Earth Month Ecochallenge: Drawdown

April 1 - April 30, 2021

Patty Iverson

York Girls Volleyball

"Helping to inspire York and the Elmhurst Community to Go Green!"

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,387 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

11

locally sourced meals

consumed
UP TO

76

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

635

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

500

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

1,745

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

54

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill

Patty's actions

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Smaller Portions

Reduced Food Waste

I will use smaller plates and/or serve smaller portions when dishing out food.

COMPLETED 27
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

Conservation Agriculture, Regenerative Annual Cropping

I will spend at least 180 minutes learning about the need for more regenerative agriculture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Advocate For Greener Vehicles

Electric Cars, Hybrid Cars, Efficient Trucks

I will assess the vehicles used by my company or college and advocate for a purchasing policy focused on electric and fuel-efficient vehicles

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Use Muscle Power

Multiple Transportation Solutions

I will cut my car trip mileage by only taking necessary trips, and I will only use muscle-powered transportation for all other trips.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Go for a Daily Walk

Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 30 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 16
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Research and Consider Switching to a Hybrid or Electric Vehicle

Electric Cars, Hybrid Cars

I will spend at least 60 minutes researching and weighing my options to see if a hybrid or electric vehicle makes sense for my lifestyle.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Choose Recycled Paper

Recycled Paper

I will plan ahead to only use paper products made from post-consumer recycled paper for my home or office.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Recycle Everything I Can

Recycling

Contamination prevents what is recyclable from being recycled. I will research and recycle all materials that are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community, making sure to not contaminate recyclables with non-recyclables.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Reduce Single-Use Disposables

Bioplastics

Cheap, single-use items and disposable packaging end up blowing around as litter more often in poor and BIPOC-majority neighborhoods. I will avoid buying and using 5 single-use plastics and instead replace them with durable options.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Practice the 5 R's

Recycling

I will Practice the "5 Rs" — refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle — to reduce my waste more than I can with just recycling alone.

COMPLETED 6
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Accelerating Solutions

Choose Renewable Energy or Purchase Renewable Energy Credits

Onshore Wind Turbines, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics

I will sign up for my utility company's clean/renewable energy option. If my utility does not offer one, I will purchase Renewable Energy Credits to match my usage.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Support Local Food Systems

Plant-Rich Diets

I will source 20 percent of my food from local producers each day. This could include signing up for a local CSA, buying from a farmer's market, visiting a food co-op, foraging with a local group, or growing my own ingredients.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 3 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 29
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Support Nutrient Management

Nutrient Management

I will research and support local farmers who have made the decision to not use synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Climate Resilience

Learn More about Silvopasture

Silvopasture

I will spend at least 180 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Climate Resilience

Tend A Garden

I will tend to a garden, or prepare for one, each day using sustainable gardening practices.

COMPLETED 30
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?

Patty Iverson 4/30/2021 7:43 AM

Thank you to York Girls Volleyball for undertaking this Green journey together and learning more ways in which to create a sustainable future!

Read More
Patty Iverson 4/30/2021 7:22 AM

My expanded vegetable garden and new native garden is just about completed! Seedlings will soon be ready for planting. I have been so inspired by the efforts of York Girls Volleyball Coaches and Players during this Ecochallenge.

Read More
Patty Iverson 4/21/2021 7:42 AM

We're in the home stretch! Last week of the season. Can you do any more green actions to contribute to our Ecochallenge?

Read More
Patty Iverson 4/14/2021 11:02 AM

Went to Mrs. Tucker's house today where I brought home some flagstones she was giving away. They will make a great path in my native garden. One of the 5 R's - reuse.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Support Nutrient Management

How does environmental quality influence your sense of community?

Patty Iverson 4/11/2021 10:39 AM

Raising a family in a suburb of a large city is a concern for the health of my family and my neighbors due to all of the CO2 emissions sources in Chicago. Working with neighbors to improve the environmental quality of Elmhurst is a great way to become closer.

Read More
Patty Iverson 4/09/2021 4:23 PM

Worked to repot some of my seedlings into bigger compostable containers to give the roots more room to grow.

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- Deborah Kim (Ecochallenge.org Staff) 4/14/2021 1:52 PM
  
  Beautiful!
  
  Read More
Patty Iverson 4/09/2021 4:23 PM

Worked to repot some of my seedlings into bigger compostable containers to give the roots more room to grow.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Advocate For Greener Vehicles

How does advocating for green vehicles in your community connect to your values? How might you be able to get others involved in advocating for the shift to fuel-efficient vehicles?

Patty Iverson 4/08/2021 6:47 AM

Since most CO2 is being emitted by city traffic, I am trying to stay out of cars in Elmhurst and advocate for Elmhurst to purchase EV's for business (they have at least 2) and to support more charging stations. Also, Elmhurst Cool Cities is advocating more bike paths. The path over Roosevelt and I88 is almost complete. A great healthy way to get around.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry Reduce Single-Use Disposables

What single-use items (e.g. straws, coffee cups, vegetable bags, plastic bags) do you regularly use? What could be substituted instead?

Patty Iverson 4/08/2021 6:43 AM

Very difficult cutting down on single use plastics during a pandemic when carryout mostly comes in plastic. Trying to support businesses that use cardboard, like Stray Hen Cafe.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Learn More about Regenerative Agriculture

Clean air, clean water and healthy food are just three reasons to care about regenerative agriculture. What are some other reasons? How could/does regenerative agriculture positively impact you and your community?

Patty Iverson 4/08/2021 6:41 AM

RA increases the nutrients in food, protects the soil, enables water retention which will help to refill aquifers, increases diversity of plants that leads to increased wildlife. It will help sequester more CO2 and in our neighborhood with all its big lawns, some regenerative agriculture gardens can help us sequester carbon and produce pollinators to attract bees and butterflies, populations that are rapidly declining with the use of pesticides like neonicotinoids used on plants (like those dold at Home Depot).

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