For our community Eco Challenge I chose to make sure I was registered to vote. I actually already knew I was registered since I have been since I turned 18 but I took advantage of this challenge to sit down with the voters ballets we just recently got and take the time to do research into everything on the ballet. My dad is an educator and I have to say that the PPS Union's pamphlet guide to voting has a lot of interesting information on candidates and reforms although I like to cross check it with my own research too.
Happy voting everyone !! This is an opportunity to see your vote make an impact.

For this weeks ecochallenge I chose to do ride-sharing! At my job I close the place 5 days a week. I have about 3 other people that I constantly close with which means we're pretty close at this point. This week I reached out to my coworkers to see if they wanted a ride to and from work so that we cut down on the amount of people driving to work. It was really fun! My coworker Eva and I are pretty tight and we had a lot of fun hanging out and getting food together before work, and she appreciated the ride. This is a change that I can see myself doing consistently into the future.

For this week's community ecochallenge, I decided to focus on active listening. I have noticed that in both my personal and larger communities, there can sometimes be a disconnect between people who disagree with each other. Instead of focusing on resolving an issue, people are sometimes quick to dismiss one another without considering other points of view. There is also a tendency to come out of a conflict as the winner or being right. I feel like it should be more about exchanging ideas and sustaining relationships. I am already someone who tends to listen rather than speak but I notice more things when I am actively listening. It allows me to come up with more thoughtful responses rather than keeping things surface-level. I also notice that those who talk more than listen catch on to my process of active listening and they try to match me.

I wasn't really sure what to do for this activity since I don't have a car anyway. So, I will just explain my weekly schedule. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I transit down to Tigard and back for work. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I carpool with my partner to campus. Sundays I transit across the river for volunteering. I really don't know how I could improve my transportation usage.

Energy week.
For energy week I paid attention to my daily energy using habits, and tried to find small, practical changes I can make. Small actions may often feel insignificant, but what they become habitual, the compound and make a difference. I tried to be vigilant about keeping lights turned off in empty rooms. We are a family of 6 so lights are always going on and off, and sometimes it's hard to keep track of all of them. In the evenings pretty much the entire house is lit because everyone is occupying a different part of it. I noticed that the lights in the kitchen are often left on, even when there is no one there, because it is such a high traffic area. Instead of retiring to the privacy of my room during the evenings, as usual, I spent more time in the common areas of the house with other members of my family. This way we could light less rooms and share the light, while spending quality time together. I also tried to use smaller table lamps instead of the mounted ceiling lamps - they use less energy and set a nice atmosphere during the evenings. Although Spring is a thermally comfortable time of the year, I know that our energy consumption is largely tied to seasonal temperature fluctuations. This got me thinking ahead to how we can keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer in more sustainable ways. I plan to do more research and implement what I find.

Waste.
My eco challenge for this class is really helping me be more conscious in reducing our family's food waste, since a part of it is composting. I did, however notice, that we use a lot of paper plates in our house. Because we have a big family, there is always massive loads of dishes, and no one want to take on the cumbersome task of washing them. We got into the wasteful habit of buying paper plates to avoid dishes piling on throughout the day. I put the paper plates away from plain sight to avoid the temptation of convenience and told everyone to wash their plate after eating. It's much easier for every person to wash one plate after themself, than it is for one person to wash a days' worth of dirty dishes at the end of the night. Although it will take time and patience to fully get everyone to do this, wasting single-use plates is a habit we need to break.

For this week's topic of community, the action that most interested me was the voting registration. This is the first election year I am legally able to vote, and I made it a goal for myself to learn more about the city and state elections so that I could partake in them. Government t has always been something that heavily overwhelms me, but I feel like I am doing myself, and the rest of the community a disservice by not keeping up with it. I received my voting packet in the mail and this week I finally opened it and saw what I was getting into.

Something I have been doing since the beginning of the term is volunteering within the community. Most recently I have been volunteering at Portland providence medical center in the ICU and the short stay unit. I get a lot of patient interaction by doing this, and Interacting with so many people in my community that I wouldn't have otherwise. It has been so wholesome, as most of my responsibility is making them feel more comfortable during their stay which I have really been loving. My goal for the rest of the year is to keep volunteering my time in environmental activities within my community. I have participating in these for years and I always have such a great time, and it is always good to see community members come together.

For this week's EcoChallenge topic I screened Tomorrow (2015) for my friends. It is an excellent documentary that is available on Kanopy, which is free if you have a library card.
The documentary is broken into different sections of society (economy, food, education, etc.) and shows how different communities around the world are inventing new sustainable or inspiring ways to create a better future. Not specifically environment-centered, but the action that always stands out to me is the Dutch neighborhood that prints its own currency.

Food week reminded me of the horrible environmental impact of meat. I knew that one of the most fruitful changes I can make that week is cutting down on my meat consumption. Food restriction is a sensitive area for me as I've had a history with eating disorders, so I avoided strict and drastic changes. Rather than eliminating meat entirely, I focused on building more of my meals with plants and experimenting to find new meals that I enjoy to add into my rotation. This challenge pushed me to use a lot of the "forgotten" ingredients in our kitchen - dried grains and legumes, frozen veggies, canned beans, and abandoned wilting produce in the back of our fridge - to make meals I don't normally make. I experimented with different salads and cooked large batches with beans and grains from scratch, which made it easy to build plant-based meals and add to other dishes. I discovered that quinoa and green lentils have about the same cooking time, so I combined the two and cooked them together for a protein and fiber rich combo. I'm surprised that I've never thought of doing this before because I really enjoyed this mixture; I will be making it a lot from now on. I shredded some old cabbage, carrots, and beets from the fridge, and dressed them with garlic, sesame oil, lemon, pepper and salt to make a delicious salad our whole family enjoyed. Through this challenge I was able to reduce our food waste and learn some new recipes and techniques that will stay with me for a long time.

This term I have been making an effort to spend more time outside. Whether its out in the city or in nature, I have recognized how much inspiration and gratitude it brings into my day. I started this simply for my mental health - to recharge, feel more present and grounded, and, in general, just fill my own cup. For community week I set a goal for myself to smile at people I see or pass by outside. I am very introverted, so this was a bit outside my comfort zone. Normally I put in my headphones and listen to music or a podcast, minding my own business. When people pass me, I look down or away to avoid eye contact, and I feel like this has largely become the norm in our society (especially post-covid). I wanted to challenge some of those attitudes within myself, so instead of putting my headphones in and staying in my own bubble, I paid more attention to my surroundings. Although greeting and smiling at strangers felt uncomfortable and forced at times, it had such a dramatic effect on my mood and overall happiness. It was as if every smile and kind word I got in return filled me with energy, and I just wanted to keep passing it on. I noticed an elderly neighbor on a ladder trimming his tree and asked him if he needed any help. Although he kindly declined, it was nice to connect with him in that moment and offer assistance. Being more aware of the people around us and spreading kindness is essential for building community, and I want to start putting that into practice more.