Kenja Bettis

I went on a walk today downtown. I discovered a few parks that brought an interactive experience for community members. (It ties into my project so I will be adding it). One of the parks was Tanner Springs Park. It is a sustainable park that was a formerly a contaminated industrial site. It is now a sustainable natural park. It was like looking at a piece of nature, but in the middle of the city. I wish they had more of these, especially in NE Portland. You should check it out! It is transit accessible. 

I love this idea of an eco challenge. It is a fun way to make positive and sustainable change. I have already made a drastic change in my diet and how I use my foods. For example, I eat strictly organic and plant based foods. Any food waste I accrued was reused for vegetable stock, or thrown in a compost bin. However, for this week I wanted to learn about something new. I focused on construction. I wanted to be able to sign a petition or email a representative because they are in charge of how our world operates. I first chose an organization to learn about. Blueprint for Better is a campaign that focuses on a call to action. They work with the organization AIA. Their focus is to work with architects, design professionals, civic leaders, and the public in the community to transform our day to day practices of architecture. I was able to sign a petition that emails Representative Blumenauer, Senator Jeff Merkely and Senator Ron Wyden. This emails addresses the call to make buildings a part of the climate change solution. 40% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated through construction and operation of buildings. Sending that email was barely any effort but I did learn about an important issue, and was able to send the email out to the people in charge of this problem. Here is the link so you all could do the same: https://blueprintforbetter.org/about-the-campaign/