Kaela Hamilton
POINTS TOTAL
- 0 TODAY
- 0 THIS WEEK
- 421 TOTAL
participant impact
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UP TO49meatless or vegan mealsconsumed
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UP TO3.0documentarieswatched
Kaela's actions
Food
Weekly Meal Planning
I will reduce food waste and save money by planning a weekly menu, only buying the ingredients I need.
Ecological Principles
Reduce My Footprint
I will calculate my ecological footprint and talk with my family or roommates about way we can reduce our negative enviromental impact.
Ecological Principles
Support Pollution Reduction
I will learn about water and air quality issues in my area, how they are impacting human and environmental health, and how I can help.
Ecological Principles
Recycle Everything I Can
I will recycle all materials that are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community this week.
A Call to Sustainability
Explore My Area
I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area.
A Call to Sustainability
Watch a Documentary
I will watch a movie about a sustainability issue I would like to know more about.
Water
Say No to Plastic
Plastic bags and small plastic pieces like straws are most likely to get swept into our waterways. This week, I'll say "no" to plastic bags at the store and plastic straws in all of my drinks.
Water
Watch The Story of Bottled Water
I will watch The Story of Bottled Water to learn more about bottled water's impacts on the environment.
Water
Learn About My Watershed
I will find local resources for learning about my watershed and the particular water issues my region faces.
Food
Reduce Animal Products
I will enjoy 5 meatless meal(s) and/or 2 vegan meal(s) each day this week.
Consumption and Economy
Track my Purchases
I will maintain a record of all my purchases.
Consumption and Economy
Support Local Businesses
I will buy from local businesses instead of shopping online.
Consumption and Economy
Watch a Documentary
I will watch one of the films suggested in the additional resources and discuss it with friends or family.
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?
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Kaela Hamilton 4/29/2020 1:54 PMKeeping track of my purchases hasn't been too hard because I really only buy groceries right now. However, I'm starting a new job on June 1 and I think it's really helpful practice now so that I can start keeping a budget over the summer. I found it really helpful to just write down everywhere my money went this week, so I can keep track of things I bought for essentials vs entertainment. Okay...maybe the ice cream wasn't completely necessary, but it felt very important at the time. -
Kaela Hamilton 4/28/2020 7:55 PMI couldn't find the documentaries listed in additional resources, but I did watch "The Story of Stuff," which is kind of a mini-documentary. It was crazy to learn that 99% of the stuff we buy is trashed within 6 months. All of that resource extraction and processing for less than 6 months! My family has always been the type to use stuff until it's literally unusable. I am going to start thinking about how long I plan to use something before I buy it from now on. If it's less than 6 months...is it really worth it? I always loved thrift shopping, and now I see how important it is to re-use as much as possible! -
Kaela Hamilton 4/28/2020 2:25 PMSince the quanentine, we started designating one day per week where we support a local restaurant by getting take-out. We can't really go 'shopping' and everything is online anyway, but this is one of the ways that we try to support local businesses, especially now that many are struggling with decreased business. It has been great because we are discovering some great little local places that we might not have otherwise found! -
Kaela Hamilton 4/22/2020 11:44 AMTo my disappointment, Phoenix has still not banned plastic bags, and now grocery stores are not allowing us to use reusable bags! Not a good time to try avoiding plastic. However, we figured out that if we bring a backpack, they'll let us pack our own groceries into it at checkout. Now, the challenge is to buy groceries packaged with less plastic, which is difficult when Whole Foods is so expensive. But I made the small step of getting some of those reusable produce bags - hopefully they'll let me use them! -
Kaela Hamilton 4/21/2020 12:44 PMI watched the story of a water bottle video and I think it did a great job of talking about the water footprint concept that we discussed in class. It also revealed all the steps in the water bottle creation and consumption process, including many that I don't usually think about - like how pulling the fossil fuels out of the ground to make the bottle itself takes tons of water! It reminded me of the plastic bag tidbit that their average working life is a few minutes, while it takes thousands of years to decompose. I was disappointed to learn that even recycling bottles doesn't ensure they are sustainably re-purposed. I will stick to my nalgene! -
Kaela Hamilton 4/15/2020 9:44 AMThis week, I sat down with my housemates and we made a meal plan for the week before getting groceries. I think that before I moved in here, that is not something that they did. When we went to the store we were able to buy only exactly what we needed, and we spent less time standing around and thinking about what we wanted. Making a meal plan is something that I always personally do, and I hope that all my housemates can get on board with this for the next year that I'm here!
I am the only vegetarian in the house, but we all made an agreement that meat and other groceries would be bought separately so that I don't have to pay for their meat (and they don't have to pay for my alternatives, like tofu). While I don't try to stop them from eating meat (not my place), I try to suggest mainly vegetarian meals that can be easily converted into meat dishes as well. Burritos work well! -
Kaela Hamilton 4/07/2020 6:30 PMThis is small, but the other day when one of my housemates was putting out the recycling I jumped in to make sure they weren't putting non-recyclable items in the bin. I had to let them know that the greasy bottoms of pizza boxes can't be recycled! Also, that plastic food containers need to be rinsed before putting in the bin. -
Kaela Hamilton 4/05/2020 7:01 PMToday I talked to my partner about our shared carbon footprint. Right now, the weather is still nice in Phoenix so we have been riding our bikes to the nearby store for groceries. Unfortunately, it gets really hard in the summer when it can be 100+ degrees to maintain a small carbon footprint because we want to drive everywhere! Also living in Phoenix, we have already turned on the AC during the warm afternoons. We decided that we are going to carpool as much as possible in the future when driving is a necessity, which is doable since we live with 2 other people. For now, we are walking and biking everywhere we can to save on fossil fuels and also get some exercise during the quarantine! -
Kaela Hamilton 4/04/2020 3:22 PMToday I learned about air and water quality in my city, Phoenix AZ. In Phoenix, the air quality is most often rated "moderate", but 30% of the time it is "unhealthy for sensitive groups." However, the pie chart data comes from 2015. Unfortunately I think air quality has only gotten worse as Phoenix grows. The data from today shows that the quality is "moderate," probably because of the reduction in traffic due to shelter in place. I also learned that Arizona is a leading producer of nuclear energy when compared to the U.S., but state consumption of oil, natural gas, and coal is high, while still lower than U.S. averages. The hyperlink on this challenge takes you to a great site where you can enter your city and find out about air, water, energy, health, and climate stats in your state/city. -
Kaela Hamilton 4/01/2020 9:20 AMI also watched the documentary Cowspiracy over the weekend, which was very thought-provoking. Although I knew that livestock farming was highly impactful, I didn't know it caused more emissions than all of the transportation sectors combined! I have been a vegetarian for a few years now, but I am trying to reduce my dairy and egg consumption as well lately, especially after the dairy farm parts of the documentary. For those who are interested, there is a similar documentary on Netflix called What the Health (that might actually be the same dude) that also focuses on transitioning to a plant-based diet, but for primarily health reasons as opposed to sustainability. There is also a really amazing marine preservation doc called Mission Blue by one of my favorite scientists/activists, Syliva Earle.
Because of the social distancing rules, I have been going a little stir crazy and try to get into nature every week. My partner and I find a new hiking trail every few days to explore. In an attempt to avoid as many people as possible, we try to find hidden trails that not many people know about, and it has been fun! We are living near Phoenix, which is a huge city, but there are a good number of little spots to enjoy the outdoors.