Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo

Sheridan's Sustainability Crusaders

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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?

Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 12/02/2023 10:41 AM

Please reflect on your experiences in the class. Be sure to include up to three things that worked well and up to three things that could be improved.
My experience in this class has been great, I have learned a lot about sustainability, and it has encouraged me even more to try to live a more sustainable lifestyle. The three things that worked well for me were the blogs, the readings, and overall, the class content. The blogs worked well because they made me think about what I can do to live a more sustainable life, they also made me learn about other stuff I could do that I didn’t think about before. The readings helped me better understand sustainability and learn more about how certain things, like non sustainable products affect the world we live in and how they are affecting the natural resources people use to live. As mentioned before, this class has taught me more about sustainability and most importantly it has encouraged me to look for ways to change to a more sustainable lifestyle. The things I considered could be improved is the interaction with the blog, I think it was great sharing our experiences and thoughts on our posts, but I also think having more interaction might help. For example, creating challenges or activities that we must do would be a good idea. I think it would help us to try to complete our challenges. I personally think just having more interaction with the blog website could be improved, other than that I think this class has been great. I enjoyed learning more about sustainability and sharing my thoughts and experiences.

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 11/19/2023 8:14 PM

Reflect on your experience with the Choices for Sustainable Living. Were you able to meet all the challenges? What was unexpectedly easy or challenging? Be sure to identify at least one challenge that you would like to attempt in the future. Why did you choose this one?

My experience with Choices for Sustainable Living has been great. I have learned a lot about living a more sustainable life and most importantly it has encouraged me to continue with my journey to change to a more sustainable lifestyle. Unfortunately, I was not able to meet all the challenges, because changes take time. I believe that its more challenging to make the change after spending so many years living a non-sustainable life. For that reason, I think it would take time to adjust to the change. For example, consuming more organic ingredients, is a bit more challenging because I am used to consuming the foods/ingredients I have consumed since I was a child. Also, the prices of organic ingredients make it difficult. The consumption of more organic ingredients is the challenge I would like to continue to attempt, and my goal is to succeed in changing to more organic ingredients. I choose this challenge because it not only helps with the reduction of environmental impact, but it could help with my health. Recently my father had health issues and he is going through a transition on his diet. So, I have been researching organic ingredients and learning how more organic ingredients are more beneficial for the health. Therefore, the consumption of more organic ingredients is the challenge I would like to continue to attempt.

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 11/11/2023 10:39 AM

Calculate your carbon footprint here . Report on the findings in your blog. What improvements could you make easily?

When calculating my carbon footprint, I found it a bit difficult because I live in an apartment building and some of the information required, I didn’t know or there are things we don’t pay separately, like the gas. I still completed the calculation with what I think is used in the building, my calculation total came up to 8,066. Another reason why I found it a bit challenging is because some things are difficult to do, for example laundry is done at a laundromat making it difficult to bring the clothes to the apartment without drying, plus there is nowhere to hang it inside the apartment. Also, there is an ongoing project in the building I live in. A non-profit organization is working with the building to improve the housing conditions. Based on what I was told, as part of the project certain changes are to a more sustainable option. For example, so far, all the windows were changed, the lighting was changed to LED lights, and there was a solar panel placed on the rooftop (although they have yet to finish installing it). And we were told our refrigerator would be replaced by an energy saving one.

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 10/31/2023 2:52 PM

-Promoting sustainable transportation
-Reducing energy consumption

-Choose organic ingredients

Are you progressing at the expected rate? Why or why not?

In promoting sustainable transportation, I have progressed at the expected rate. But I have to say that its mainly because my father no longer has a car. When my father had a car, it was used almost every day, but the last four, almost five months we have been using public transportation. So even when I have progressed, I don’t think I would have if my father still had a car. On the other hand, I have progressed with not taking a cab when going to my doctor’s appointment. I used to take a cab to and from the hospital every time I had an appointment. Now I make sure I leave my house on time to take public transportation. In reducing energy consumption, I have to say I haven’t progressed much, not as I expect. As I mentioned before, its challenging because I am so used to not worrying about reducing energy consumption, it’s something I just didn’t even think about for so long. With choosing organic ingredients, I have not progressed at the expected rate, in fact I have to say I haven’t progressed at all. This is mainly because my family is so used to eating nonorganic ingredients and it hasn’t been easy for them to change to more organic options. Also, I haven’t had the opportunity to purchase organic ingredients due to the prices.

Have any unforeseen challenges arisen or has it been easier than expected?

With promoting sustainable transportation, the biggest challenge I find is that sometimes I must take multiple transportations to get to one place and as a person with a disability it is sometimes exhausting and it’s a challenge. But I learned to adapt to it, and I have gotten used to it in these last few months that even when it is exhausting, I continue to take public transportation. A challenge I mentioned I have with reducing energy consumption is that I don’t have easy access to the wall plugs. And even when for some devices I have extension cords I still forget to unplug whatever I’m not using. Therefore, I think neither is as easy as I thought it might be, and as I mentioned before I think it has to do with changing that mentality from not thinking at all about these things to considering them to reduce the environmental impacts. The challenge I have come across with consuming organic ingredients is that they are a bit more expensive and the ingredients come in large quantity and it would only be me consuming and they could go bad before I can finish it.

What have you learned?

I personally learned that it is not as easy as saying it when changing a full life of non-sustainable to sustainable living. As I mentioned before, growing up it was something I didn’t even consider. I just consumed whatever and anything I wanted without asking myself if it impacted the environment. Now that I am an adult, now that I am being educated on the topic, and seeing how many things do impact the environment is that I decide to change what I consume. But I realized that since I had a mentality of not considering such things, I now need to retrain my mind and myself to be careful of what I consume.

How could you leverage / amplify your efforts to make greater change?

The way I could leverage/amplify my effort to make a greater change is to continue educating myself, continue researching what other products I already consume have more sustainable options. Put in more effort to make the changes I know I can. Also, continue to educate others on the topic and encourage them to make the change.

How might the folks at EcoChallenge improve this challenge?

A way EcoChallenge improve this challenge is by providing tips, resources, and information on the ways people could reduce energy consumption and ways people could promote sustainable transportation. I think they could collaborate and team up with others that could help improve these challenges.

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 10/20/2023 2:57 PM

1. Are you progressing at the expected rate? Why or why not?
I believe I have been progressing but maybe not at the rate that I would like, I think I could progress at a faster rate, but I also think that doing bits is better than not doing nothing at all. In terms of reducing water use, I have progressed at a slowly, as I try to remember not to let the water run when not using it. But I know I could have much more and better progress with not wasting water. As for reusable bottles, I have progressed as I constantly use my reusable water bottle, but again I know I could also do better with that by using more reusable cups.

2. Have any unforeseen challenges arisen or has it been easier than expected?

I think that making the change to a more sustainable life is not easy, especially because not every product has sustainable options. Also, I feel like we have lived with the mentality of not thinking on sustainability for so long that it’s not easy to change that mentality overnight. For example, I have mentioned that when visiting Mexico, I instantly know I cannot let the water running and I don’t, but here I still let the water run because in my mind I know we don’t go through water shortage. Therefore, I think the challenge that arises for me is changing my mentality to think more about sustainability and the well-being of the environment. Especially thinking that when here we do not suffer from water shortage that day could come and therefore, I need to not waste water starting now. Another challenge that arises is remembering to carry my reusable cup for when I purchase coffee at Starbucks. When I step out, I know there is a great chance of stopping by Starbucks for a coffee and I should take my reusable cup, but I never do. So again, this falls into my mind not thinking about these things because I never did them. So, now is about training my mind to do all these things.

3. What have you learned?

I have learned that even when we know the simple things, we can do to help the environment, like not let the water run. We tend to not act on it, and I learned that it is mostly because as I mentioned before, our minds are already trained to just do things without thinking if it will harm the environment or not. This is because we were not taught to think of how some of our actions impacts the environment, I’ve learned that we now must retrain our minds. I also learned that now we must teach the new generations to think about the environment.

4. How could you leverage / amplify your efforts to make greater change?

The best way to leverage/amplify my efforts to make greater change by continuing learning about the ways I could live a more sustainable life, by making more changes, and by teaching others about sustainability and encouraging them to make changes as well.

5. How might the folks at EcoChallenge improve this challenge?

One way that folks at EcoChallenge might improve this challenge is by joining in on the challenge and as well as inviting others to join. By having other share their knowledge, share their experiences, or by joining and collaborating with an organization.

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 10/12/2023 6:06 PM

Today I am launching the BUS339 Collaborative Playlist - "Shareholder Primacy." Your job is to add at least one song that celebrates or denigrates Friedman's perspective on the purpose of the corporation. You can do this on Spotify, if you have an account, or just post it to your blog. Then, write about your choice in your blog. Feel free to broadly interpret this directive. I know that I have.

The song I add to the playlist is titled “Ka-Ching!” by Shania twain. This song was released in 20002 and it talks about the world we live in is all about money, the lyrics starts by saying “we live in a greedy little world, that teaches every little boy and girl to earn as much money as they can possibly. Then turn around and spend it foolishly.” I think the lyrics itself says it all, that we live in a greedy world because people want everything for themselves only and that kids are taught that they need to make as much money as they can. Some kids are taught that they can only achieve that with certain careers. Another thing that is said in this song is “All we ever want is more, a lot more than we had before, so take me to the nearest store.” I find this to be true because many people indeed want more than what they already have.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6gFKCSEfGAb8kmXumYkpmh?si=75fbb0fe3ae04779

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 10/06/2023 12:17 PM

Assuming money is no object (ha!), would you consider investing in ESG stocks or bonds? Why or why not?

In the case of assuming money is no object I think I would consider investing in ESG stocks or bonds because it encourages companies to act responsibly. Right now, we are seeing an increase in sustainability and many people are changing the products they buy and how they buy those products. Investing in ESG stocks or bonds can lead to high returns, lower risk, and lead to long-term business sustainability. These are things that will benefit the company as well as people and the environment. ESG stocks or bonds allows investors to incorporate environmental and social considerations into their investment portfolios. In this moment where people and companies need to think more in sustainability, I think investing in ESG stocks or bonds is something that I would probably do, of course if money was no object. But if that was not the case it would be something I would at least be considered.

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 9/26/2023 1:12 PM

I think that most of us here know and have realized that in fact we have many issues in the world when it comes to the environment, and we have witnessed the rise of sustainability. We still have a long way to go but it’s all about taking action to get there, even if its little steps. I do believe that there is a problem in the environment, and I do believe that we all created those problems, and it is our job to find a way to help in reducing those problems. The way to help is by changing certain habits we might have. For example, growing up I didn’t see the world as I do now. Of course, I threw trash on the street at least once, or many times in my life, I saw plastic as another non-harmful material, and yes, I didn’t care to see how those things affected the world. When the awareness of climate change, pollution, and see how much trash ended up in the ocean I realized there is a problem and that we contributed to that problem. That was when I decided to take those baby steps to help reduce the problem. Therefore, as I mentioned before I started to change certain products, I used to a more sustainable one, I decided to no longer use plastic straws, I stopped throwing trash on the streets, and I even began to get my family to join me in taking those baby steps as well. Again, these are just baby steps, and my goal is to change more habits so that I can be that one bit of help in reducing the environmental problems. That is why I joined the challenge and why I chose those actions, because I know there is more, I can do to live a more sustainable life and because I want to do more to live a more sustainable life. My father and I like to put it this way, if someone visits your home/apartment and throws trash on your floor or destroy your home would you be ok with it? I want to think the answer would be no. Well, the world is our home, everybody’s home and it is our job, everybody’s job to take care of it. There is a lot more to do, but we must start somewhere.

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 9/22/2023 3:11 PM

I already began practicing sustainable living by changing certain products I consume, but as I continue to view other options to be more sustainable and continue to practice sustainable living, the following are some practices I choose from sustainable living,
1. Reduce water use: I have a tendency of letting the water run when I’m not really using it and I think it is something I can work on not doing. I think here I wouldn’t run into too much of a challenge because I know I can stop letting the water run, the challenge comes in the way of thinking and looking at things. For example, when I visit Mexico, I know my family must really watch how they use water because they fill their tank with water when they can and there are times they can go days, even weeks without water so I adapted to not wasting water by not letting the water run when I’m over there. But since I know we don’t have that problem here in NYC, I don’t apply that at all. Maybe by thinking that we could eventually get to that point could help. In practicing not wasting water, I could think that if I do not reduce water use, we could end up with no water someday.

2. Reducing energy consumption: I think most of us consume a lot of energy and sometimes it comes from using multiple devices at a time without really needed them or simply having a lot of things plugged when not using them. I think this is a good one to try to practice, for starters in the building where I currently live there were solar panels installed so I think I am in a great start, from my part now I just must reduce the number of things I have plugged in my apartment. I could unplug things I don’t really use. I think the biggest challenge here is that some things I have plugged even if I don’t use is because it is easier for me personally because I don’t have easy access to plug and unplug. Another challenge is that I do not live alone and as much as I tell my family members to reduce the consumption of energy, its not like they will follow through with it.

3. Reusable bottles: Although I already began to do use reusable bottles and get rid of plastic containers, I have a bad habit of carrying my bottle so if I am outside and I get thirsty I end up buying bottles of water or ordering drinks to go which result in the use of plastic or paper cups. I need to practice taking my reusable cups and bottles with me. My biggest challenge here is that personally it is not easy for me to carry a lot of things, so it does make it harder to carry my reusable bottles/cups. But it is something to really try to achieve.

4. Choose organic ingredients: I think this is something I can practice more, and I think it will really help, not only with sustainability but also with my health. I already consume organic milk because it is the one, I like. But I think the main challenge here is the pricing of the ingredients, especially for me personally. Either way it is still something I have been considering for a while and continue to consider, so it’s something I could still possibly do.

5. Promoting sustainable transportation: In promoting sustainable transportation I think it would be ideal to use more public transportation or use other methods like walking or using a bicycle. When my father had a car, it was used mostly almost every day. I began to reduce the outings, so when I needed something if I needed it now, I would just buy it in any local store but if it was something that could wait, I would just make a list and buy everything in one outing. Eventually due to an incident we no longer have a car, so now we use public transportation. And it made me realize that it is better than having and using a car all the time. There are times when I need to use cabs and in that I realized that certain apps now offer green rides, so they are cars that are more eco-friendly. This is great because I take those when I need to take a cab. The challenge I see in this is that it isn’t easy for me to get around, therefore a car is the easiest way for me personally, but I can still make an effort.

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Aurora Sarabia-Santoyo 9/12/2023 4:15 PM

Hello, my name is Aurora and I am a student, studying business. Growing up, sustainability was something nobody was concerned about at all. Everyone just went through with their lives, working, going to school, doing whatever it was that wanted to do, buying what they want...basically just living their life. Sustainability is something that has grown and has become more popular recently and although not enough and not everyone considers it, others do.
When I first visited Mexico back in 2005 what mostly caught my attention was not the food or the wonderful experience of looking at a different culture, it was the pollution that was extremely visible and the amount of piles of garbage in the streets.

That made me realize that the only ones at fault for that was us the humans, from that moment on I never threw garbage on the streets, even if it was a simple piece of candy wrapper. I taught my family members and continue to teach my family members that we should always put the garbage where it belongs. And if I see someone do it I tell them they should pick it up, unfortunately I cannot tell every single person I see doing it because t's not like everyone listens, but i try. As sustainability has been more visible and has grown in the last few years, I made the decision to do more eco friendly things, like snot using plastic straws, trying to switch from plastic to glass containers, and start using more sustainable product. I began to use more sustainable products like bathing products (shampoo, soap, bath rag, etc), hair brush, and most recently I started to look for more sustainable makeup products. I think it never hurts to start being more sustainable, even with little simple things like no longer using plastic straws.

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