Earth Month Ecochallenge: Drawdown

April 1 - April 30, 2021

Brittany Joiner

Atlassian Foundation Team

"Learn small things I can do to make a big difference over time!"

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,227 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.0

documentary

watched
UP TO

1.0

energy audit

conducted
UP TO

4.6

locally sourced meals

consumed
UP TO

58

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

1.0

person

helped

Brittany's actions

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Learn about Biochar

Biochar Production

I will spend 5 minute(s) learning about biochar and how it can help sequester carbon.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Smart Seafood Choices

Ocean Farming

I will visit seafoodwatch.org or download the app and commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Learn More about Silvopasture

Silvopasture

I will spend at least 5 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Research Peatlands

Peatland Protection and Rewetting

I will spend 5 minutes researching the environmental benefits of peatlands and what is being done around the world to conserve and restore them.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Buy Bamboo

Bamboo Production

When they are available, I will purchase products made from bamboo instead of wood, plastic, or metal.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

Tropical Forest Restoration

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Online Energy Audit

Multiple Solutions

I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Plan to Insulate

Insulation

I will find out how to make my home more energy efficient through better insulation and weatherization.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Give a Microloan

Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders

I will give 1 microloan(s) to women who need help starting a business.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Keep Track of Wasted Food

Reduced Food Waste

I will keep a daily log of food I throw away during Earth Month Ecochallenge, either because it went bad before I ate it, I put too much on my plate, or it was scraps from food preparation.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity

Watch a Video about Methane Digesters

Methane Digesters

I will watch a video about methane digesters (also commonly known as anaerobic digesters).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Climate Resilience

Support Businesses Owned by Women, BIPOC, or Immigrants

Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders

I will spend 30 minutes researching businesses owned by women, immigrants, and Black, Indigenous, and people of color that I can support when shopping.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Calculate My Carbon Footprint

All Drawdown Solutions

I will calculate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with my household and consider how different lifestyle choices could reduce my negative impact on the environment.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Accelerating Solutions

Support Local Food Systems

Plant-Rich Diets

I will source 5 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 4
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?

Brittany Joiner 4/30/2021 8:01 AM

I actually thought this was really cool. Glad I partook in this :) I wish Drawdown would do this regularly and not just for the month of April! Would be really cool to regularly have a dashboard and reminders and action items for educating myself and taking more action for making the world a little better!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks Buy Bamboo

Are bamboo alternatives readily available in your community? If not, what are other sustainable alternatives?

Brittany Joiner 4/29/2021 11:22 AM

I found some bamboo toilet paper before from Reel that i didn't really like... but I'm trying out Who Gives a Crap and I'll see if I end up liking that any better.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Smaller Portions

While dishing food out, we tend to load our plates with more than we need. Using smaller plates helps to mitigate this. Aside from the environmental benefits, what other benefits might come from eating/serving smaller portions?

Brittany Joiner 4/29/2021 11:14 AM

I've gotten better about using a smaller plate, but I need to do a better job about making sure I get the right portions when I'm eating out. Its difficult to avoid leftovers, and I am not always great about eating those leftovers.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Action Track: Climate Resilience Support Businesses Owned by Women, BIPOC, or Immigrants

Globally, women typically invest a higher proportion of their earnings in their families and communities than men. What have you done in the past to support women-owned businesses? How can you better support communities by supporting women?

Brittany Joiner 4/28/2021 8:31 AM

Found this cool site to show women owned restaurants near me! https://restauranther.com/

Unfortunatately... there weren't any 😭

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings Online Energy Audit

What are your next steps for saving energy?

Brittany Joiner 4/24/2021 3:02 PM

I'm going to keep the temperatures up as much as is reasonable in the summer, and not keep windows or doors open when I'm sitting outside on the porch. I'm also going to try to dry less things and get back into a habit of batch cooking and laundry on one day a week so I'm batching all that energy together.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks Forest-Friendly Foods 1

How is your diet currently impacting deforestation? What can you do to decrease your negative impact and increase your positive impact?

Brittany Joiner 4/24/2021 2:59 PM

I'm goign to try to start making sure I eat at least one or two meals a week that don't have meat. I'm also going to try to mostly cut dairy out of my life (coffee creamer might be my exception). I also want to make sure I'm getting sustainable coffee beans and I've found some good resources to check up on that.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks Learn More about Silvopasture

Had you heard of the term "silvopasture" before now? After learning more about it, what do you think is the biggest advantage of silvopasture?

Brittany Joiner 4/21/2021 7:58 PM

I hadn't heard about silvopasture before, but I learned the benefits are that it collects carbon above land and below the soil, thus helping the environrment. I also learned that while silvopasture is helping the environment, it could be counterproductive to turn woodlands into silvopasture.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Keep Track of Wasted Food

An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. How would you rather use this money?

Brittany Joiner 4/19/2021 3:20 PM

I am really bad about throwing out food, but I've gotten better as I try to make less meals and get over my dislike of leftovers. Aside from being cheaper and easier, it means less waste of food and generally saves energy when I batch cook on the weekends and have leftovers throughout the week.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity Watch a Video about Methane Digesters

What does your vision of a sustainable community look like? What would need to be changed in order for such vision to become reality?

Brittany Joiner 4/16/2021 8:08 AM

Being able to take every piece of waste matter and re use it for something productive. I don’t think there’s anything specific I can do for methane digestion since I don’t really have a lot of cow manure to contribute but I do think it’s good to be aware of these processes and I wonder if there’s somewhere in Baton Rouge I can take decomposed food to help with that.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry Practice the 5 R's

What are some more "R's" you could add to your daily practice to reduce your waste?

Brittany Joiner 4/16/2021 8:02 AM

Rest - just sitting down and reading a book that I already own or borrowed from the library doesn’t waste anything :)

Read More