capstone spring 2026

Today I spent an hour researching about mason bees and how to care for them. They're insanely cool! I learned that, unlike honeybees, mason bees are solitary, so each female mason bee builds her own nest without a colony or queen. They are super efficient pollinators for early spring flowers and they're also known for their docile nature. They...

Eco Challenge Post 6: Transportation. Since I don't have a car myself, I often grocery shop with either my roommate or another friend with a vehicle who lives in the dorms. This week, I decided to try and convince my roommate to bus with me instead of taking his car. The place we go isn't too far anyways, so he ended up hesitantly agreeing. It...

This week for the theme "Nature" I researched the project going on in my literal backyard, the Johnson Creek Watershed restoration project. I have received MANY mailers about this project, but didn't understand what the goal was. Johnson creek starts to the West of me and explodes into many branches to the East of me, immediately...

For my eco challenge , I tried not buying anything online for the week. I noticed I usually want to shop when I am bored or when I see clothes that look good online. Instead of buying something new, I looked through clothes I already had and made an outfit with those. It made me realize I already own enough, but I still get the feeling that I...

Transportation week: For the week focused on transportation, I made sure to take the max to work at any opportunity I had. Of the four days I worked, I took the max to work 3 times and went home carpooling with my neighbor. This is something we've done before, but we both recently got out of the habit of carpooling/ taking the max for...

This week I helped my parents plant their yearly summer garden. They have some metal tubs that are great planter beds and every summer they plant tons of edible stuff that contributes to salads and cooking all season. I helped them plant lettuce, kale, arugula, peppers, green onions, tomatoes, beans, squash, and basil (might be forgetting a...

Eco Challenge Post Seven: Consumerism. Recently I've been thinking about how I need new clothes since the weather is getting hotter and most of the clothes I have in my dorm are geared towards cold weather. After thinking more about it and considering what we've discussed in class regarding overconsumption and fast fashion, I realized I...

For this weeks Nature Eco Challenge, I spent time outside and payed more attention to nature around me. I went on a walk and lots of walking with my dogs instead of just staying inside and being on my phone. While I was walking, I noticed the trees, plants, birds, and just how much calmer it felt being outside for a little bit. It made me feel...

This week with the topic of consumerism, I decided to try and only buy things that I need. This is something that I usually do anyway, however this week I tried to be extra careful about it. If I went to buy something, I stopped to ask myself, is this something I really need? Is there a local or more sustainably produced alternative? I don't...

Have not really needed to purchase anything this week, but a couple weeks ago I started buying a couple better goods for my apartment. I have a weird thing against single use items, so I was trying to justify buying a rice cooker and maybe a toaster. For the rice cooker I compared it to a similar model that is made from more plastic parts, but...