on the number of vehicles on the road.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Core Values

We may find more meaning and joy in life when our actions are aligned with our personal values. I will determine what my top 3-5 core values are so that I can better align my actions with them.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Watch a Documentary about Food Sovereignty

I will watch 1 documentary(ies) about food sovereignty: the right of local peoples to control their own food systems including markets, ecological resources, food cultures and production methods.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Switch to Cold Water

I will switch to washing my clothes in cold water, saving up to 133 lbs of CO2 a month and 1,600 lbs of CO2 over the course of the next year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity

What are your top 3-5 core values? How did you narrow it down to those as being your core values?
Lucas Holden 4/21/2025 8:18 AM
Balance- I always try to avoid extremes in my life, I think most practices, hobbies, ideas, etc. are most beneficial when you balance and support them with other ones.

Autonomy- I value being individually productive and sufficient, I'm not afraid to ask for help but I always want to learn and be better individually

Kindness- I strive to be understanding of others, to listen well and to be a resource for anyone who needs me

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy

What do you plan to do with the money you save from making more energy efficient choices?
Lucas Holden 4/20/2025 8:24 PM
I unfortunately save no money because in the dorms your energy costs are up front, but creating goods habits will save me money in the future and help lower my own emissions impact!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

Indigenous speaker and activist Winona LaDuke says that, "most indigenous ceremonies, if you look to their essence, are about the restoration of balance — they are a reaffirmation of our relationship to creation. That is our intent: to restore, and then to retain balance and honor our part in creation." Why is balance important to sustainability?
Lucas Holden 4/19/2025 4:53 PM
Balance matters because most things in life are only good for us and the world in moderation. By embodying balance we can avoid a culture of excess that leads to exploitation of the world around us, and waste.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health

How can you incorporate other personal values (like quality time with friends or spending time in nature) into your exercise routine?
Lucas Holden 4/18/2025 2:00 PM
One great value to incorporate into exercise is community by meeting new people through sports related clubs. Another one is rest, I feel more rested mentally when I make sure to exercise regularly, and it helps me sleep better.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy

How is electricity generated where you live? How does it impact the environment, animals, and humans?
Lucas Holden 4/18/2025 1:56 PM
Doing this challenge at school is easy because my dorm room really has only one light, but it makes me wonder if Georgetown could install more motion activated switches so that the lights wouldn't be on all night in certain rooms and buildings.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation

Take a moment to think of places you frequent often (school, work, grocery store, natural areas). Could you choose one or two days a week to schedule driving with a friend, neighbor or co-worker to these places?
Lucas Holden 4/16/2025 11:05 AM
I'm going to catch a ride home with my Dad when he goes home from work instead of taking an Uber or getting a friend to come out and drive me back. Now that my Dad doesn't work from home anymore this is an option I should be taking every single time I want to go between home and school, even if it means returning to school early in the morning!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature

Father Thomas Berry says, "... our primary purpose is celebration. Celebration of the dawn and the sunset and the different seasons of the year is a religious ritual, a way in which humans can establish their integral relationship with the universe, with the planet Earth." What is your response to Berry's assertion?
Lucas Holden 4/15/2025 12:16 PM
I picked this daily task at first because I walk home from class most days around sunset, so I thought it would be easy to just take a seat on a bench and experience it. I've really enjoyed the opportunity for a rest between classes, and doing work when I get back to my dorm. I definitely agree with Berry's quote, the sunset feels like a celebration of a day well spent, and an opportunity to reconnect with the outdoors after spending a few hours in the classroom.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

How does food sovereignty address the complex transition from localized food systems to modern global food systems?
Lucas Holden 4/15/2025 12:13 PM
I watched a great documentary about seal hunt practices in Canada's northern provinces, which focusses on the food sovereignty of the Inuit towns there. Seal hunting is done in a sustainable and waste-free way, supporting majority indigenous communities for whom grocery prices are very high. Selling seal pelts and eating seal meat is crucial to the economic security of households, but environmental groups have targeted all seal hunting as immoral. Resulting legislation against seal hunting has successfully stopped unsustainable mass-hunting of seals by corporations, but has also crippled local communities that rely on individual hunts. I think the many authors we read who advocated for local-level solutions, and re-centering of community and indigenous knowledge would really agree with the proposition of this documentary, which shows a first hand view of how Inuit communities are affected by these events. Definitely recommend it for watch, Angry Inuk 2016.

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- yun bai 4/15/2025 8:43 PM
  1. Formulate and implement food sovereignty policies: Governments should protect the rights of local farmers through laws and regulations and support local production and consumption.
  
  2. Promote food security policies: Ensure that policies prioritize food security, especially support for vulnerable groups.
  
  3. Support small-scale farmers: Provide small farmers with funds, technology and training to enable them to participate in the market while ensuring sustainability and biodiversity.
  
  4. Develop local markets: Establish local markets and supply chains to reduce dependence on international markets and enhance the availability and freshness of food.
  
  5. Encourage agricultural innovation: Promote precision agriculture and sustainable agricultural technologies to improve production efficiency and environmental protection.
  
  6. Promote agricultural biotechnology: Such as the safe use of genetically modified crops to increase food production and stress resistance.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health

What's your favorite activity(ies) in which you experience joy while being active and moving?
Lucas Holden 4/13/2025 1:58 PM
My favorite activities to practice joyful movement are running and walking outdoors. I really like doing both because I get a really different perspective of the place I'm in depending on which one I do. Slowing down and walking really grounds me in the environment and helps me see smaller details, but I also like running too.

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Lucas Holden 4/11/2025 4:21 PM
I love how we all chose very different daily tasks from each other, it shows that everyone's path to helping the earth can and should look different!

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