Ecochallenge.org

Campus Ecochallenge

Jacob McNott

Ecowarriors

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
723 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.5

pounds

food waste prevented
UP TO

687

miles

not traveled by car
UP TO

687

miles

traveled by bus
UP TO

585

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

530

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

1,030

minutes

not spent in front of a screen
UP TO

476

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

1.0

community event

hosted or attended
UP TO

1,030

minutes

spent outdoors

Jacob's actions

Water

5-Minute Showers

I will save up to 20 gallons (75 L) of water each day by taking 5-minute showers.

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Happiness

I will write down three things every day that I am grateful for, or send one email every day thanking or praising someone.

COMPLETED 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Water

Conserve Toilet Water

I will save up to 12 gallons (45 L) of water a day by flushing only when necessary.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Tour A Waste Management Facility

I will spend at least 20 minute(s) touring (virtually or in person) a local dump/transfer station, material recovery facility, and/or landfill to learn about our local waste and waste recovery streams.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Host A Watch Party

I will host a watch party to screen a documentary about an issue that matters to me.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Support A Sharing Economy

I will create or support a sharing economy with family, friends, neighbors, or classmates.

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Power Down the Computer

I will power down my computer and monitor when not using it for more than 2 hours, saving up to (1.1) lbs of CO2 each day that I do this.

COMPLETED 16
DAILY ACTIONS

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

Food

Weekly Meal Planning

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

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Spend Time Outside

I will replace 10 minute(s) each day typically spent inside (computer time, watching television, etc.) with quality time outside.

COMPLETED 14
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Use Public Transit

I will use public transit 4 mile(s) each day and avoid sending up to (___) lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Eat Mindfully

I will eat all of my meals without distractions, e.g., phone, computer, TV, or newspaper.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Turn it off

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

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

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?

Jacob McNott 9/18/2023 6:03 PM

It's been real! Glad to have had an opportunity to test myself and see how sustainable I could be routinely. I'm definitely gonna walk away from the challenge with shorter showers, more Tupperware, and a bus pass.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Host A Watch Party

What did you learn about in the documentary you watched? How did it make you feel?

Jacob McNott 9/18/2023 6:01 PM

I learned how most people might react to the sensitive and violent truth of post-colonial Africa. I made me feel some pride and disappointment as while there wasn't a reaction, it wasn't as profound as the one I was perhaps silently hoping for.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Eat Mindfully

Mindful eating is healthier for us than eating with distractions. How do your eating experiences differ when practicing mindfulness?

Jacob McNott 9/16/2023 3:01 PM

Truth be told my experiences while eating are sort of just limited to boredom. I have gotten something from meditation and mindfulness before, but I find it takes anywhere from 4 to 10 minutes for that to be possible. I tend to be a fast eater and just with my nature my mind ends up being filled with either thoughts of needing or wanting to be productive on my phone with Duolingo or something similar.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Weekly Meal Planning

An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four in the US spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. Does this surprise you? Where would you rather use this money?

Jacob McNott 9/16/2023 2:57 PM

While this is simultaneously less than I expected, I think I'd like to plug that money back into where I get my food and invest that $1,500 in a small windowsill herb garden or something more extensive so that I can eat environmentally and economically.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy Switch to Cold Water

What do you plan to do with the money you save from making more energy efficient choices?

Jacob McNott 9/16/2023 2:52 PM

Being as I don't pay for my electricity bill, nothing. But I find the peace of mind knowing I saved someone money priceless.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Energy Turn it off

How is electricity generated where you live? How does it impact the environment, animals, and humans?

Jacob McNott 9/12/2023 3:10 PM

Where I currently live electricity is primarily generated by renewable energy sources. Those energy sources as with any modern day product use up a finite amount of resources we have on this earth that every day become increasingly scarce. In the short term, this benefits humans massively but risks their ability to survive at such prominent rates hugely. The environment we live within at the moment is harmed but not destroyed, used and bleeding. Animals within my local area are protected yet effected in ways unique to each energy source. Solar takes up space for creatures to graze and sometimes burrow or a food source that would normally lay beneath. Wind kills birds and disrupts echolocation among sea life when offshore. This said everything is relative and comparatively there are much dirtier methods that do much more to animals.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Support A Sharing Economy

What benefits does a sharing economy offer to your own life? What benefits does it offer to your neighbors' and community members' lives?

Jacob McNott 9/12/2023 3:02 PM

A sharing economy is one that I am such a ridiculous fan as it offers and entices both the most selfish and selfless parts of me. It offers me much more than that though, I am brought community, friendship, and moral development by practicing a sense of shared humanity. It offers my neighbors the same and much more than this, it offers them my cool stuff!

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Jacob McNott 9/08/2023 3:29 PM

By all appearances our team ecochallenge is going well. I look forward to the day soon when the eco warriors and I will be back in the Abby to start some real activism.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Water 5-Minute Showers

Name some of the human activities impacting the health of water systems, both locally (your watershed) and globally (freshwater and oceans). What can you do to improve the health of water systems?

Jacob McNott 9/06/2023 1:07 PM

Locally, urban pollution from littering as well as waste from pets primarily pollute my currently local water systems. While there is likely to be some industrial pollution the extent of that is likely not as significant as civilian actions. Globally, there is much the same where seas are being overused and polluted. I can help the health of these systems through activism and local representation.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Use Public Transit

The US spends roughly 20% of its federal budget on defense. In contrast, 2% goes to education, 20% goes to social security and just 3% goes to transportation infrastructure. Do these numbers surprise you at all? Why or why not? How would you adjust them if you could?

Jacob McNott 9/06/2023 1:03 PM

These numbers don't surprise me, as those figures represent the discretionary spending, not mandatory spending. Most of the US Government's mandatory spending goes towards welfare, not the US Military. But to engage the prompt, I would lower the military budget as well as the welfare budget. I would instead focus our spending on domestic, economic, and poltical security.

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