Ecochallenge.org

2019 People's Ecochallenge

October 2 - October 23, 2019

Jeni Chandler

Inclusion

"Planets are cool, and so are you... unless, of course, you litter... in which case, you're not cool at all."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,160 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

531

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

300

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

60

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

990

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

1.0

waste audit

conducted

Jeni 's actions

Health

Support Pollution Reduction

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about water and air quality issues in my area, how they are impacting human and environmental health, and how I can help.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Visit a Waste Management Facility

I will spend at least 60 minutes visiting a local dump/transfer station, material recovery facility, and/or landfill to learn about the waste stream.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

High Impact Action Track

Learn About Local Environmental Justice Concerns

Health

I will spend 30 minutes researching environmental justice concerns in my region, their causes, and local initiatives to address these concerns.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

High Impact Action Track

Research Impact Investing

Simplicity

Using the links provided below, I will research impact investing and deterimine if it is right for me.

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 60 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.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Personal Waste Audit

I will collect all of my unrecyclable, non-compostable trash to raise my awareness of how much I send to the landfill.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Water

Install a Low-Flow Showerhead

I will save up to 15 gallons (56 L) of water a day by installing a low-flow showerhead.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Water

Install a Toilet Tank Bank

I will reduce the amount of water flushed and save up to 11 gallons (41 L) of water each day by installing a toilet tank bank.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Nature

Forage for My Food

I will use the 'Learn More' resources below to find where I can forage for my own food locally.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Reduce refined sugar

I will adopt a diet free of refined sugars, which eliminates sweetened beverages, candy, and processed foods.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Eat Mindfully

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

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

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 -1
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Eliminate Toxic Plastics

I will avoid buying toxic plastics - including polycarbonate, polystyrene and polyvinyl - and instead replace them with bioplastic or durable options.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Create Your Own Action

Bugs are cool! 🐛

The insects around us are not only fascinating, but oftentimes very helpful to the environment. I've always loved bugs, and so I'd like to spread the word, bye telling someone everyday about a bug that helps us in some way.

COMPLETED 0
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?

Jeni Chandler 10/22/2019 1:19 PM

Bug Love! Final Post!

Fireflies -

I definitely don't miss the pace or general vibe of living on the East Coast, but there are a two very special phenomenon that I miss most dearly: thunder and lightning storms, and fireflies.

If you've experienced fireflies on hot summer nights back east, then you'll likely share my love for these luminous creatures. As dusk advances to steal away the sun from the reach of our eyes, and the twinkling stars slowly re-appear on the canvas of the dark night sky, likewise does the firefly, an ever present phantom, reappear to our delight on the canvas of our woodland paths and grassy fields of dreams.

Here's an excerpt from Scientific American, explaining the science behind the Fireflies' ability to light up:
"Fireflies produce a chemical reaction inside their bodies that allows them to light up. This type of light production is called bioluminescence. The method by which fireflies produce light is perhaps the best known example of bioluminescence. When oxygen combines with calcium, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the chemical luciferin in the presence of luciferase, a bioluminescent enzyme, light is produced. Unlike a light bulb, which produces a lot of heat in addition to light, a firefly's light is "cold light" without a lot of energy being lost as heat. This is necessary because if a firefly's light-producing organ got as hot as a light bulb, the firefly would not survive the experience."

Mating behavior is the evolutionary reason why fireflies light up, and we only see fireflies in the eastern states because of differences in regional mating needs. In the western states, only females light up, only when they are on the ground, and only very dimly, to disctreetly attract a male for the final steps of the mating process. In the eastern states, the male lights up brightly in flight, to attract females towards the beginning of the process, necessitating a showier display to attract a mate in the first place.

I remember when growing up, and a firefly would sneak into my bedroom, and it was such a special gift to see it flashing around in the dark. It was as though a star from the sky had come to visit, as I fell asleep dreaming of flying around in space.

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Jeni Chandler 10/20/2019 9:33 AM

3 things I'm grateful for: Portland

1. Bike infrastructure - The bikeability of Portland is one of the things that brought me here in 2004. Since then, the city has continued to expand our bike infrastructure, and I feel super happy to live in a place that prioritises decreased reliance on fossil fuels. Except for a few years where my health was kind of crappy, I've typically been a bike commuter, and cycled for fun. I look forward to seeing what Portland can do to stay competitive in the global contest for the most bike-friendly City.
2. Tree preservation - Yet another reason I moved to Portland, I was struck by how green the city was when I flew in over it for the first time in 2002. And it has remained green, despite the march of progress, and I'm thankful for that. Evidence that Portland still loves its trees? The tree survey that I just got in the mail :D
3. Health-forwardness - And another reason I moved to Portland. I'm always reminded of just how good we have it when I have been out traveling, and seen how hard it is to stay healthy and fit in many places. While traveling in eastern Oregon, I was hard-pressed to find a gym or a fitness center, and on top of that one open to the public, and the one I did find in Baker City was really far out of town in an industrial area. It made me realize that people are less likely to go work out if they have to drive all the way out of town to get to a facility. In Portland, there's any number of gyms, Community Centers, Yoga or Fitness Studios on my daily route, making it super convenient to get in for exercise. There are affordable options for almost everyone. Accessibility is critical, since getting to the gym can be hard enough when motivation already isn't there. One thought I had regarding improving Public Health , is that perhaps people who are on public assistance could get subsidized gym or Community Center admission based on income . That way, the cycle of poverty and poor health could be more readily broken . Also, Portland is obviously so Health Food literate. All you have to do is leave Portland to realize how good we have it in terms of quality, healthy delicious food. It definitely makes me feel extremely fortunate, but also very entitled and privileged, that I get to live in such fantastic conditions, while the majority of the world (including so much of our own City) struggles to enough food to eat. So the next time I'm complaining about Portland, how it has changed or how it sucks, please kindly remind me of this post and tell me to shut the F up ;)

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste Visit a Waste Management Facility

Field trip! What a fun way to learn about our impact and consumption! What facility did you visit? What did you learn? Did you take anyone with you?

Jeni Chandler 10/20/2019 9:00 AM

Okay, I didn't actually make it to the transfer station, but instead had a volunteer orientation at Reclaim It on Killingworth. This awesome store sends teams of volunteers to the transfer station on NW Route 30 every week, to dig through items that have been hauled in by consumers. I learned about the waste stream, and how garbage that is brought to the transfer station by individuals is kept separate from what the garbage trucks bring in. Reclaim It has a very special deal with Recology and Metro, where they get to bring a team of workers there to look for things to be sold in their store. On each run, they typically haul 3000 lb of items from the dump, to be sold at super low prices to the public, where the volunteers clean and repair items to be put out on the sales floor. Since household trash brought by garbage trucks is kept in a separate area, and that volunteers are only digging through things that are self hauled, where no household garbage is allowed, there isn't any smelly garbage to go through. Instead, this garbage is from when a family is cleaning out a garage, a business is gutting an old restaurant Etc. I learned that 1 million tons of trash go through the transfer station every year, the majority of which goes to the landfill 150 miles into the Gorge . It's hard to think about the gorge the same way again, knowing that we dumped all of our trash there. I hope to volunteer in the store on Killingsworth for a while, before getting to go on a dump run, to see what treasures we can find.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Support Native Communities

Indigenous speaker and activist Winona LaDuke says that, "most indigenous ceremonies, if you look to their essence, are about the restoration of balance — they are a reaffirmation of our relationship to creation. That is our intent: to restore, and then to retain balance and honor our part in creation." Why is balance important to sustainability?

Jeni Chandler 10/18/2019 6:02 PM

I feel that we could perhaps get closer to the root of this idea if we don't frame balance and sustainability as separate things. It seems that the farther away people get from their sustainable, tribal roots, the more that words and ideas divert from their shared orgins. To me, sustainability and balance are the same thing. It is because as a society, we have developed into a more fragmented social and psychological condition, that we view them as separate. Likewise, I feel that the more we embrace a feeling of shared ancestry with all people, we can better connect to our tribal selves, which will allow us to more fully integrate the principles principles of balance and sustainability in our lives.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste Personal Waste Audit

Why is it so difficult to understand the impacts our purchases and waste have on other people, animals, and places? How might your experience with this challenge impact your future consumption and choices?

Jeni Chandler 10/17/2019 8:05 AM

I I I spent several days not throwing away garbage in different locations, but collected it all together and disposed of it at my home. I'd say that I produce more garbage than I realized. I've known this for a while, but I think that one of most abundant things that I throw away our Grab & Go food packaging. I'm very active, and don't cook as much as I used to, relying on grab-and-go sandwiches and salads and burritos and the like for so much of my diet. I have a personal goal to cook more again, and get back into meal prep and portioning out meals for myself, which will also increase my vegetable intake again. It was hard to see the scale of the impact that my eating choices have on the world around me, and so this challenge was sort of the nail in the coffin of my recent grab-and-go lifestyle.

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Jeni Chandler 10/16/2019 10:37 PM

3 things I am grateful for: people

1. Bo Stanley - A thick pro surfer girl who looks fabulous and pushes for body acceptance in a sport that does not welcome thick women. So inspiring... Represention matters! I've DM'd with her on social media a few times, she's so down to earth, to find out that were pretty much the same size and shape. She is an amazing athlete though, and I definitely aspire to her level of fitness.
2. My mom - because she is amazing!
3. Service Industry Workers - I enjoy dining out, and service industry workers make that possible. Its often not a rewarding job, but I appreciate the work they do, all so I can have a nice (yet completely frivilous and temporal) experience.

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Jeni Chandler 10/16/2019 10:13 PM

Bug Love! Dragonfly - a haiku ;)

the summer is gone
i dreamt the dragonflies south
fond spring memories

(Not to insinuate that I can actually write good haikus)

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature Forage for My Food

People are motivated to forage for many different reasons: as a source for food, a means of income, to connect with nature, to participate in cultural tradition, transmitting specific ecological knowledge, or as a means of stewarding local and native plant populations. What is your chief motivation for foraging?

Jeni Chandler 10/16/2019 5:48 PM

... and I did one better by going out to forage mushrooms with my friend! Got some matsutake, and we battered and fried them, super delicious! There's a few mushroom species that I know how to identify well, but I definitely have so much learning to do. I would like to get more into foraging, it really helps me to disconnect from the digital Urban landscape. I've gone out for Nettles, Oxalis, mushrooms, berries and things like that, but I'd like to get into roots, medicinal herbs, and wild sources of starch ( looking at you chestnuts) :) I would like to have greater survival skills, and I want to stay connected to the part of myself that is an animal, an adaptable creature that can survive and thrive in a multitude of conditions, to honor the planet that supports me.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
High Impact Action Track Learn About Local Environmental Justice Concerns

Who is most affected by environmental degration and/or environmental irresponsiblity in your community? How are they affected?

Jeni Chandler 10/13/2019 9:10 AM

I've known about the Superfund Site for many years, having learned about it from my friend who is a sailor and boat finisher . It's not a secret that the lower Willamette, from the Fremont bridge to the mouth, is one of the most toxic areas of water in the country . From the days before environmental regulation, absurd amounts of toxic chemicals and materials where dumped into the river to be disposed of, a large amount of which are still there, accumulated on the river banks and beds below the surface. There has been talk about cleaning this up for decades, but unfortunately, the scale of the job is tremendous , and would require dredging huge swaths of the river bottom. The clean up presents huge health and safety risks for area residents and Wildlife. If not completed properly, the chemicals dredged from the bottom will spread into the surrounding area, and would pose increase cancer risks for anyone interacting with the river . I just found out that the Trump Administration reduced the amount of funding earmarked for the Portland Superfund Site , which ensures that it won't happen, since the job cannot be done cheaply, due to the complexity and Hazards associated with it . The the people affected by the site include area residents who should not swim , eat from, bathe in the river north of Fremont Bridge . Also, there are tribal fishing rights on this part of the river that can't be utilized because of the toxicity. I don't have much hope that this will actually be cleaned up, but I think in time maybe it will be. The scale of the cleanup is just so big, maybe with the next Administration we will receive the funding back, creating a moral incentive for future local leaders.

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Jeni Chandler 10/11/2019 6:02 PM

3 things I'm grateful for... Words!

It's no secret I love words. They are curious creations, intangible things that cause an endlist list of human emotions, symptoms and possibilities. It's impossible to choose just 3, so I'll just pick the first three that come to mind...

Definitions from Oxford:

Ocean - "Middle English: from Old French occean, via Latin from Greek ōkeanos ‘great stream encircling the earth's disk’. ‘The ocean’ originally denoted the whole body of water regarded as encompassing the earth's single land mass." SWOON!! Such a poetic way to describe it!

Relation - "Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin relatio(n- ), from referre ‘bring back’ (see relate)." -- So, "bring back" is a fascinating origin to ponder. It's like saying that anything that we can relate to (externally or internally, tangible or intangible) is actually a part of our selves, and it merely departed from us for a time. Shared origin. Shared roots. A common First Nations/Indigenous American saying is "To all my Relations" which is used to describe all things outside of us, recognizing the relationships to be found in everything. So by definition, to relate to someone or something is to bring it back to us, implying that we were once not separated.

Clue - "late Middle English: variant of clew. The original sense was ‘a ball of thread’; hence one used to guide a person out of a labyrinth. clue (sense 1 of the noun) dates from the early 17th century." Wow! In the classical Greek Myth, when Theseus entered the Labyrinth to kill the minotaur, he unraveled a ball of string — called a Clew - behind him, so he could find his way back. Excellent!

See! Words are powerful things! Let's use them to make the world a better place :)

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