Olivia Monestime

Bittersweet finishing up this class. What I've really come to learn is that this topic (our earth and everything about it) applies to everyone, and that community aspect of sustainability really is the foundation of it all. The other day, I had to go meet a new dog I'm planning to watch this summer. While talking to the owner about what I'm currently doing, I shpeeled about how much this class has shifted my priorities for my science future, and that research for the climate should come first. I've been going back and forth with this idea but I was surprised to hear they reacted by saying they had been thinking the same too - to derail their current career plans to shift a focus onto the environment. I'm not sure what feeling that incited, but in a way, a weight was slightly lifted off my shoulders. Maybe because climate anxiety is a thing, and it can feel like the weight of the solution is on each of our shoulders individually (when really it should be on big corps but anyways).

For my ecochallenge this week, I was feeling very motivated to start crafting long term changes to my life. For one, I decided to vow to never first-hand purchase fast fashion (of any kind) again. That may sound crazy to some, and totally easy to others but for someone who loves a diverse and seasonal wardrobe, this is a big shift and I may not be successful at first but it excites me. On a similar note, I helped organize a "garage-sale" for my friend as she gets ready to move. But instead of a typical garage-sale, we're planning to have a swap-exchange theme so we can reduce and reuse ; ) Small things like this make me excited to continue shifting around my mentality and involvement in consumer culture and promoting a trading-economy.

(@Vee and Amy, the nursery from my post last week was Pistils Nursery! )

Going with the theme of the week, I chose to keep track of my purchases and limit my spending on unnecessary items. It was an unfortunate week to track my spending to say the least...I won't share the receipts or actual amounts spent for multiple reasons, but to be fair my spending's not usually like this -- or to this extent. I started off the week strong, and didn't make a single purchase until...Tuesday... BUT, I did choose eco-friendly delivery on my one-and-only online order this week. And, the item itself was also made of sustainable material!

But, being so focused on finances this week nudged me to do some planning for my future. lol. I came to find out that you can create investment strategies specific to supporting sustainable investment funds. Looking more into this, the stock market/the economic growth that it supports, could be seen as a large part of our consumer disaster. But, it can also be a "partner" in the solution. Not getting too deep into the financial aspect of it, but just by investing in companies that support renewable energy or funds that meet ESG (environmental, social, governance) criteria, I could be supporting a sustainable economy through a different angle while also creating financial security.

In an ideal world though, my community will be bartering and there will be no need for the stock market! And no capitalism! 😌

This past week I have been enjoying the outdoors by foot more than I have in so long! Because I dog sit, I'm "forced" to explore new areas in the neighborhoods I stay in. This week I found a new park and loved the area so much I came back for a picnic at lunch the next day. Kind of like a mini "Nature Adventure", I hung out there without any sort of outside stimulation and just enjoyed the scenery and fresh air. On another walk through the neighborhood and came across the cutest nursery on Mississippi Avenue! Since I've been starting my own garden, I marked it down as another nursery to support and get advice from!

Inspired by the actions in the guiding community section, I decided to sign as many petitions as I could this week. And just all in all, being more mindful about putting my time aside to sign my name on petitions is a small change I can continue to make. The Nature Conservancy has created an online portal pretty much for available petitions to sign and actions to take part of (link below). I would urge everyone to sign at least one, it just takes a few minutes!

https://preserve.nature.org/page/80352/action/1?chain

This week has been a green-filled week for me and my household. On top of a big spring cleaning, we accumulated at least a dozen new plants to our house collection. Because of my Eco-Change Project being starting a produce garden, I've been catalyzing both of my housemates green-thumbs and sharing lots about sustainability with them. That makes me happy too because now we can make household-scale changes. For starters, we decided to no longer buy laundry detergent in bottles and cartons so we are trying out this detergent bar which can be diluted to create gallons of detergent. On top of that, it claims to not have chemicals, toxins, PFAs, etc., that affect runoff water systems. Also, because of the emphasis on Water this week, it inspired me to upgrade our water filter and am now considering filters for the showerheads but I'm not sure yet. SO all in all, I feel like I completed a few challenges this week: shared about sustainability, found a sustainable alternative for detergent, used eco-friendly cleaning products, spent lots of time gardening/potting, and was mindful about my water usage. Pretty good week!

I was hoping I would finish my project before the week was over but I was unsuccessful! I decided to make a vow to myself to not buy another piece of clothing until I finish crocheting a top of my own. I did this mainly to curb my spontaneous purchases of clothing so I think I'll do this more often to kind of 'reward' myself for making my own clothing. Eventually, I'd love to have a whole wardrobe that I've made by hand, but I have also learned through research that that isn't always sustainable either. There are actually fast fashion parallels in the 'fabrics and yarn world'. So, being mindful of who I'm sourcing my yarn from is something I want to continue to take into account. It can also be expensive to make even one piece of clothing. So far, for my top, I have gone through 2.5 skeens of yarn. And they're around $10-$15 each. Keeping that in mind, it isn't necessarily cost effective to make this a permanent change for where I am currently in my life financially. But it's a goal for the future. And I enjoy it!

This week, I have been on a roll with ditching eating out, and instead making meals from home using (nearly) all local ingredients. It's been an impactful switch-up in my routine since more recently I've fallen into the habit of reaching for convenient junk food. The 2 most successful dishes of the week were my feta tomato bowtie pasta, and some savory cheddar and herb scones! I didn't make the actual pasta from scratch (maybe a future mission), but I did make the scones completely from scratch and they were delicious. I was actually inspired to make the scones because one of my favorite coffee runs in the morning consists of a $6 cheddar and jalapeno scone....which is not sustainable for my budget. So this alternative was just as good, if not better. I've started to enjoy the process of making my own food again so that's a big win for the week.

This week/end I was dog sitting a pup and luckily the house was right near Laurelhurst Park which is such a huge open green space. The eco challenge I took on was to explore a new walking trail or area in my neighborhood but I added in an emphasis that I should walk for at least 45min-1hour, each walk. She was one happy pup with so many long walks each day, and I felt much better going through the day. I tend to not go out too much honestly...so when I'm dog sitting, I am held accountable for getting outside. I also walked without a headphone in which I usually do while I listen to a podcast or something. I didn't really realize how often I'm stimulated by external noise throughout the day- whether its busy streets, music, tv, or videos. There was so much peace and serenity with noise being so far in the distance and only silence close by. I even heard owls on one of our evening walks and the only other group of people close by were also in awh at the sound :) On top of that, it was a good break for my body from sitting down all day. Even though I'm done dog sitting, I want to keep up with this and take walks around my beautiful neighborhood and parks.