I am looking forward to the EcoChallenge and pushing myself as an environmental activist to be more aware of my individual decisions that affect our planet. This challenge is a great way to physically record the steps I make to better myself as a person on this planet. Through doing this I am also able to personally experience these slight changes in my lifestyle to hopefully push others to make similar changes.
I am looking forward to many of the challenges but mostly the ones related to health and water. Currently I have marked down excersising daily for a health action and then 5-minute showers and brushing my teeth without running water for my water actions. Going into the new year I wanted to prioritize my health and well-being as I feel in the past I do not always prioritize my health as much as I should. This EcoChallenge is a great opportunity for me to achieve this new year's goal alongside making decisions that help the environment. In regards to water, I have always been a huge fan of water being a water athlete. I have always connected to water and been so eager to jump into any body of water I come across. Also growing up near the long island sound I have truly appreciated our oceans and water life making it something close to my heart. Through changing my actions related to water, I am able to help marine life and the bodys of water I love so much. I am probably most nervous about the actions related to nature especially with how cold the winters get in Lewisburg. For one of my daily goals, I chose to spend 30 minutes a day outside sharing gratitude with the earth. Although this will be a great action for me as an environmental activist, I find in the busy, fast paced world that it can be difficult to pause and truly appreciate your surroundings. Especially with how cold it is it might be challenging to find ways to spend my time outside valuing my outside surroundings.
I think that the actions within the waste category will have the most impact on my ecological footprint. I think this because humans in general produce so much waste, especially people that are always in a rush. My schedule at school can get quite hectic therefore I look for easy on the go things related to food, drinks, and shopping. Most places I make purchases utilize a lot of plastic that you don’t really think about. For example getting a straw with your iced coffee, or buying a water bottle when you forget your water bottle at home, or when you do groceries and they put your items in plastic bags. These are all mindless things that we, including me, do on a daily basis. Being aware of this and minimizing getting these with the items I purchase I believe will heavily impact my carbon footprint.
Actions related to community will have affected many of the drivers we face politically, economically, and socially. Engaging with the community and making efforts to be more social will lead to more advocacy in the community related to environmental changes. Gaining trust and relationships around you allows people around you to be more influenced by lifestyle changes. I believe that the higher network you have gives you a higher chance of making real change. Helping the environment is a group effort therefore community will be extremely important when it comes to making change.
I look forward to continuing my exploration around the EcoChallenge and keeping track of my changes that will make the world a better place.
