April 1 - April 30, 2021

Christopher von Roretz

"I've reached a point where I feel guilty about the waste I produce, but am eager to find new ways to reduce my environmental impact. Adopting new habits and learning about actions I can take in areas I'm unfamiliar with are a priority for me in this challenge!"

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
905 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.0

energy audit

conducted
UP TO

49

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

1,265

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

220

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

120

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

35

zero-waste meals

consumed

Christopher'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 25
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 23
DAILY ACTIONS

Health and Education

Learn about the Need for Family Planning

Health and Education

I will spend at least 60 minutes learning more about the need for family planning globally.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 60 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Zero-waste Cooking

Reduced Food Waste

I will cook 1 meal(s) with zero-waste each day

COMPLETED 25
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 2 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 25
DAILY ACTIONS

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

Industry

Learn About & Practice Sustainable Fashion

Multiple Industry Solutions

I will learn about sustainable fashion and begin trying to practice it in my own life.

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

Land Sinks

Explore My Area

Sometimes protecting nature requires feeling connected to nature. I will invest 30 minutes in exploring and appreciating a natural area in my region, whether a forest, wetland, coastal area, or somewhere else.

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?

Christopher von Roretz 4/30/2021 7:25 PM

I have to confess - I first started using the reflective question answers as a way of getting more points to try and help boost our team's standing, especially when I realized that logging in daily would reward more points that completing impactful actions (which I still don't quite get...)

But I've now realized that writing these responses, even if others can see them, actually require me to reflect on what I've learned and experienced. In retrospect, it's a tad embarrassing that as an educator, I didn't anticipate the role this self-reflection would play, but I'm glad a simply point system so easily tricked me into being more reflective. Thank you, pride, for actually allowing me to learn more about myself, my impact, and future actions I'm aiming to take.

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- Melissa Tomecz 5/01/2021 3:18 PM
  
  I guess because "checking in" actually forces you to see what others are doing, and learning even from them. The idea is to have yourself committed to this for one month, thereby improving your awareness of things, and sharing with others what you learned each day. I know some of the stuff I learned was by reading JAC Sustainability's team feed! Plus, it doesn't have to be long to check in either, or to write a sentence! But you are right---if you completed an EcoLeader challenge, there should be more points than if you completed an EcoLearner challenge, let's say. The point system could be improved.
  
  Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks Explore My Area

How can spending more time outdoors enhance your sense of place -- your deep knowledge of and appreciation for your surroundings?

Christopher von Roretz 4/30/2021 7:21 PM

This was a great challenge, because when I chose it, I had one local park in mind that I've always wanted to visit, but never have. But with the daily walking challenge, I ended up exploring MULTIPLE new outdoor spaces, which was particularly rewarding.

When we talk about greenspace (and increasing it, protecting it, etc.) in our communities, it's interesting that it is often equated with parks, but even within that definition, you have grassy (soccer) fields or forest trails at two ends of the spectrum (or perhaps even further, completely undeveloped natural areas). I think we need to start thinking, especially in urban areas, how to shift the balance from thinking of "green spaces" to thinking of "forested spaces".

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity Calculate My Carbon Footprint

What stood out to you most about your carbon footprint? What surprised you or sparked curiosity? Where can you take most immediate action?

Christopher von Roretz 4/30/2021 7:18 PM

It's very hard to know the accuracy of this, because of how drastically habits have changed because of the pandemic. Even in choosing challenges, I could have opted for "fewer flights" this year, but that feels like cheating, as I know I'll be taking fewer flights. In using the calculator, I tried to assume a typical year though, and not surprisingly, transportation is the biggest source of my emissions. Even with an EV, my partner and I enjoy travelling to experience other cultures. Carbon-offset credits with flight companies seem like a simple conscious-clearing action, but I'm not sure if that's really the solution. This is an area I still have to reflect on in order to have a more meaningful reduction :S

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Buildings Plan to Insulate

What are some of the benefits of making your home more energy efficient?

Christopher von Roretz 4/30/2021 7:16 PM

In Quebec, I think we are at risk of being not as concerned about energy wasting, as we know it's from a *relatively* clean source, and it's pretty inexpensive. I appreciate that campaigns (including those by Hydro Quebec) aim at the financial benefit of being energy conscious (which is obviously a benefit to making homes more energy efficient), but I think it's also about owning our consumption of any form of resource - even if it's "clean" energy. I hope to be able to consider energy waste (and heat loss, with this focus) more from a social responsibility perspective, and not exclusively because of the money it could save me.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry Learn About & Practice Sustainable Fashion

How can you express your personality, creativity, and values in ways that don't require fast fashion or buying more clothes and accessories?

Christopher von Roretz 4/30/2021 7:04 PM

I've never really thought of fashion and clothing as being a way to express my personality or creativity, other than a rare exception (like "what colour tie to wear with this suit??"), but learning more about the environmental (and ethical) impact of the clothing industry - 2nd largest source of pollution after fossil fuel industry - will definitely make me wear our my clothes even more. Ratty old shirts have never been as satisfying to wear! (And the pandemic has actually made this more acceptable with virtual work!)

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Reduce Animal Products

Why do people in richer countries eat more meat than people in other places? How does eating more meat affect our bodies, our planet, and other people?

Christopher von Roretz 4/30/2021 7:02 PM

I've wanted to reduce meat consumption for a long time, and having this challenge legitimately made me reflect on my meal choices each day to try and keep it limited to one meat portion at most per day. Leftovers sometimes made that harder (especially as I tried to reduce portions!), but I think this is the best course to try and further reduce meat consumption to make it less frequently than daily. I hope to eventually be able to try a similar challenge for all animal products; this challenge action did prompt me to try for more vegan meals too!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Zero-waste Cooking

In North America, up to 65% of food waste happens at the consumer level. Chef Steven Satterfield advocates for utilizing every part of a vegetable. How can you incorporate using an entire vegetable, including the skins, tops, and stalks during your next meal prep?

Christopher von Roretz 4/30/2021 7:00 PM

When I signed up for this challenge, I didn't really know what qualified as zero waste or not. In the end, I decided it was ANYTHING. Anything that isn't be reused or get eaten is a form of waste, and has an environmental impact. I've already been fairly conscientious of minimizing packaging, but this challenge got me thinking more about portions and food prep. I'm not a fan of small leftover crust pieces of bread, but this challenge action made me eat them all the same.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health and Education Learn about the Need for Family Planning

What did you learn about the need for family planning? How do the needs of different people in different places compare to each other?

Christopher von Roretz 4/27/2021 6:03 PM

I was absolutely floored to learn that ~50% of pregnancies are unplanned in countries like Canada, the US and the UK.

Also saddened to learn that covid-19 will likely have consequences I wouldn't have expected, like reducing access to contraceptives in many countries.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

How does knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates empower you to make better decisions?

Christopher von Roretz 4/25/2021 8:20 PM

I've never been particularly attentive to the different dates on food, and have always treated printed dates as "best before" without paying closer attention.

I will also be more likely to try unopened foods that have passed their best by dates before disposing of them, now that I realize there is no real safety issue, and it's purely a question of taste and quality!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Go for a Daily Walk

What have you noticed on your daily walks? What have you enjoyed? What infrastructure changes could make your walks more enjoyable or possible?

Christopher von Roretz 4/24/2021 6:56 PM

Trees! Walks along streets are nice to get to know your neighbourhood, but walks in wooded areas are easily the most enjoyable I've taken during the ongoing participation in this activity.

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