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Welcome to Campus Ecochallenge!

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Campus Ecochallenge
Avalon Zhu's avatar

Avalon Zhu

Capstone spring 2025

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 245 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    4.0
    whole food meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    8.0
    plastic straws
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    2.0
    plastic bottles
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    10
    plastic containers
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    2.0
    pounds of paper
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    20
    gallons of water
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    142
    minutes
    spent learning

Avalon's actions

Food

Whole Food Lifestyle

I will enjoy 2 meal(s) each day free of processed foods.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Try a New Way to Prep

I will try a new method of food preparation, such as canning, pickling, or baking bread.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Water

Get Involved in the Water Justice Movement

I will spend at least 20 minutes using the resources provided to learn about water justice and find out how I can get involved in local initiatives.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Water

5-Minute Showers

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

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Waste

Use a Reusable Water Bottle

I will keep 1 disposable plastic bottle(s) from entering the waste stream by using a reusable water bottle.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Use Reusable Bags

If at all possible, I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Choose Two-Sided Printing

I will save up to .21 lbs (.09 kg) of paper per day by switching from one-sided printing to two-sided when I have to print documents.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Skip the Straw

Plastic bags and small plastic pieces like straws are most likely to get swept into our waterways. I will keep 2 plastic straw(s) out of the landfill and ocean each day by refusing straws or using my own glass/metal straw.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Energy

Learn About Renewable Energy

I will spend 10 minutes learning more about renewable energy alternatives (i.e. solar, wind, biomass) in my region.

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?

  • Avalon Zhu's avatar
    Avalon Zhu 5/04/2025 11:03 PM
    The topic chosen this week is water, and the task chosen is 1, to study water justice in Oregon. 2. Practice water conservation in daily life, such as reducing shower time.
    Klamath River
    Many indigenous tribes rely on salmon fishing for food and economic livelihood. However, for decades, several hydropower stations have blocked the migration routes of salmon, seriously reducing their numbers.
    After more than two decades of activism, legal action and environmental advocacy, the four major DAMS on the Klamath River were dismantled in 2024, marking a historic victory for water justice. This project is regarded as the largest dam demolition project in the history of the United States. It restored the spawning grounds of upstream salmon and reaffirmed the fishing rights of indigenous people.
    Winchester Dam
    Ecological Damage and Cultural ConflictLocated on the North Umpqua River, Winchester Dam is a privately owned structure that became the center of controversy in 2023. During a repair operation, the dam's owners failed to follow environmental protection protocols, resulting in the death of over 550,000 Pacific lamprey. These fish play a critical ecological role and hold deep cultural and ceremonial significance for local Indigenous tribes.
    In response, the state of Oregon filed a lawsuit demanding more than $27 million in damages.
    This incident has drawn people's attention to water-related issues, such as how to strike a balance between building local water conservancy projects and protecting the ecology, as well as the supervision of water conservancy facilities, especially those built privately.
    Besides, this week I also chose to practice water conservation in my daily life, such as shortening the shower time. This is a very simple measure, but it requires a change in habit. In the past, I often relaxed my thinking or daydreamed unconsciously when taking a shower, and the bathing process often lasted for 10 to 15 minutes. To reduce water consumption, I treat taking a bath as a timed task and strictly control it to be completed within five minutes using the timer on my mobile phone, including all the steps such as quickly wetting the hair, cleaning and rinsing. On average, 5 to 10 minutes were saved each time, thereby reducing the consumption of tap water by about 10 to 15 liters per day.
    Recently I talked to friends in Gansu, China, where the average annual precipitation is less than 300 mm, which is only about a third of that in Portland. Due to the shortage and difficulty in obtaining water resources, they are very serious about taking baths. Many residents in rural areas have the habit of catching water in large basins. After taking a bath, they will use the collected bath water to mop the floor and so on. Learning about their difficulty in obtaining water and their cherishing of water resources has made me deeply realize that water conservation is not only a personal habit, but also a respect for environmental justice and the sustainability of resources.
    In other respects, I am grateful to my mother for educating me since childhood. Many actions I witnessed in eco change have long been integrated into my life, such as using a cup to hold water when brushing teeth, and using a basin instead of letting the tap run continuously when washing vegetables and fruits. These water-saving methods have long been integrated into my daily life. Without deliberate thinking, they have accumulated into considerable water-saving effects unconsciously.
    Read More
    • Amy Minato's avatar
      Amy Minato 5/06/2025 1:38 PM
      • TEAM CAPTAIN
      Avalon thank you for sharing about the lamprey! i didnt know about that damn project. When our home was being renovated, i put a feed trough in our greenhouse and filled it with water. on sunny days, it heated the water enough for me to take a bath in it. then i used it to water the plants. bathing at night in a greenhouse looking at stars was the best!
      Read More
  • Avalon Zhu's avatar
    Avalon Zhu 5/02/2025 12:18 AM
    Hello everyone, the focus of my Eco Challenge this week is "food." I chose two directions: first, learning a pre-cooking method, and second, returning to whole food-based cooking in my daily meals.
    I learned how to braise beef—a dish I often ate in childhood but had never cooked myself. With guidance from my grandmother, I followed these steps:
    1；Choose beef shank, a lean cut ideal for braising.
    2；Blanch the beef to remove impurities and odor.
    3；Stir-fry soybean paste and soy sauce for 2 minutes, then add water, star anise, ginger, chili, cinnamon, and salt.
    4；Add the beef and simmer for 2 hours. Let it cool naturally before serving.
    It was a traditional yet complex method, but it helped me appreciate the process and value of preparing food from scratch.
    As for whole food cooking, I had tried it before but gave up due to time constraints, turning instead to processed foods.This week, I returned to whole food cooking but adopted a more time-efficient method: blanching and stir-frying vegetables, and lightly marinating meat before quick cooking. Each meal still takes about 20 minutes.
    And I brought up some questions:
    Another option is to use whole food to make food. I have had this experience before but gave up because it took too much time and chose more convenient processed foods instead. These days I have started anew, and the methods I have chosen are different. Now I have switched to steaming, boiling and quick stir-frying. This will reduce my time consumption and avoid the loss of the original flavor of the food due to excessive processing. The method I chose is to blanch the vegetables and stir-fry them faster. Simply marinate the meat and stir-fry it quickly. However, it still costs 20 minutes for each meal.
    I'm somewhat puzzled about this. Is it only possible to adhere to a whole food diet every day when there is very sufficient time? I have thought of several solutions, such as marinating meat for two or even more meals at a time or blanching vegetables. However, preservation is a problem. Not to mention that keeping cooked food in preservation for a long time can lead to nutrient loss and food spoilage. Can excessive consumption during storage, such as cling film and plastic bags, be avoided? Is it counterproductive to insist on whole food and lead to more plastic consumption? For instance, in order to avoid buying packaged chicken wings from supermarkets, I choose to marinate them myself, put them in a fresh-keeping bag and store them in the refrigerator
    Read More
    • Amy Minato's avatar
      Amy Minato 5/06/2025 1:48 PM
      • TEAM CAPTAIN
      i use an air fryer. quick and efficient. just cut up veggies, drizzle with olive oil and salt and air fry for 10 minutes. they taste great!
      Read More
    • Ava Miel's avatar
      Ava Miel 5/05/2025 3:23 AM
      Hi Avalon, the beef that you made sounds delicious, thank you for sharing the recipe! I think that the question you pose, "is it only possible to cook with whole foods when there is sufficient time," is valid and I hope that you are able to find ways in the future to cook with whole foods and save time if that is what you want to do. I remember watching a video from Folding Ideas on YouTube about Jamie Oliver the chef and how he takes issue with pre-made chicken nuggets, creating a from-scratch recipe instead that is apparently healthier and tastes better. The video argued that people choose the pre-made nuggets not necessarily because of taste, but because they take less time to make, and that Jamie Oliver was missing this point. Thank you for sharing!
      Read More
    • Lally Pollen's avatar
      Lally Pollen 5/04/2025 3:48 PM
      Hi Avalon, You raise some good questions regarding food preparation and preservation. Bulk cooking, say on a Sun evening for the next few days of work/school, can certainly help cut down the time needed each day depending on what you make you only need to heat it up each day, or have a cold meal. Vegetarian meals and keeping excess in the freezer can make it safer to prep for even more days ahead. Also going the butcher's counter to get meat rather than the repackaged stuff and storing meals in glass jars or glass tupper-ware can help avoid the plastic use. The Braised-beef sounds delicious.
      Read More
  • Avalon Zhu's avatar
    Avalon Zhu 4/21/2025 11:07 PM
    In this week's study, the project I chose is Learn About Renewable Energy. I have gained an in-depth understanding of the clean energy structure in Oregon. Data shows that in the power generation composition of the entire state, fossil energy accounts for only 38%, and almost all of it is generated by natural gas. Non-fossil energy accounts for as high as 62%. Relying on the abundant wind resources near the Pacific Ocean, I will focus my research on the field of wind power generation.
    Environmental issues of wind power generation
    Although wind power generation is a clean energy, it is still inferior to geothermal or hydropower in certain respects. The technology was not sufficiently mature in the initial stage, and hence a relatively low input-output ratio. Wind power has obvious intermittency and volatility. Its output power can also change suddenly with wind speed, and within a short time period, there can even be as much as 70% power difference. Such fluctuation not only causes challenges to the frequency and voltage regulation of the power grid, but also requires the power grid to reserve more backup capacity for timely response to accommodate the intermittence of wind power. Present main measures are gas turbine or energy storage devices. Nevertheless, frequent boosting and reducing of power from gas turbines will lead to resource wastage, and batteries will be of low energy storage efficiency because of present technical issues. This adds to operating cost and decreases overall efficiency. Meanwhile, much electricity from wind was wasted.
    The financial benefits of wind energy
    In spite of the above challenges, wind power has been performing extremely well economically, which is one of the major reasons why Oregon state government strongly prefers to develop wind power.
    LCOE of onshore wind: EIA AEO2023 statistics reveal the capacity-weighted average new-built cost of onshore wind power to be around 3.6¢/kWh. NREL ATB 2024 also stated the LCOE of high-quality wind resource sites to be below 2.9¢/kWh and that of medium sites to be around 3.6¢/kWh.
    Comparison with coal and natural gas-fired power generation: Over the same period, the cost of new supercritical coal-fired power without carbon capture was up to 6.8-16.6¢/kWh. New US natural gas combined cycle (CCGT) power plants in 2023-2024 will have an LCOE of 6.0 to 7.6¢/kWh as well.
    These statistics show that the kilowatt-hour cost of wind power is under half that of coal and natural gas power generation and is very competitive. If current issues are resolved properly, it will have a greater role.
    [1] Wikipedia, “List of power stations in Oregon,” 2025. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Oregon
    [2] U.S.Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2023: Levelized Cost of New Generation Resources, May 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/electricity_generation.pdf
    [3] F. Khan, G. Khatib, and A. Dhaka, “Grid Integration Challenges of Wind Energy: A Review,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 104, pp. 172–186, Feb. 2019.[Online]. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338466226_Grid_Integration_Challenges_of_Wind_Energy_A_Review
    Read More
    • Amy Minato's avatar
      Amy Minato 4/22/2025 10:21 AM
      • TEAM CAPTAIN
      I am a big fan of geothermal too. Right now I am in Eastern Oregon where there are numerous hotsprings. Of course, they have a lot of wind and solar here too...but they are still very fixated on fossil fuel and there is only one electric vehicle charger in the whole Lake County which had a big truck parked in front of it when we arrived!
      Read More
  • Avalon Zhu's avatar
    Avalon Zhu 4/13/2025 10:39 PM
    In order to save plastic bags, I choose to use my gym bag instead of going to the supermarket. This bag has a large capacity, which is equivalent to about two bags. At my purchase frequency, I could theoretically save about 40 bags per quarter. What a staggering number
    Read More
    • Amy Minato's avatar
      Amy Minato 4/14/2025 5:00 PM
      • TEAM CAPTAIN
      good idea! are there other disposable items you could replace with reusable?
      Read More