Johanna Houska

I did an energy audit this week. This was interesting since it made me assess qualities in my apartment building that I was unaware of before, such as the kind of water heater, wattages of lightbulbs, etc. I wanted to do this exercise because I was curious about which ways apartment living can be beneficial and harmful in terms of both water and energy output. For example, according to this audit, the addition of a water aerator for my sinks would be around $1 would save over $100, and the addition of an electricity monitor would save $1,200. As great as it is to realize what kinds of changes can be made to both save money and energy, it is a tough place to be in as a renter. I would love to invest in my home and make it more efficient, however, many of the changes, such as a newer water heater, are changes I have no control over. With that being said, the water aerator and adding water strips to the windows, are both easy ways to adjust to the effieicny, and both items i cn take with me to my next apartment. 

For this week, I focused on assessing my purchases and being mindful of buying things that are only necessary for health and safety. This was an interesting project because I found that I have not been purchasing things outside of this category for a while, so the challenge seemed to be less of a challenge than I thought. This is particularly due to the fact that I'm beginning to get ready to move soon, so the purchasing of new things is something that I'm not considering as much since I'm wanting to whittle town my belongings. Because of this, I decided halfway through this week to go further by selling clothes online and at consignment shops that I wanted to get rid of. This was beneficial on multiple fronts as I was able to have a small income stream from it, as well as audit my closet to reduce my consumption as well as reduce my clothing for moving, which leads to reducing energy and space in transporting when moving. Overall, I think that this challenge was a great chance to focus on my consumption habits and how they change over time. Like many consumers, a shift in seasons oftentimes makes us want to purchase more clothing or objects for recreation, which can be challenging to fight, but when considering our role as consumers and the effect this has on the planet, these kind of audits can make long-lasting impacts to our habits

For this week's Eco-Challenge, I chose to connect with a nonprofit to be able to help in any way I could. I found that this was a great opportunity to follow up on a volunteer experience I've been wanting to do since I moved to Portland: the Oregon Humane Society. Since I've been in school and working the past few years, I've unfortunately had to put this off. Since I am graduating soon, I felt that this was a great time to fill out a volunteer application for OHS to begin in the next month or two. Not only is this contributing to my community and the animals here locally, but it is also, to myself, a time of pure enjoyment by engaging with animals and tending to the needs of a shelter. 

For this week’s eco challenge, I decided to install a toilet tank bank. I chose this activity because I was so surprised that I hadn't heard of this solution before! I felt that this kind of small, cost-effective, but important change is extremely convenient and an accessible choice. As a renter, often times a lot of the environmentally-conscious changes in the home are not applicable since they are often expensive or they require changes made to the home that aren't allowed under renter's agreements. I was able to find a toilet tank bank online for $6, received it a few days ago, and it only took me a minute to figure out how to install and put it in the back of the toilet. Changes like these are incredibly easy and are another example of accessibility in sustainable choices made in our daily lives. Especially when so much water use comes from buildings not updated to the current standards of eco-living, such as mine, the small changes can offset the often unavoidable water usage. I am often concerned about washing in conventional, older, washing machines, which are responsible for most of my water use, which is why I wash cold and make use of air drying (which is also better for fibers of clothing!). Overall, the many small changes we can make all add up and make us more aware of our usage on a daily basis. 

For my eco-challenge this week, I chose to make 5 vegan meals and 5 meatless meals. Since I already do not consume dairy products, these meals were the same. I chose this challenge because, even though I do not consume meat very often, especially red meat, I do love the idea of choosing days of the week when I'm especially mindful of the animal products I'm consuming. I found that I was more aware of my consumption of meat this week and realized how much I relied on fish products as my protein source. I mainly eat Asian-inspired dishes that include various forms of fish, such as salmon and tuna. Since on a student-sized budget, I am often not as mindful of the farm-raised vs wild-caught as much as I had been previously, which made this challenge all the more relevant. For my dishes this week, I decided to substitute the meat for tofu in all of my lunch meals. This was initially challenging since I don't usually like tofu and do not consider myself a cook by any means, but I was able to research recipes and processes that improved it to my tastes. I loved that I was able to make a larger batch of marinated tofu at the beginning of my week to allow me to prep and have the food ready each day. Overall, I think that challenges such as these are so important in creating self-reflection about what we actually consume on a daily and weekly basis. For me, even though I assess what I eat and make sure that it's healthy, these relations and perspectives continue to allow me to grow and make decisions based on the environmental impact as well.

For my ecochallenge this week, I chose to increase my recycling habits. Even though I consider myself to be responsible in terms of recycling my cardboard, buying minimal plastic, and composting, I found this challenge to help me look deeper into what can be recycled. It was through this that I was able to educate myself on the additional recycling needs outside of the curbside availability. It was fascinating to me to find that my cork tops, aluminum cans, plastic film, and plastic handles for six-packs are recyclable at New Seasons. After reassessing my recycling habits, I realized that these objects are often thrown into the large recycling bin at my apartment complex, which ultimately does not get sorted and recycled as easily or effectively as the offerings at New Seasons, where I was able to take and sort these items myself. Additionally, the acceptance of compost is incredibly convenient, as I do not have access to curbside compost. It is resources such as these that I had wished I knew about sooner, as it's incredibly convenient to have a close-by store offering these services in a way that promotes conscious purchasing in the future. Knowing that I can more effectively recycle these items makes me want to continue to choose to buy items I know can be reused or recycled in the best way possible. 

For this week’s challenge, I chose to sign 5 petitions relating to climate-related issues across Oregon. I wanted to both educate myself on other local area issues around Oregon, while also contributing where I could by signing these petitions. I was interested to find both state-wide issues, such as a call for a carbon tax across the state, as well as issues I’m familiar with, such as the acceptance of e-bikes on public land mountain bike trails to increase accessibility to the outdoors. All of the petitions I signed were quite different in the specific issues they're addressing in our state. The petition on the catch and release proposal for wild Steelhead was also fascinating in that the petition was being proposed by fishers whose intention are to allow for both outdoor enjoyment of fishing while valuing and maintaining the most sustainable population of wild Steelhead. In terms of challenges in the signing of petitions, like many public online activities, there is the downside of open comments from those who strongly oppose sustainable development, and choose to write extreme thoughts on these proposals. This can be distracting and distressing occasionally, but for the most part, the comments on these issues are positive and community-engaging.