Andy Behr

Green Bees

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
739 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

8.0

miles

not traveled by car
UP TO

300

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

315

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

30

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

810

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

600

minutes

not spent in front of a screen
UP TO

25

pounds of CO2

have been saved

Andy's actions

Community

Express My Support

I will find out who in my state makes decisions that impact the environment and express my support for more environmental actions.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Track my Purchases

I will spend 15 minutes each day maintaining a record of all my purchases and learning about my spending habits.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Work-Life Balance

I will not work more than 8 hour days each day to practice work-life balance.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Disconnect from Email

I will disconnect from my email when not working or studying.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Go for a Daily Walk

I will take a walk for 15 minutes each day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Water

Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants

I will prevent water runoff and increase absorbency by mulching the base of plants and trees at my home or work.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Work from Home

I will work from home 3 day(s) to avoid my commute's carbon output.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Nature

Explore My Area

I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Support Native Communities

I will use the resource links provided and spend 20 minutes learning about the native populations that lived in my area prior to colonization, and what I can do to support those that still exist.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Learn More about Food Deserts

I will spend 15 minutes learning about food deserts and find out how I can advocate for healthy and fresh food in my region.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Eat Mindfully

I will eat all of my meals without distractions, e.g., phone, computer, TV, or newspaper.

COMPLETED -1
DAILY ACTIONS

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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Work-Life Balance

How might practicing work-life balance lead to a more sustainable life for yourself? How might it contribute to sustainability more broadly?

Andy Behr 10/23/2019 8:36 AM

The most obvious answer is the reduction in power use. I've been working to shut off my laptop entirely after hours, which means i'm not wasting energy or charging up a laptop while offline. And keeping my day to just 8 hours means I'm not commuting anywhere.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health Learn More about Food Deserts

What are the implications of access to nutritious food for a community?

Andy Behr 10/23/2019 8:22 AM

it was really startling to read about the immediate issues with obesity and poor health in relation to how much access a community has to healthy food. I've always been lucky to live in fairly close relationship to multiple grocery stores, even growing up in rural Maryland, but even just slightly outside of my current house (we're talking a handful of miles! Areas I could jog to!) fall into the definition of a food desert. And it was even more eye-opening to me that the definition just wasn't access to grocery stores, but also access to healthy food sources.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature Explore My Area

How can spending more time outdoors enhance your sense of place?

Andy Behr 10/23/2019 6:25 AM

In our area, its kind of easy to get focused on the city part of Alexandria and lose sight of the fact that we really are surrounded by a number of trails that not only connect parts of the city (for biking, running, walking) but also that it allows us to get away from the cars/noise/concrete. I've had the luxury of finding a bunch of the trails through running and now biking, but I made an effort with this challenge to at least walk a few connecting paths that I had never used before. That also helped to realize how even these places get affected by pollution and climate change, especially after some of the unusually heavy rains we've had this season

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Water Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants

Where are your nearest natural bodies of water? How might they be affected by runoff?

Andy Behr 10/23/2019 6:20 AM

Probably the biggest for us is the Potomac, which feeds directly into the bay and the Atlantic. All of my life I've lived in the Chesapeake watershed, and even in school we were very conscientious about what we put into the water...i can remember that being a big talking point in art class with oil painting and the discarding of any turpentine we used in the process. Pretty much anything we put down our drain, in our yard or in our gutters will eventually make its way into those bodies of water.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Work from Home

It takes the average worker in the United States 26 minutes to travel to work. One way to fix long commutes would be to make cities more affordable. An even simpler option: promote the use of telework. Are you in an industry that would allow you to work from home? What are some obstacles you might find yourself facing while working from home?

Andy Behr 10/17/2019 11:50 AM

My job is 100% in an industry that could telecommute. I'm in a remote office anyway, so i'm technically telecommuting no matter where i work. Overall I enjoy it, but there are some road blocks. At work, i have access to our full network and multiple monitors which helps productivity. And being at home has a lot of distractions, everything from kids, to my wife, to just goofing around or exercising. I probably get more done at the office, but working from home does help reduce my overall carbon footprint.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Disconnect from Email

Notice how much time you were spending checking email away from work and make note of that. Now that you have stepped away from it and have not been checking, what changes are you noticing in your thoughts, use of time, stress and energy levels?

Andy Behr 10/17/2019 10:48 AM

I never really tracked the amount of time looking at work emails after the work day was over; that would probably be pretty hard given its done so absent-mindedly. But I've made a real effort to stop looking at all emails after hours, or to at least hide notifications until I'm back in the office. Definitely a change for the better...not that it ever really stressed me out, but now i feel less obligation to actually act on any requests that come in after hours, which helps with a work/life separation

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Go for a Daily Walk

Fresh air and movement are good for our entire being and can help us think more clearly and creatively. How does taking a walk each day affect yourself and/or your work?

Andy Behr 10/14/2019 11:36 AM

I am amazed at what a better mood i'm in after taking a walk. I was a little concerned that timing would be hard, that fitting it into my work day would be an issue, or just overall me getting lazy. Instead, the opposite has happened, and I've actually found it difficult to limit it to 15 minutes (not that its a requirement). Like a lot of the challenges, I can see this easily becoming part of my daily routine, even beyond these 3 weeks.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Track my Purchases

What have you noticed about your purchases? Where are you inclined to make shifts, if any?

Andy Behr 10/14/2019 11:12 AM

I started this challenge off feeling fairly confident...I spend a lot on myself, but figured over the 3 weeks of the challenge, it wouldn't really amount to much. Then I decided to make sure my list to date was completed by referencing my credit card statement, and it's amazing how quickly costs add up. That's not much there regular lunch purchase...it's monthly costs for utilities (I counted them), political donations, random purchases that I didn't consider, etc. It's definitely a sobering thing to keep this tally, for sure. I can see this impacting me moving forward, just in an attempt to not live with needing so much stuff.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Eat Mindfully

Mindful eating is healthier for us than eating with distractions. How do your eating experiences differ when practicing mindfulness?

Andy Behr 10/10/2019 11:20 AM

This one has been tough especially at work where im used to just eating while checking emails. I've definitely had moments where I've caught myself reaching for my phone absentmindedly, especially to check the time or weather. But its it's been a nice change...I've spent breakfast talking to my wife and lunch just enjoying the view from my office

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