Amanda Neubig

Eco Challenge 8: Nature

After watching that video about Nature RX I was brought back to my time working at inpatient addiction treatment centers, and the importance of having some of our groups outside, and how comfortable or at ease someone can feel just stepping outside.

I have been working myself on participating in Nature RX! I spent the weekend floating and camping, and will be out again next weekend with my community doing the same thing. I am truly thankful for this class and all these challenges we have done, they have brought me back in a way, I am finding myself in nature, community, in sustainability, and feeling like I can make a difference again.

Eco Challenge 7: Consumerism

I set two different goals for this week my OG goal was to not buy anything I did not need this week, and unfortunately I did not succeed in that. I ended up impulse buying a set of gel pens at the store, my other goal came up during one of the break out rooms making no online purchases came up, and I had already been boycotting amazon for a while now, but still buying online elsewhere and I am going to challenge myself to continue a goal of no longer buying online unless it is something I cannot find anywhere near me.

Through out this week I realized how much I do truly contribute to the cycle of consumerism, and that yes I do buy second hand often, but I also throw away items after 6-8months if they arent used often or a better version has come out, and I am realizing I need to take my time and think before I buy and think about the longevitiy of my purchase.

Eco Challenge 6: Transportation

Unfortunately, I couldn’t test out my sister’s motorized bike this week. She’s having issues with one of the tires and needs a repair. Instead of driving all the way to my favorite mini-mart for a soda this weekend, I decided to walk to the convenience store in my neighborhood. I know it’s a small change, but I plan to resume my original goal for the week in two weeks when the bike is fixed.

I also looked into the local public transit system in Newberg. I wanted to know how commuting to school primarily on public transportation would go. Unfortunately, it looks like it would almost double my commute each way.

Eco Challenge 5: Community

This week I set a goal for myself to reach out to some folks with common interests to see if they would be down to work on some things together through out the summer. The first of the things I did was recruit my sisters, niece and nephew to help me pick enough cherries to be able to process and put some up on shelves for this year as I always feel it it too big of a task for just me to do. We had a great time, and I was able to harvest and collect 25lbs of cherries for $25. I also reached out to a couple friends of mine I used to can with and we are planning dates now to be able to do larger group canning sessions for pickles, peaches, tomatoe sauce, and maybe some others. Ive beeen really thankful for this class pushing me to get back into things that I always loved doing to begin with it just lost the "time" along the way, or ease of access created less connection with my food is more like it.

Eco Challenge 4: Water

For my Water challenge, I wanted to be creative about the amount of time I spent showering and my straw usage. Over the past week and a half, I’ve reduced my showers from the 7-minute timer I used to a 5-minute timer for a full shower. Showering has always been a problem for me, which is why I originally set the timer for 7 minutes years ago.

As for straw usage, I never ask for one, but if I’m handed one, I take it. We’ve recently started rewashing and reusing them until they’re no longer usable. My idea from there has been to either use the straws in some of the art we create or to find a way to shred them and add them to the substrate to grow mushrooms on. This week, I didn’t use any straws for art, but the ones I had saved went to use by a roommate.

Eco Challenge 3 FOOD:

This week I challenged myself to start making the switch to consuming less pork, and chicken and find better substitutes, I started with tofu this week, and getting bulked up more on beans and nuts as well. I am not planning on switching to fully vegan, but after this session it really got me thinking about the amount of meat I consume,and also where I purchase it from. I used to buy any beef or pork from local small mom and pop farms but the cost of buying a 1/4 cow is so much up front. I think that is going to be more of a long term challenge is to if I am going to continue to eat red meat than I need to find a more sustainable way to do it. Wish me luck, and any advice is welcome :)

For my trash action this week, I carried around extra trash bags in my car for when I went out hiking target shooting to pick up all the trash I see when I am out there. Below is a past its prime turkey tail mushroom I found while out.

For my energy activity last week I ran an energy audit offered online to see where I can cut back on my energy use. I can be unplugging and or turning off power strips when the items plugged into them are not in use, I could also use better curtains that help control temperature a bit more.