Ecochallenge.org

Campus Ecochallenge 2022

April 1 - April 21, 2022

Elizabeth Burke

Dickinson Green Devils 2022

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
856 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

240

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

416

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

280

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

45

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

240

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

315

minutes

not spent in front of a screen
UP TO

0.0

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

42

plastic straws

not sent to the landfill

Elizabeth's actions

Simplicity

Needs Vs. Wants

I will adopt a "Needs Vs. Wants" approach and only buy things I need.

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Use Reusable Bags

If at all possible, I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases.

COMPLETED 18
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Sustainable Clean-Out

I will do a thorough assessment of all my stuff to sort out items and clothes I don’t use anymore and donate them to Good Will or another organization that gives the items and clothes a second life with someone else

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Core Values

We may find more meaning and joy in life when our actions are aligned with our personal values. I will determine what my top 3-5 core values are so that I can better align my actions with them.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Disconnect from Email

I will disconnect from my email when not at work or school, using my personal time for endeavors that help me live out my values.

COMPLETED 16
DAILY ACTIONS

Water

Conserve Toilet Water

I will save up to 12 gallons (45 L) of water a day by flushing only when necessary.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Track my Purchases

I will spend 15 minutes each day maintaining a record of all my purchases and learning about my spending habits.

COMPLETED 15
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Meditate

I will meditate or create a moment of silence for 15 minute(s) each day to reflect on things important to me.

COMPLETED 15
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Skip the Straw

Plastic bags and small plastic pieces like straws are most likely to get swept into our waterways. I will keep 1 plastic straw(s) out of the landfill and ocean each day by refusing straws or using my own glass/metal straw.

COMPLETED 19
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Leave No Trace

I will practice the seven principles of Leave No Trace when doing nature activities alone or with family and friends.

COMPLETED 18
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Explore My Area

I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Reduce The Number of Times I Turn My Car On and Off

When possible, I will choose a localized parking spot, so I can walk to and from the different stores I need to go to that day

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Joyful Movement

I will spend 30 minutes doing an activity where I'm both moving my body and enjoying myself.

COMPLETED 14
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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Core Values

What are your top 3-5 core values? How did you narrow it down to those as being your core values?

Elizabeth Burke 4/20/2022 7:55 PM

It was fairly tricky trying to define my values because I had to look at whether I wanted to look solely at internal values or external values or both. Mine ultimately resulted in a mixture of those two categories. My values are empathy, love, altruism, and connectivity to place. As I was driving home, I was really trying to think of what things make me happy and what things usually prompt an almost visceral response to engage in what’s going on. I think empathy is such a super powerful emotion that if we reflected on and used in all aspects of our lives we would garner greater understanding towards the people around us. That leads in turn leads to love. If we love others or place or things, we are passionate to protect and fight for them. Altruism is related because it is putting other interests ahead of your own (but possibly not because some interventions are interconnected) but the goal is to help them for the sake of creating good not to make yourself feel better about yourself. Lastly, I have always found joy and healing whenever I am outside so I really value being able to feel apart of and appreciate the natural environment of whatever area I am in, in that moment. I think it’s super important to understand what interactions are going on around you, and I think you can learn from what you see around you. I’ve always felt that the natural environment can help put things in perspective so I value it as being such a huge component of my life.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health Joyful Movement

What's your favorite activity(ies) in which you experience joy while being active and moving?

Elizabeth Burke 4/13/2022 7:28 PM

I love dancing to my music as I’m getting ready for the day or cleaning up. I love syncing my actions to the thing I am doing.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature Explore My Area

How might spending more time outdoors enhance your brainpower?

Elizabeth Burke 4/13/2022 7:27 PM

For me, a pleasant breeze helps rejuvenate my brain. There have been books and studies how just by being outside has so many positive effects on the body and brain. Plus the act of moving around to get outside and help get the blood flowing so that your brain can work better.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Nature Leave No Trace

Educator Stephanie Kaza advises her students to focus on what they care about most when addressing the enormity of ecological problems. Is there a specific area you feel particularly called to work on?

Elizabeth Burke 4/13/2022 7:25 PM

I’m not sure if I have a calling that I know of yet, but in practice I’ve been trying to be more sustainable and reduce the amount of waste I produce to help limit the amount of pollution that goes into the environment (or limit the trash that I throw out that may eventually pollute the environment). I am trying to buy more uses things or when I can avoid taking or buying things at all so that I don’t have to turn around and throw it out.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Needs Vs. Wants

How is creativity a necessary ingredient for practicing simplicity?

Elizabeth Burke 4/13/2022 7:22 PM

Creativity is super important! Without creativity there you can’t create unique ways to meet your goals within the normal confines of your day to day life. Creativity also causes you to take a second to pause and consider your actions, which then allows you to alter them in such a way to move more towards simpler living

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Meditate

What would you like to invest more time in reflecting on?

Elizabeth Burke 4/13/2022 7:19 PM

I would like more time reflecting on keeping everything in perspective. Sometimes when I am anxious things appear like bigger issues then they are and reflecting on things can make it more manageable

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Water Conserve Toilet Water

What would a sustainable water future in your region look like? What needs to change?

Elizabeth Burke 4/07/2022 6:37 PM

The simplest thing is reducing the quantities of water we use for things, for example we can start with having less water in our toilet bowls, and not water our lawns. My reducing our water usage for relatively unnecessary things, we will have more water in our supply to draw from and will help our community be more resilient if there is a drought. The other thing is that we need to protect our water supplies and to do that, we have to look at the big picture of everything that is around and leads into our water supply. Decisions need to be made with water in mind rather than water being an after thought and a problem to fix later

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Disconnect from Email

Notice how much time you were spending checking email away from work and make note of that. Now that you have stepped away from it and have not been checking, what changes are you noticing in your thoughts, use of time, stress and energy levels?

Elizabeth Burke 4/07/2022 6:32 PM

At first it was really freeing not checking email but lately it’s been harder to not check because there conversations that I’m having that pertain to the next day so I want to check them the day before so I can prep for the next day. That being said, I shouldn’t be doing that after my work hours anyway, so the email changing is helping me to keep my personal and work time separate

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Simplicity Track my Purchases

What have you noticed about your purchases? Where are you inclined to make shifts, if any?

Elizabeth Burke 4/07/2022 6:28 PM

Most of my purchases involve food! I’ll shift to more takeout food when I am low on time and can’t cook. However I am trying to be more mindful of cooking more often so I don’t feel compelled to buy takeout when I don’t need to

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste Use Reusable Bags

What do you do if you find yourself in the situation of needing a bag for items but don't have a reusable one with you or aren't allowed to use the one you brought? Carry things out in your hands? In a cart? Accept a disposable one? If you find yourself in this position often, what system could you put in place to try to create a successful habit of not using plastic bags?

Elizabeth Burke 4/07/2022 6:25 PM

A lot of times, I will just carry things out with my hands, but I never thought of using the cart but that’s a really good option. All last summer, I would use my backpack to put groceries in as I was checking to avoid using disposable bags. I think it would be interesting to think about whether we can shift to using things other than disposable bags for takeout food

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