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Samantha Contreras Leos's avatar

Samantha Contreras Leos

capstone summer 21

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 161 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    1.0
    neighbor
    met

Samantha's actions

Consumption and Economy

Buy Only What I Need

I will not buy anything except items required for health and safety.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Meet My Neighbors

I will meet 1 new neighbor(s) this week.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Weekly Meal Planning

I will reduce food waste and save money by planning a weekly menu, only buying the ingredients I need.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

A Call to Sustainability

Explore My Area

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

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?


  • Samantha Contreras Leos's avatar
    Samantha Contreras Leos 7/13/2021 11:10 PM
    Under the "consumption and economy" tab I chose to not buy anything except items required for health and safety. This went quite well for me I believe. Since the start of this class, I have really been able to lower my ecological footprint by lowering my food waste, etc. and this next step helped even more. I used to shop quite a bit and for stuff I did not need. So, this challenge was very helpful. It felt quite satisfying to only buy what was absolutely necessary. I was able to also save a significant amount of money which will be able to help me in the future.  I am quite thankful for these challenges over the past 4 weeks. Now I can continue to challenges myself in others ways as well.

    • Lucia Wanzenried's avatar
      Lucia Wanzenried 7/20/2021 10:39 AM
      Great efforts Samantha, it sounds like you are making progress. Keep up the good work, and iI suppose does take willpower till it becomes habit. I enjoy purchasing only what I need, but I must confess: I will not buy groceries until everything in my cupboard and refrigerator are completely empty. It's brutal, but I attempted these 4 weeks and I was successful. Except all I had was 3/4 cup of lentils left and I was not in the mood to cook. Hence, I went shopping to replenish groceries. Crazy huh! haha 

  • Samantha Contreras Leos's avatar
    Samantha Contreras Leos 7/07/2021 11:38 PM
    Hello Class!

    For this week's eco-challenge I chose to meet one new neighbor (which was under the "community" tab). I recently just moved dorms and thought this would be a good challenge for me to see who lives around me. Due to COVID and it being the summer term there are not many people who live on my floor. In the hall I live in there is like 4 people out of what I would say is 20 rooms meant for 2 people each. Luckily I do have neighbors to both sides of me. I knocked on both doors but was only able to meet my neighbor to the right. Her name is Tatiana and is majoring in Business. I am glad to have met my neighbor as now I have another person close by to talk to if I would like. During this school year, I meet my neighbors and it helped build a better sense of community. I hope by taking steps to meet my neighbors we can start building a community here too.

    • Henry Apgar's avatar
      Henry Apgar 7/08/2021 9:58 AM
      Hi Samantha, 
      That's awesome that you chose this challenge, it's harder now more than ever to meet new people, even so it feels a bit weird sometimes at least to me. Hopefully our community starts coming together in the same way that it used to and with haste!

  • Samantha Contreras Leos's avatar
    Samantha Contreras Leos 7/02/2021 11:00 PM
    Hi everyone!

    For this week's eco-challenge I chose to reduce food waste and save money by planning my meals for the week and only buying the ingredients I needed (which was under the "food" tab). This task was an incredibly easy task that helped me reduce food waste and save money.

    Previously, when my boyfriend and I would go grocery shopping we would just get whatever we wanted and we ended up having a lot of waste. Creating a list and sticking to that list made shopping faster, more effective, and cheaper. By thinking of what we wanted to eat and purchase ahead of time we were also able to plan for meals with similar ingredients. Doing so helped us use all the ingredients we bought and didn't leave us with half-used cans of food or other half-use ingredients. This is something I will for sure incorporate into my life going forward. I always felt so guilty about food waste but by planning ahead I can almost completely eliminate my food waste and that brings me a lot of joy and relief.

    • Josie Share's avatar
      Josie Share 7/06/2021 6:28 AM
      Hi Samantha,

      Planning ahead and shopping in accordance with your list is a great way to reduce food waste. This is something I need to be better about as well; I often go into the grocery store without a plan and buy whatever I think sounds good. This often leads me to having excess food I can't use up before it goes bad, which is a preventable problem. I will definitely try to incorporate this strategy into my grocery shopping routine as well!

      Josie

    • Emma Butterfield's avatar
      Emma Butterfield 7/03/2021 1:24 PM
      Samantha, 

      This is awesome! I'm glad doing this also helped bring you some joy and relief too. I'm curious, what was your favorite thing that you made? 

      Thanks, 
      Emma 

  • Samantha Contreras Leos's avatar
    Samantha Contreras Leos 6/28/2021 8:13 PM
    Hello class!

    For this week's eco-challenge I decided to explore an area around me (which was under the "a call for sustainability tab"). As a busy student, I often do not get the chance to explore and enjoy nature very often, and I thought I could change that with this challenge. Over the weekend I did just that and had the chance to visit one of the beaches at Sauvie Island. It was so refreshing to enjoy the cool water during such a bad heatwave especially since I have no A/C. As well the views and wildlife that I was able to spot when more people left the beach. Visiting here reminded me of how important it is for me to value nature and take care of it in any way I can. I caught myself picking up people's trach before leaving so that it didn't further harm the area. I hope I can visit again soon and that more people reflect on the importance of these areas and the need to take care of them.

    • Josie Share's avatar
      Josie Share 6/29/2021 7:17 AM
      Hi Samantha,

      This sounds like an amazing way to beat the heat while also exploring the nature around you. It's great that you picked up trash before leaving so that others can enjoy the area and to protect local wildlife as well. Thanks for sharing!

      Josie