Teresa Sweet

Western Technical College

"To leave it better than I found it. "

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
994 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

830

miles

not traveled by car
UP TO

220

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

500

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

44

people

helped
UP TO

680

pounds of CO2

have been saved

Teresa's actions

Health

Take Control

Both systemic and personal sustainability are important! I will develop a plan with my medical professionals to achieve my best health and live my life to the fullest.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Nature

Go for a Daily Walk

I will take a 10-minute walk outside each day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Practice Gratitude for Earth

I will spend 10 minute(s) each day outside, practicing gratitude (prayer, meditation, journaling, etc.) for Earth and the nature surrounding me.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Help Others

I will offer to help 2 person(s) who are in need each day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Drive Less

I will cut my car trip mileage by only taking necessary trips.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Work from Home

I will work from home 2 day(s) to avoid my commute's carbon output.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Know My health

I will get my Core Four Biometrics tests (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and BMI).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Go get a check up

I will make an appointment for my annual physical.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Happiness

I will write down three things every day that I am grateful for, or send one email every day thanking or praising someone.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Explore My Area

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

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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Health Take Control

How do environmental health, community health, and your personal health intersect?

Teresa Sweet 10/18/2019 6:23 AM

This challenge has forced me to reflect on my personal health, and I now see the connections between my own health, community health, and the environmental health too. When they environment is struggling, I see now how it has affected me personally, and vise versa. We are a product of our own environment. When one is sick, it causes a butterfly effect.

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Teresa Sweet 10/18/2019 6:19 AM

I have found myself seriously questioning a trip by car a few times this past week. A bonus is that there have been times that it has prevented me from buying things I didn’t really need! I have continues to group my trips together and planned them out for best efficiency of time and gas. This is something that I had gotten away from doing in the past couple of months, but it makes more sense and has also given me more time for other things during the day. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of times I cannot avoid an additional trip, but it has actually reduced my stress level.

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Teresa Sweet 10/12/2019 8:30 PM

While I am still waiting on some results of bloodwork, I am very proud of my blood pressure and we are working on the BMI (although it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be), these are positive steps towards a better me!

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- Chris Odeen 10/13/2019 4:31 PM
  
  You are 100% right, but don't go by BMI alone!!! Go by your health, how you feel, etc.! If you blood pressure is better, and you are beginning healthier habits, etc., the BMI will follow!
  
  Note: I dropped more than 100 pounds, about 15 years ago, and have kept it off by switching to Corelle! Their dishes are measured; we use the lunch plates for dinner plates, and I purchased things like "the 8 oz bowl" (1 cup cereal!), the "4 oz bowl" (ice cream!), which 100% eliminated the need for measuring! The 10 oz bowl for soup, the 16 oz bowl for salad, you get the idea! But that idea came after I read that a standard size dinner plate in the 1950s was 10." Now it's 12." A Corelle lunch plate is 9.5" so even if you FILL it, visually, you're still eating, overall, less! Imagine my surprise when I moved into a rental and my then-dishes didn't fit in the old cupboards!!! lol
  
  Anyway, it made all the difference, because I wasn't hyperfocusing on serving size. Read the package - 1 cup cereal is a serving? Grab the 8 oz bowl. 1/2 cup of ice cream? Grab the small one. Fill it, and enjoy it! DIET is die, with a T. Ugh! Healthy eating is a state of mind! You got this!!! TRUST THIS CARB JUNKY - if I can do it, you can do it, and you can always hit me up for support!!!
  
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Teresa Sweet 10/12/2019 8:27 PM

I have to admit, this one scared me! I haven’t had a physical in more than five years, and I was terrified of what my health care provider would say. However, I’m glad to report that things are much better than I expected and I am making changes to my daily living (thanks in part to this challenge) to become healthier! Without the eco challenge, I’m not sure I would have scheduled the visit.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature Practice Gratitude for Earth

Kathleen Dean Moore says that a sense of gratitude leads to a sense of moral obligation. Do you agree? How do we cultivate a sense of gratitude as individuals, and as a society?

Teresa Sweet 10/12/2019 8:18 PM

I believe that those who practice true gratitude do have a sense of moral obligation to pass it forward. However, there are times when individuals say they practice gratitude but do not fully absorb it, which leads to a lack of this obligation. In general terms, I would like to see our society focus more on the positives, but when constantly faced with negatives (whatever they may be) this becomes stronger than the obligation. Some how we have to focus more on the positives.

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- Chris Odeen 10/13/2019 4:35 PM
  
  I TOTALLY agree with you. Things for which you're grateful, are the things for which you become a better steward! It's hard, with so much negative focus on even each other (!) in society, generally, which I absolutely hate, to stay focused on the positives. But I truly try to be grateful for one thing, every day (and, no, it doesn't get to be the same thing every day! lol). Let's keep each other focused on the positive, and pay that philosophy forward!
  
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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?

Teresa Sweet 10/12/2019 8:13 PM

I’m not in an area of education that lends itself to working from home easily. However I have found that students appreciate the teleconferencing for office meetings when I am able to work from home. Then neither of us have to drive!

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Teresa Sweet 10/12/2019 8:10 PM

It was hard to do the 10 minute walk today, because I was in snow/rain but that was easier than the 10 minutes of gratitude for the earth because I’m not ready for the snow yet!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Drive Less

How has your access to various kinds of transportation throughout your life influenced your current attitudes about transportation and your transportation behavior?

Teresa Sweet 10/11/2019 12:37 PM

I grew up in an area that had no public transportation and because of this, I often forget this as an option. Additionally, where I live is in an area that is not serviced by public transportation, and is secluded. In order for me to purchase groceries, household goods or anything else for that matter, requires me to go at least 16 miles in one direction. Because of this, I have always planned trips for best efficiency.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Help Others

In your opinion, how do social inequalities diminish a strong sense of community?

Teresa Sweet 10/11/2019 12:33 PM

Social inequalities create divisions. Divisions divide communities. We have to come together, rather than separate! Many hands together make for light work, and if we all working together, we accomplish a goal.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health Know My health

How do you deal with the physical and emotional stress of the big problems we face? How can you help others cope?

Teresa Sweet 10/10/2019 6:52 PM

I’ve learned to dig deeper to discover what is at the heart of the issue. From there, I can break the stressors into smaller tasks to overcome or rationalize. Also, I’ve learned to breathe! There are a lot of times when taking a deep breath helps bring clarity and releases the tensions. I’ve made “just breathe” into a mantra we use in class frequently.

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