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April 1 - April 30, 2021
Siddhartha  Lama's avatar

Siddhartha Lama

High Meadow Hudson Valley

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 580 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    15
    meatless or vegan meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    232
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    69
    minutes
    being mindful
  • UP TO
    27
    trees
    planted

Siddhartha 's actions

Action Track: Accelerating Solutions

Research and Advocate for High-Speed Rail

High-Speed Rail

I will spend at least 10 minutes researching and advocating for a comprehensive high speed rail network in my country/region.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Eat Mindfully

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

COMPLETED 4
DAILY 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 1
DAILY ACTION

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 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Research Cement Alternatives

Alternative Cement

I will spend at least 10 minutes researching cement alternatives that reduce the carbon footprint of concrete.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Research the Climate Impact of Refrigerants

Refrigerant Management

I will spend 10 minute(s) learning about the climate impact of refrigerants and what climate-friendly refrigerants are by using the links below.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Plant Trees

Temperate Forest Restoration

I will plant 10 tree(s) in my community, public parks, or backyard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Research Peatlands

Peatland Protection and Rewetting

I will spend 10 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

Learn More about Silvopasture

Silvopasture

I will spend at least 10 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Building With Carbon Storing Waste Products

Engineered Sinks

I will spend at least 10 minutes researching how people can build with carbon-storing materials - including agricultural byproducts - and discuss it with my peers in person or by posting to social media.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Learn about Biochar

Biochar Production

I will spend 25 minute(s) learning about biochar and how it can help sequester carbon.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Explore Other Buildings Solutions

All Buildings Solutions

I will spend at least 25 minutes researching other Drawdown Buildings Solutions.

UNCOMPLETED
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

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

Conduct Virtual Meetings

Telepresence

I will encourage my office to hold meetings virtually whenever possible instead of requiring travel.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Explore Other Transportation Solutions

All Transportation Solutions

I will spend at least 25 minutes researching other Drawdown Transportation Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity

Explore Other Electricity Solutions

All Electricity Solutions

I will spend at least 200 minutes researching other Drawdown Electricity Solutions.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Support Companies Leading in Green Energy

Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics, Distributed Solar Photovoltaics

I will use my spending power to reward companies leading in creating or purchasing green energy and incentivize others to invest more in green energy.

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?


  • Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/30/2021 6:41 PM
    This Year eco challenge was really great, I really enjoyed this even though I don't attend the school anymore and I look forward to joining the HMS team every year for the eco challenge. :P
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Transportation Conduct Virtual Meetings
    How can you ensure that your virtual meetings honor your values and your company's culture?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/30/2021 6:39 PM
    In the drawdown book they include telepresence as a possible solution which I thought was pretty interesting. it helps slow down travel, meetings, ect. which is really good so we can reduce the overall carbon food print of society, at the moment this is basically zoom which we all know that it's nice but after like 20 minutes it is not a great experience, but I think that we should do online meeting's for people who live farther away who still wish to participate in meetings, events and other things. 
  • 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?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/30/2021 6:37 PM
    For me I feel when my stomach is 80% full that's a good amount of food, or just when you have that thought, "should I eat more, I can but I don't really feel like it" something like that is a good sign that you have eaten a good portion. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Land Sinks Plant Trees
    How is planting trees good for your mental, physical, and spiritual health?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/30/2021 6:35 PM
    Peatland's was a really interesting matter especially because peatlands make up something like 3% of land on earth, but they make up for 1/3 or 33.333% of the carbon dioxide storage in the entire planet. And lot's of these place's are being used for growing food, expanding cities ect, and that if that happens that would release waaaay tooo much co2 into the atmoshpier. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Industry Research the Climate Impact of Refrigerants
    What did you learn about the climate impact of refrigerants? How do supermarkets contribute to this impact?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/30/2021 6:33 PM
    I was really startled when I found out how much refrigeration contributes to climate change and how much much carbon dioxide it could save if we have better alternatives. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Transportation Explore Other Transportation Solutions
    What did you find out? What is the most interesting fact you learned?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/30/2021 6:32 PM
    Transportation was a very interesting and a very complicated topic about climate change when I was researching  the topic, especially when it come's to the battery and how the ingredients inside the batteries how so interconnected, the biggest challenges when it come's to transportation in particular was the battery weight and how larger thing's require much much much larger batteries and how these materials are getting sourced, and the complications with large companies getting these materials from middle men companies that have mine's in other countries and the challenges with surrounding cobalt in particular, because these people are being exploited, insanely underpaid, like really really underpaid, and it's not like we can just stop using these materials because they are required in the solutions, but the other challenge is that because many organizations are making this issue very clear to the companies which is a great thing, the possible unintended consequence is that the companies will start looking to source these materials in other countries were the labor laws are much stronger and less opportunity for exploitation for business or for their reputation, and what happens is all these people who were digging the materials for these large middle men who sold it to even larger companies, the people digging these materials are going to out of work and their already in very very very bad levels of poverty and even if the job they have at the moment is inhumane they will have not many other options of income and their could be large number's of deaths from starvation and other caused deaths due to no income. That is the most difficult and largest problem that I found while doing transportation research, all other aspects like battery technology and thing's like that is more "first world country issues" but the mineral issue is really complex and their are many good possible solution proposed which is a good thing. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Eat Mindfully
    Mindful eating is healthier for us than eating with distractions. How does your eating experience differ when practicing mindfulness?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/30/2021 6:20 PM
    I'm kinda slowly noticing that when I eat more slowly and with a little more awareness that the food tastes better, I never new why food's that I had very infrequently tasted so good, and I kinda realized that when I eat food's that I don't get very often I 1, eat slowly and actually savor the food, 2 be more mindful of the ingredients, tastes, ect. So with this logic you just try you're best to implement it into every day life. Like most thing's in life, "much easier said than done".
  • 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?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/29/2021 1:05 PM
    It's great that EV has come a far way from being a not so cool looking car to being like the coolest cars on the market-"that are under 100000$, but challenges are still faced when it comes to larger vehicles like trucks, planes, and ships, not so sure weather batteries are going to work very well or if we will have to use BioFuels for short term purposes or not. 
  • 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?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/29/2021 1:01 PM
    I was so surprised to see how much carbon dioxide was created just from food waste alone, the scary thing is that the food we waste could feed large many parts of the world, yet 40% of all food gets thrown away, but something like this is in our control which is a good thing, once we get more aware of the situation then action will slowly take place.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Action Track: Accelerating Solutions Research and Advocate for High-Speed Rail
    What are the factors that influence your choice of transportation? These can include things like money, time, and convenience, as well as perceptions of danger or safety. What would need to change for you to regularly choose more climate-friendly options?

    Siddhartha  Lama's avatar
    Siddhartha Lama 4/29/2021 12:59 PM
    What I found out about the high-speed rails and why they worked so well particularly in china was that first of all The government owns lot's of land there so they don't have to go through so many private property issues of that sort, 2 the government also gives a ton of subsidized to the companies building these railroads and other projects, and lastly their tend to be fewer labor laws so there is also exploitation of human labor which ain't good. But for the United States it would be a little complicated to get them to become a "thing" just because there are so many different barriers to the project, but who knows the new administration could think of this as an opportunity for other sources of transits and may these kinds of projects. Only time will tell.